Reangsei Phos grew up with onions in the corner of every room in his house.
That’s what his mother did, as well as sprinkling water in the home and arranging the furniture in a certain way to ward off bad energy, Foss says.
It wasn’t until he grew up that he realized these superstitions were often rooted in myth and were uncommon outside of East Asian cultures.
“Looking back on these memories, I remember my mother’s difficulty navigating was really superstitious,” Foss says.
“So what if I make a movie about it?”
In 2020, Fosse says he dropped out of Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) film school to create his first short thriller, Talisman. It follows a superstitious Chinese family who settle into a new home that their son Yi believes is haunted, but is said to be protected by similar superstitions that Foss grew up with.
“I haven’t seen this story before, especially in East Asia. That’s one story I want to tell,” Foss said.
In the film, Talisman Yi talks to his concerned parents about his recent paranoia. And he believes their new house is haunted. (Submitted by Reangsei Phos)
It premiered this spring and won the Audience Award at the National Film Festival of Talented Youth (NFFTY) in Seattle and was picked up by a label for distribution on YouTube last month. His TikTok account dedicated to his film journey has over 100 million views.
Fosse hopes his success will continue and help him tell more stories with Asian characters on the big screen.
“I’m really big on Asian representation and putting the spotlight on us and representing us in a way that feels true,” says Foss.
“There wasn’t really a backup plan”
Since filming began in the summer of 2020, COVID-19 restrictions, staffing and funding issues proved to be some of the biggest challenges the Phos team faced early on.
But even after completing filming and editing almost a year later, with about $10,000 in backing through an Indiegogo campaign, there was still a lot at stake. The NFFTY was their only chance for recognition, as it was the only festival that accepted their film out of about 15 other festivals they applied to, Foss says.
“I took a huge risk by leaving school … if it didn’t pay off, there wasn’t really a backup plan,” Foss said.
Although it was recognized at the festival and picked up by the ALTER film platform on YouTube shortly after, it wasn’t enough. People didn’t flock to the movie like he thought, he said.
That’s why he turned to TikTok to expand his reach. There, he showed behind-the-scenes clips of Talisman and other updates on future films. Today, his most viral video asking for auditions for his next film has over 800,000 likes.
“If we hadn’t won the festival, got picked up by ALTER and gone viral on TikTok, I don’t think my parents or I would have found it viable,” he says.
The movie Talisman was filmed in Toronto. Producer Angela Wang says the actors and actresses are also from Toronto. Director Reangsey Phos says casting was difficult as they were specifically looking for people who could speak Mandarin. (Submitted by Angela Wang)
Angela Wang, Phos producer for Talisman, says that while the progress they’ve made so far is exciting, there’s more work to be done.
“I think there’s still a long way to go in terms of Asian representation,” Wang said.
Wang, a fourth-year film arts student at TMU, met Foss during film school, where she recalls being one of the only Asians in their program. She says a large part of the reason she entered the industry was to help other Asians in North America be represented in the media.
“This is just the beginning,” Wang said.
While Wang is finishing school, Fosse says he is currently finishing up his second film in Toronto. By the time he’s 25, he hopes to have a major feature film under his belt.
“Everything right now is leading up to this,” Foss said.
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