Mo Lai Yan Chi is a theatre and film director whose practice spans directing, writing, acting, and teaching. Through her work and study of world theatre, she became interested in how different cultures have developed different ways of telling human stories, leading her to explore “non-verbal approaches as a universal storytelling language.” During her six-month fellowship in Japan, she will research how stories are being told from ancient to modern times through physical theatre. She will study the aesthetics, styles, and creative and training methods of Noh, Kabuki, and Bunraku, as well as Butoh and contemporary physical theatre, through exchanges with artists and theatre practitioners, rehearsals, workshops, performances, and archive research. She aims to learn from Japan’s rich theatrical heritage while discovering new approaches to movement and storytelling that can expand her creative practice in Hong Kong and internationally.

Profile  Mo Lai Yan Chi 
Hong Kong-based theatre and film director and Artistic Director of Mo Production Company Limited, working across directing, screenwriting, acting, and cross-media art production. Her debut film 1+1 won the IFVA Gold Award and Best Film Award at the Fresh Wave International Film Festival, while Band Four received four Hong Kong Film Awards nominations and won Best Original Film Score. She is a recipient of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons (Hong Kong) and the HKADC Young Artists Award (Film), and was selected for the Golden Horse Film Academy and Berlinale Talents. Her theatre works include Woman in Red and Book of Longing with the Hong Kong Sinfonietta. She holds an M.A. in Theatre Making from the University of Leeds, an M.A. in Cultural Studies from Lingnan University, and a B.A. in Social Sciences in Communication (Film and Media) from Hong Kong Baptist University.