When Lau Kek Huat ticked the “filmmaking” box as his field of studies at National Taiwan University of Arts, it was the first time he realized that filmmaking was something one could “learn.”

He had come to Taiwan merely seeking a different kind of life. Before that, he had already completed a degree in business administration in Singapore, got hit by the 1997 financial crisis, and taught in a Chinese elementary school for four years. This was already a few steps removed from his original plan to work in a factory, like many other Chinese Malaysian kids did after high school in his hometown of Johor Bahru.

Lau has come a long way since then. Driven by a desire to understand his country’s unspoken past, Lau directed Absent Without Leave (2016), a documentary that followed his search into the lives of his absentee father and grandfather. Though the film brought Lau to the Berlinale Talents summit at the 2017 Berlin International Film Festival, it is still banned in Malaysia for putting a spotlight on members of the Malayan Communist Party.

The Tree Remembers (2019), Lau’s next documentary, contemplated Malaysia’s racial dynamics. A 2019 screening at the Freedom Film Festival in Kuala Lumpur drew a visit from plainclothes policemen, as the film had not been submitted for government approval. Even so, the rebellious screening offered a rare opportunity for inter-ethnic dialogue on censorship, as well as Kuala Lumpur’s “513” race riots of May 13, 1969, in which up to 600 civilians were killed, mostly Chinese Malaysians.

Lau’s first narrative feature film, Boluomi (2019), premiered soon after The Tree Remembers. It gained him nominations for Best New Director at the 56th Golden Horse Awards and for the New Currents Award at the 24th Busan International Film Festival. Characterized by curiosity, introspection, and daring investigations into history and identity, Lau’s career as a director is still something he has never taken for granted.