Mickey Lai is a Malaysia-based filmmaker working across fiction and documentary forms. She holds an MA in Film and Television Production from MetFilm School, London. She grew up in a multiracial and religiously diverse society. This environment has deeply shaped her artistic practice. Her work examines how institutional structures—like family, religion, education, and the state—quietly shape bodies, choices, and silence. Her work is rooted in intimate, character-driven storytelling. It shows a sustained interest in moral tension, care, and the ways power operates through everyday systems.
Her latest short film WAShhh premiered at the 77th Locarno Film Festival. It received the Golden Leopard for Best International Short Film. The film has travelled widely. It has been presented at major international festivals. These include Clermont-Ferrand, Taipei Golden Horse, Red Sea, Singapore, Vienna Shorts, etc. WAShhh has received several international awards. These include Best Short Film at Toronto Reel Asian and the International Jury Prize at QCinema Philippines. It also won the SHORTS Award at the Alternativa Film Awards. It also achieved Best Top Ten Short Films at the Golden Rooster Festival. Additionally, it received the Housen Short Film Award at the Osaka Asian Film Festival. It also received the Jury Award at the Hiroshima International Film Festival. Lastly, it won the SeaShorts Competition Award.
Her thesis short film, The Cloud Is Still There, screened internationally at festivals. These included Clermont-Ferrand, Busan, and Shanghai International Film Festival. The film received the Best Performance Award at the SeaShorts Film Festival in Malaysia. It also won the New Talent Award at the National Film Festival for Talented Youth in Seattle, United States.
Her documentary short, A Worm, Whatever Will Be, Will Be, won the Jury Award at the SeaShorts Film Festival. It was selected for major festivals like Golden Horse, Singapore, Jogja-NETPAC, and the Bangkok ASEAN Film Festival.
Mickey is an alumna of the Golden Horse Film Academy 2024 and Locarno Spring Academy 2025, and a participant in the MASO Short Film Training Programme 2025-2026 for her latest short film, Can You Touch Me.
She is now developing her first feature film. This project continues her exploration of silence, care, and moral responsibility within institutional systems.
mickey lai 