We chatted with Bessie Cheng and Chase Lo – co-creators and winners of outACTRAto’s Queer Your Stories Short Film Competition 5 – about their film, Something’s Phishy, including what inspired them to create it, how it felt to have it screened at this year’s Inside Out Film Festival and more…
Tell us about Something’s Phishy and what inspired you to create the project.
Something’s Phishy is a romantic comedy about friendship and the longing to be accepted and loved for who you truly are. Danny (they/he) and Bex (she/they), best friends and co-workers at a coffee shop, approach romantic and intimate encounters in very different ways. Danny, a dreamer, struggles to find their perfect match after being dumped by their closeted boyfriend. Meanwhile, Bex, bold and charming, hesitates to commit despite her effortless success in romantic pursuits. To boost Danny’s confidence, Bex secretly catfishes as Danny on a gay hook-up app and invites potential suitors to the coffee shop. Ultimately, Danny and Bex’s bond is tested but grows stronger as they confront their insecurities and embrace their true selves.
This lighthearted story showcases the unique experiences of Queer Non-binary Asians, emphasizing the toxic elements we’ve encountered in queer dating culture — such as being labelled as exotic or the overemphasis on body type. We wanted to subvert these stereotypes by exploring what might happen if someone embraced them to seem more desirable. Our goal was to create a film that is both funny and grounded in honesty and heart.
Submissions to the Queer Your Stories Short Film Competition were reviewed by a jury of ACTRA Toronto’s outACTRAto Committee members and two senior programming staff from Inside Out. How did it feel to have your film selected as the winner by a jury of your peers?
We were immensely honoured and thrilled to be selected! This marks our first writing collaboration, and having our very first pitch chosen is incredibly affirming. Our pitch aimed to create a film that authentically represents and resonates with Queer Non-binary individuals, making this recognition incredibly meaningful to us. Being chosen by a jury of our peers provided us with the validation that this story is important and gave us the encouragement to bring it to life.
Thanks to the generous support of our sponsors, the Queer Your Stories Short Film Competition provides the winner with financial and in-kind support. Tell us about what it was like working with our sponsor partners to bring your short film to life.
It truly provided us with the foundation to make everything possible! We are incredibly grateful for the financial support from AFBS and the generous in-kind equipment rentals from Grandé Camera and Hamilton Film Studios. Their support equipped us with the essential resources and tools needed to bring our vision to life. The financial backing from AFBS allowed us to focus on the creative aspects, while the top-notch equipment from Grandé Camera and Hamilton Film Studios ensured we could achieve the high production quality to which we aspired. Their contributions helped to turn our dream into a reality.
What was it like working with the ACTRA Toronto Members on the film?
As fellow ACTRA Toronto members, we were delighted to collaborate with our union and hire other talented actors. Our greatest pride, however, comes from being able to cover the permit fees for two actors, allowing them to join the union. A key priority in making this film was to create opportunities for Queer, Trans and Non-binary actors. We are proud to say our cast and crew were predominantly made up of Queer, Trans and Non-binary individuals, reflecting our commitment to inclusivity and representation in the industry.
Something’s Phishy just premiered at the 2024 Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival, Canada’s largest 2SLGBTQ+ film festival and the single largest promoter and exhibitor of 2SLGBTQ+ content in Canada. What was it like to have your film screen publicly for the first time and when/where can our readers watch the film going forward?
Being included among the talented 2SLGBTQ+ filmmakers at the 2024 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival was a true privilege. We were delighted and relieved to hear the audience enjoying our film, with laughter and heartfelt reactions resonating through the room. It was a real treat to experience our film on the big screen, surrounded by our peers. Having attended the Local Heroes shorts many times, it felt surreal to see our work included this year.
Something’s Phishy is currently under consideration for several other festivals, and we hope to share it with even more audiences soon. Eventually, the film will also be available to watch online. For updates, be sure to follow our director, Chase Lo, on Instagram at @yeschaselo.
Bessie Cheng is an award-winning queer Chinese-Canadian writer and actor. She graduated from the Playwriting and Devised Theatre program at York University. Her first play, Dirt, received the Ellen Ross Stuart Award from the Ontario Arts Foundation and was nominated for the RBC Emerging Playwright Award from Playwrights Guild of Canada. Her newest work in development, Girls With Cars, is a recipient of the 2021 Promising Pen Award from Cahoots Theatre and Bessie is named one of its theatre-makers who will help shape the next 30 years in Canadian theatre.
Bessie is also a co-founder of Silk Bath Collective, creating the Fringe hit, Silk Bath. Silk Bath Collective’s production, Yellow Rabbit, enjoyed a sold-out run at Soulpepper Theatre in 2018. The Collective just closed the world premiere of its latest show, Woking Phoenix, at Theatre Passe Muraille to critical acclaim.
A few of Bessie’s recent onscreen credits include: Chucky (NBC), Hudson & Rex (CityTV), Sort Of (CBC/HBO Max) and Coroner (CBC).
Chase Lo (they/them) is a multifaceted artist whose creative journey spans Toronto, Montreal and Taipei. With a profound commitment to storytelling, Chase’s artistic vision centres on exploring ‘diasporic queer’ narratives. They intricately weave together the rich tapestry of Asian heritage and LGBTQ+ identity, offering a deeply intersectional perspective.
Chase is presently in the process of developing Ruby, a gripping theatrical thriller that delves into the lives of trans/nonbinary Asian and migrant sex workers, with support by OAC theatre recommender grants (Nightwood Theatre, Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Toronto Fringe Festival and Theatre Passe Muraille), Toronto Arts Council, Canada Arts Council, and as a recipient of Cahoots Theatre’s Promising Pen Prize.
In their directorial debut, Chase co-wrote, directed and starred in the short film, Something’s Phishy. Collaborating with a predominantly queer Asian creative team, the project stands as a testament to their commitment to inclusive storytelling. Something’s Phishy was selected as the winner of the fifth Queer Your Stories Short Film Competition by outACTRAto (ACTRA Toronto’s 2SLGBTQIA+ committee) and had its world premiere at the 2024 Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival.
Chase can be currently seen as Okul in Ubisoft’s Avatar: Frontiers of Pandora and the upcoming Sony Pictures TV series Doc.
Queer Your Stories Short Film Competition
Presented by ACTRA Toronto’s outACTRAto Committee in partnership with the Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival, the annual Queer Your Stories: Short Film Competition is open to ACTRA Toronto members who are part of the 2SLGBTQIA+ community interested in producing a short film. Winners receive financial and in-kind production support and a screening at the Inside Out Toronto 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival.
