An unexpectedly surreal heist and thriller set in the Greater Toronto Area’s infamous Chinese diasporic hub, Fresh Off Markham is an ambitious showcase for a trio of young filmmakers. Kurt Yuen, Cyrus Lo and Trevor Choi first met in Hong Kong before eventually finding themselves in Choi’s basement in Canada, ready to make a movie together about the people and place they knew best.
On November 15, Fresh Off Markham is set to have its Canadian premiere at the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, having already shown at Hong Kong International Film Festival and Beijing International Film Festival this year.
The Asian Cut spoke with Choi and Lo about how they came to make the film, the film’s references, and ultimate message.
The Asian Cut: I was really excited to hear about your movie, Fresh Off Markham, when it was announced at the Reel Asian Film Festival because I’m actually from Richmond Hill/Markham myself. I’d like to start off by asking what are your own relationships with the City of Markham? Do you live here, or do you have family and friends here?
Cyrus Lo: Three of us, including Kurt, who’s not here, we each have a different time period we spent in Markham. Myself, I think I spent the most time here: I immigrated to Canada when I was four, and I grew up in the Richmond Hill/Markham area. Trevor actually was born in Canada, but he went back to Hong Kong for school and then came back for university, so he lives in Markham right now. And then Kurt, he just immigrated to Markham a few years ago.
Tell me how you first started coming together to make this film. Did you write the story together?
Trevor Choi: It all started out in my basement. <Laughs> We met each other in 2018 in some filmmaking classes in Hong Kong. At the beginning of last year—Kurt had just landed not long ago—we gathered in my basement. We wanted to make something, so I initiated: “Let’s write a story about the Chinese immigrants here.”
Kurt initially had an idea about two new immigrants from mainland China who just landed and got scammed, which is the first part of the story. Then, Cyrus came in, and he constructed the second part of the story. And then I ended with the third part about the real estate agent and the Hong Konger.
After writing it together, how was it directing as a trio? As the film is split into three chapters, I guess you all decided to take your own spin for each?
CL: After we wrote it, we sat down and talked to each other to see how we can make this one story. We added points in each of our parts to make it a more cohesive story all around. And then, when we directed, we each took the role of the director, so we filmed each part separately. I think it was four days per part. When, let’s say, Trevor was directing, Kurt and I would jump into producing roles or on-set assistant directing roles, and then vice versa: when I was directing, Trevor and Kurt would jump into those roles. Every part had a director, and then the other two would become the supporting pieces to that puzzle.
TC: And in a different stage of filmmaking, we went through the pre-production together—the casting, searching for locations—we went through all that together. When it comes to post-production, Kurt was actually the editor of the film. He pieced the whole thing together. Cyrus worked more with contracts and legal stuff. I looked after the distribution more. In each stage, we put on different hats.
I wanted to ask more about those iconic Markham locations, like Pacific Mall and First Markham Place. I was even just at studio de corner recently, so when I saw it onscreen, I was like, “Oh, I was literally just at that cafe!” How did you pick which places to film?
CL: First of all, I think the criteria was that it had to somehow be in the Markham/Scarborough area. I think Scarborough is pushing a little—but Markham area for sure because it’s Fresh Off Markham. In terms of picking locations, I think all film has the same criteria: it has to be budget friendly, and it also has to be aesthetically pleasing for the film. Based on those principles, we made our choices.
But also, I think we wanted to showcase different parts of Markham that not many people know about. Like you said, studio de corner—that’s a nice cafe that I don’t think many people know about—maybe now it’s a bit different—while having some more iconic locations that people will know, like Pacific Mall, for example. Having landmarks and smaller places that not many people know about or having a good mix of that was our goal in the film.
TC: I think what’s very special about Markham is the Chinese culture. You see Chinese signs everywhere, and people in Markham, they basically have to speak Cantonese and Mandarin. So you can see there’s a lot of inserts of different Chinese plazas and Chinese malls. We hope to capture those as well because that’s kind of the essence of Markham.
Can you talk about the different tones and specific movie references that you have in each chapter of the film?
TC: I remember the conversation in my basement—basically we set a theme. Ultimately, it’s a satire, and we hope there’s one surreal moment for each chapter. We also have a few film references to ground all three parts, making sure we’re on the same page. We talked about Pulp Fiction, where the characters are interconnected, but it’s still one story. We talked about Atlanta—the Donald Glover show—that’s where the surreal element comes from, and it also involves a lot of racial commentary.
CL: I think for the second part, I really wanted to try—because I watch a lot of road trip movies—I really wanted to try to see if we could do something like that, but at a smaller scale. Going into the film, when I was writing it, that was something I was really hoping to see if that’s even possible.
Going to the themes of racism, language barriers, and class difference that you draw upon, what do you hope audiences will take away from the final message of the film?
TC: I hope it’s a roller coaster ride. The story starts with a pretty realistic approach, but has a sense of—when the two new immigrants come to town—it’s a tragedy, but at the same time, it’s a comedy in the first part. In the second part, it pushes that comedic element more. When it comes to the third part, we drop it real quick and it becomes a thriller. We hope it’s a rollercoaster ride like they never experienced before.
CL: We really first and foremost love movies, and we want to entertain our audience as well. I think that’s our first and foremost goal. But I think [for audiences] coming out of the theater, we really hope to spark dialogue. Getting people talking about the current immigration trend or just how immigrants are treated or how we see other minority cultures and how different minority cultures interact with each other. If we can somehow bring a sense of dialogue or resonance amongst our audience, I think we can pat ourselves on the shoulder and say, “Good job.”
The 28th edition of the Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival runs in-person and online November 13-24. For tickets, scheduling, and other details about this year’s programming, visit the festival’s website.
