Award-winning Malaysian producer Poh Si Teng on telling diverse stories on the big screen and daring to believe for better things ahead

Oct 10, 2025

Cover Emmy-winning producer Poh Si Teng on her obsession with fairness and the power of diverse storytelling (Photo: Joel Wicecarver)

Emmy-winning producer Poh Si Teng on her obsession with fairness and the power of diverse storytelling (Photo: Joel Wicecarver)

1 / 1

From Penang to Hollywood, Emmy-winning producer Poh Si Teng has built a career on amplifying voices from the margins. She speaks on her obsession with fairness, the power of diverse storytelling, and why her greatest fear is looking back with regret

When Poh Si Teng’s four-year-old daughter protests that something isn't fair, the Emmy-winning producer sees not defiance but destiny. “I worry for her,” she admits. “Life is not fair, and if you're obsessed with fairness, you're going to potentially lead a hard life. But I'm also incredibly proud of her.”

It's a tension Teng herself has navigated across continents and careers—from journalism in India to documentary commissioning in Qatar, from the Disney executive suite to her current position as founder of Tiny Boxer Films.

That obsession with fairness, far from hindering her, has become the throughline of a career defined by amplifying minoritised voices. Her producing credits include the Oscar-nominated St. Louis Superman and, most recently, Patrice: The Movie, a disability romantic comedy non-fiction film that earned an Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking this year.

View this post on Instagram

The documentary rom-com centres around Patrice, who wishes to marry her disabled partner Garry, risking the government disability benefits that they both need to survive being cut.

What distinguishes Patrice The Movie isn't merely its subject matter but its methodology.

“If you're going to make a film about a community, it should be by the community as well,” Teng insists. The production team included both disabled and non-disabled creatives, a composition that demanded rethinking everything from terminology to accessibility infrastructure.

“The reason why it's such a strong film is because of the creatives that have been part of this journey. I mean it's Patrice herself who has such an incredible life story and is such an amazing creative and storyteller. You have Ted Passon, who is an incredible visionary director, and then you have a producing team that consists of disabled and non-disabled creatives,” she says.

Above ’Patrice: The Movie’ is a documentary rom-com surrounding Patrice, who decides to marry her partner Garry (who is also disabled), risking the government disability benefits they both need to survive

’Patrice: The Movie’ is a documentary rom-com surrounding Patrice, who decides to marry her partner Garry (who is also disabled), risking the government disability benefits they both need to survive

1 / 1

“I've learned a lot in the making of this film and in the past few years from working a little in the disability space in the US,” adds Teng.

This commitment to authentic representation stems from Teng’s own colourful background—the accumulation of perspectives gathered across her itinerant life. From Penang, she inherited an entrepreneurial spirit born of being an outlier. India taught her to hustle, to transform every no into a conditional yes.

Qatar opened her mind to admitting she could be wrong. And America, where she's spent the past two decades, showed her how to dissent, to fight for what matters to her. A storyteller at heart, Teng considers herself a proxy for stories out there that need to be told, using film as a medium to connect audiences from across different cultures and backgrounds. “As a writer, you borrow from the lens of the background that you come from,” she says.

The team from "Patrice: The Movie" accepts the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking Emmy during night two of the Television Academy's 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sunday, Sept. 7, 2025 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles (Photo by Phil McCarten/Invision for the Television Academy/AP Content Services)

Above The team from ‘Patrice: The Movie’ accepts the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking Emmy at the Television Academy's 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sept. 7, 2025 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles (Photo: Phil McCarten/Invision for the Television Academy)

The team from ‘Patrice: The Movie’ accepts the Exceptional Merit in Documentary Filmmaking Emmy at the Television Academy's 2025 Creative Arts Emmy Awards on Sept. 7, 2025 at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles (Photo: Phil McCarten/Invision for the Television Academy)

1 / 1

I guess I always wanted something more for the people I love and for what I thought mattered.

- Poh Si Teng -

"When I first came to the US, I had Black professors, Native American professors," she recalls of her time at San Francisco State University. "These were individuals I respected who came from minoritised communities. I was exposed to such a a different kinds of voices and perspectives, and that really laid the foundation for me.“ The distinction matters to her: not minority—a passive state—but minoritised, suggesting an active force of exclusion.

Now, having benefited from mentorship and opportunity, Teng views opening doors as an obligation. "If I've benefited, then I need to make sure other people can get access to the same opportunities," she says. Her greatest fear isn't failure but inaction—looking back to realise she didn't stand up when she could, didn't open spaces when she occupied them.

“I think it's important to surround oneself with people who challenge you,” Teng adds. “If you're in a diverse enough community and you put yourself close to the fire, you will be challenged. And that's when you will also grow the most. If you're surrounded by people who constantly agree with you, how will you know if you're wrong? I have a very big fear and that is what if I didn't do the right thing? What if I didn't stand up for the things that matter most?”

Awards matter for a filmmaker, she acknowledges, not for validation but for what they enable: career sustainability, visibility for overlooked stories. When all three Emmy nominees in her category featured disability narratives, it signalled not arrival but progress. “There's a long way to go if we want to make documentary filmmaking equitable,” she notes.

I ask if Teng’s illustrious career has made her resilient. “Resilience is a tricky word, because it can be used against you,” she reflects. “Like, when you work so hard but nothing’s working out, people say ‘just be resilient’. I don't know whether it’s resilience—you have to ask the people who knew me growing up—but I guess I always wanted something more, something better for myself, for the people I love and for what I thought mattered.”

Her advice to her younger self doubles as manifesto: “You can’t control what happens in the future. We only have control over our own actions.” In uncertain times, she argues, we must deploy whatever skills we possess. "It is impossible," she says, borrowing an aphorism, "until it is done."

NOW READ

Behind the seams: 8 films that reveal the real drama in the fashion industry

Fact or fiction: what really happened in Netflix’s House of Guinness

A love letter to Langkawi: inside the Human Langkawi book launch at The Datai

Topics

Poh Si Teng Patrice the Movie Emmy Awards Malaysian Producer

Tania Jayatilaka

Digital Editor, Tatler Malaysia

Previously contributing to Esquire Malaysia, Expat Lifestyle and Newsweek, Tania oversees digital stories across Tatler’s key content pillars, also leading the Front & Female platform exploring issues and topics affecting women today.