Documentary director Christine Seow wants more Asian stories on the global stage

Since embarking on their overlanding journey in 2019, Noor Soeb (or Norah) and Susie Chua have captured our hearts with their adventurous spirit, as one of the few queer, middle-aged, all-woman overlanding couples from Southeast Asia. The 2Travelling Aunties, as they’re called, have visited six continents and 43 countries while documenting their journey on social media. 

Although many articles have covered the plucky life partners, none have captured a poignant snapshot of their dynamic like Christine Seow’s documentary short.

Named after them, Two Travelling Aunties clinched the Sony Future Filmmaker Awards 2026 in the Non-Fiction category out of 8,400 entries from 162 countries and territories.

Play

By then, the short film had been around the festival circuit — Inside Out 2SLGBTQ+ Film Festival in Canada, Kashish Pride Film Festival in India, where it won Best Student Short in 2025 and Best Documentary at the Eye Catcher Short Awards, and at the Academy Award-qualifying documentary festival Doc Edge in New Zealand — but at the gala ceremony in the Sony Pictures Studios Scenic Arts Building in Los Angeles, it was Seow’s first time being present to accept an award for her film. 

Two Travelling Aunties has also screened locally and around Southeast Asia, in Vietnam and Bangkok, as well as in China. “That was pretty amazing to see how the film had really travelled and impacted people,” the 32-year-old quipped.

A life-changing road trip

The short documentary, completed in 2024 and filmed over three weeks following Norah and Susie’s road trip across Colombia, was Seow’s graduation project for her Master’s at England’s National Film and Television School. Determined to showcase “an Asian story that could be set in a global context” after finding that representation for Asian voices was sorely lacking, she reached out to the pair based on a friend’s lead. 

“I literally slid into their DMs,” she laughed, explaining how she introduced herself through video calls. They were keen on the idea, and she started planning the shoot, with two of her schoolmates filling the roles of director of Photography and Sound Recordist.

And just three months later, after a few video calls, each lasting at least one and a half hours with the aunties, she was driving around Colombia, a country she had never been to before, barely speaking Spanish and hauling around camera equipment. 

In the first week, she spent time getting to know Norah and Susie, then filmed over the next two weeks in unpredictable environmental conditions. “We couldn’t plan things to a T, which means that we had to embrace adaptability and be ready to move. A lot of people were worried about safety, but the people we met were all really nice… if we were in a less safe area, they would tell us to keep our cameras,” she recalled. 

Now, two years later, Seow has made lifelong friends in the couple, a friendship she rarely finds with people from an older generation, where no question is too personal to ask. She added, “We bonded like friends, and they are like my aunties; they have adopted me as such.” They’ve also taught her not to fear the inevitable — ageing.

Honing her craft

A feature film is in the works as 2Travelling Aunties plan one last road trip from Malaysia to Norway, which would take at least a year to complete one way. Norah and Susie plan to drive there and back. With such an encouraging response to the short documentary, Seow feels that she’s only barely scratched the surface of the rich, multilayered tapestry of their lives. 

After picking up technical skills on various sets, including Anthony Chen’s movie Wet Season and a Singapore-Taiwanese mini-series called Hungry Souls: From Hell, with Love, she’s found her calling in letting people tell their stories.

“I’m headed towards a non-fiction space, but because I came from a very fiction background, I like creative documentaries that blur the line between both,” she explained, citing Mistress Dispeller and Four Daughters as great examples of the genre.

Play

Her previous work, a five-episode series commissioned by Vidsee called While You Sleep, documented people working the graveyard shift in Singapore and won Best Documentary at the Asia Web Awards in 2018. She’s currently working on the short film The Clippers, which explores women’s relationships with their hair.

The idea came from her hairdresser’s surprised reaction to her request to shave her head.

Based between London and Singapore, she remains involved in the local film industry; she’s on the pre-selection committee for the 2027 Singapore Youth Film Festival. Watching the 120 film entries has been heartening — “The future of Singapore is very bright… I think younger people know what they want and they’re more articulate at expressing certain thoughts” — but she warns of approaching creativity with a business mindset. 

“Let’s not be practical when you’re young. If you have the luxury, then feel free to explore. It’s okay to not be safe. Test the waters, then if it’s a bit too risky, dial it back, but don’t cage yourself. Be brave,” she said resolutely, of the same bravery that brought her to Colombia two years ago.

Photography: Athirah Annissa
Art direction: Ashruddin Sani
Hair & makeup: Joanne Ong