Art has the power to move us and to shed light on little-known historical events. Sri Lankan and Tamil filmmaker Maya Bastian knows this all too well. She uses her platform to tell stories from marginalized communities, uplifting them and, in the case of her latest project, The Taylor Files, ensuring these traumatic tales don’t repeat.
Recently, I had the privilege of chatting with Maya again (almost four years after our conversation about Tigress) about the impetus behind co-creating The Taylor Files, how it connects to Bandai Namco’s Unknown 9 Universe, empowering the Laotian community, running a diverse set and more.
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This interview is condensed for length and clarity.
Maya Bastian
Melody McCune: We at GGA love a good origin story. How did you get into filmmaking?
Maya Bastian: I’ve been a movie nerd since I was little. I wanted to be an actor — I had that dream for a long time. Then, when I was 19, I started learning how to act and trained as an actor.
This was 25 years ago. I got an agent and was going out on auditions, but there weren’t any good roles, not for someone who looked like me. I was getting sent out for a lot of prostitutes and strippers. It wasn’t exciting to me. I felt like I couldn’t beat the system.
After a lot of disappointment, I decided to start writing my own stuff. Then, I got the opportunity to direct. As soon as I stepped on set on my first day, I realized this was what I was meant to do. It combined everything I loved, like fashion and interior design, working with people, camera work and acting.
Then, I was making music videos and doing documentary work. I’m Sri Lankan, Tamil. The war in Sri Lanka ended in 2009. It was virtually a genocide. We were watching it happen. I felt very powerless. There was news and protesters similar to what we’ve been seeing lately.
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To Tell Profound and Beautiful Stories
I decided to go to Sri Lanka and volunteer as a videographer. That sent me on a decades-long journey working in conflict zones, documenting, speaking to people, working for local NGOs and trying to understand war from the ground up.
When I returned to Canada, I realized I had the power to tell profound and beautiful stories. I felt narrative fiction was a stronger and more widespread tool to tell these stories. That’s how I got into filmmaking.
The Taylor Files
MM: Let’s talk about The Taylor Files. Can you tell me what it’s about and what inspired you to bring this story to life?
MB: The Taylor Files is a paranormal mystery short-form series set in Southeast Asia in 1975. It’s a CIA interrogation series where they investigate paranormal activity in the region.
The region is a hotbed of political intrigue because it’s the end of the Vietnam War, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge were taking root in Cambodia. The peasant revolts happened in Thailand. Of course, the CIA secret war in Laos was happening. There were a lot of different shady characters in the region at the time. We thought it would be amazing to set a story there.
The show is part of the larger Unknown 9 Universe. It was brought about by Reflector Entertainment and Bandai Namco. They have a video game called Unknown 9 and created a larger universe around it. There’s a podcast, a graphic novel, a novel and our series, The Taylor Files. Reflector Entertainment came to my co-creator, Karl Janisse, and asked us if we would be interested in creating a series.
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Not Seen on Screen Before
They gave us two white male characters from the game and said, “We want you to set it in 1975, and we want it to be a CIA interrogation series.” They gave us free rein. We realized that one of the most interesting places in the world at that time was Southeast Asia.
We didn’t want to just have a show about two white guys because it’s been done. So, we decided to bring in a female Laotian CIA agent who is a torturer, and she’s a badass. What inspired us was what was happening in the region and how we could explore it in a way that hadn’t been seen before.
The CIA’s Secret War
MM: This series showcases the devastation wreaked upon the Laotian community in the 1970s, specifically what they endured during the Vietnam War. What do you hope viewers learn about the Laotian community during this time and how the occupation still affects them today?
MB: The CIA’s secret war devastated Laos and the Laotian people. It was horrific.
Many Laotians fled and were in refugee camps in Thailand before leaving for other places. Many Laotians came to America. There were a lot of deaths and a lot of murders. Farmers were being killed in the fields. People were being tortured. All at the hands of the CIA and the Laotian government.
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I encourage people to look into this because it was unbelievably devastating, but also, it’s perpetuated all over the world by America. What’s caused a lot of immigration and refugees is America’s meddling in world politics. I hope viewers learn about the CIA secret war and understand that this happens all over the world. This is one story of many.
There’s a lot of sentiment these days about refugees and immigrants. People don’t understand that. No one wants to leave their home country. They’re forced to leave quite often by foreign meddling in their politics. There’s a famous quote by the poet Warsan Shire. She says, “No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark.”
American Imperialism
It’s important for people to interrogate and investigate themselves. Why are people coming from faraway countries to America? There’s always a reason, which is often tied to American imperialism.
On top of that, the Laotian community is still dealing with the trauma and fallout of what happened to them in the ’70s. Generations of descendants across North America struggle with what their parents had to endure. Our lead actress, Sydney Viengluang, was born in a refugee camp in Thailand. It’s not that far removed from our present day.
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We must look at and understand these stories so that hopefully they don’t get repeated in the future and so that people have a deeper empathy and understanding of what it’s like to be literally forced out of your homeland at gunpoint and [to] have your families murdered or taken away. This is not an isolated case.
Expectations and Ties to Unknown 9
MM: What can viewers expect when they watch the series? How does it connect to the Unknown 9 Universe?
MB: The series is a wild ride of chaos. It’s so much fun. It goes to unexpected places. We mined many declassified CIA documents and found fascinating stories to put on the screen. They bring in different people with paranormal powers, and a lot of those are factual powers the CIA has documented. There’s a Russian spy who could stop the beating heart of a frog with her mind.
We touch upon the MK Ultra documents, which are about remote viewing. Remote viewing is when someone can traverse space and time with their mind. They can go to different places in time and space around the world. The CIA has been known to use these people for their own gains and international intel. A lot of interesting, unique powers. We also have a Laotian shaman who performs a ceremony.
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We have live animals and dead animals. We filmed in caves, and there are big set pieces. Halfway through the series, we introduce a steampunk-like contraption called the psychlograph, allowing people to traverse each other’s memories. Karl Janisse designed and devised that contraption just for our show. They’re short episodes, five to seven minutes max. They’ll draw you in with all our wild characters.
Warring Societies
The undercurrent in the show is these warring secret societies. That’s how it’s tied into the larger Unknown 9 Universe. Two secret societies have been warring for a century. Their battles take them all over the world. One of the secret societies has infiltrated the CIA. They are looking for this mysterious lost inventor who can provide information on time travel and the mysteries of the universe. He is residing in what’s called The Fold.
The Fold is a unique creation also of the Unknown 9 Universe. It is a liminal space between heaven and hell, between life and death, where spirits go. It’s a place where you can get trapped. We touch upon that as well. It’s tied in nicely into the Unknown 9 Universe.
MM: Describe The Taylor Files using three words.
MB: Unpredictable. Unique. Diverse.
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Juggling Multiple Roles
MM: You directed every episode and co-wrote and co-created the series. What was it like to wear all those hats and balance your various roles?
MB: It was great to have creative control over this amazing story. I like to create mindful, trauma-informed and diverse sets and stories, which I could do on this series, where even our crew was diverse. I had a great conversation with our DP, Aakash Raj — I said, “We need to have more women on the camera team and camera department because you don’t see a lot of women.” He was so graceful and brought in women for the team.
I think people appreciated and respected that it wasn’t a set full of white men, which is what the film industry usually is. When you fill sets full of diverse people, queer people, trans people, women and people of color, they become better sets. They become more caring and mindful. Having the power I needed to do that is something I’m proud of and excited about as I progress in my career.
I directed all 30 episodes, which is unusual for a series. Usually, you have multiple directors. I wanted to tell stories about the Laotian, Vietnamese, Cambodian and Thai peoples — to be gentle with their stories and have a powerful delivery. I worked with these actors over and over again and developed deep friendships with many of them, opening up the world of their parents and grandparents’ stories and helping them heal through that.
Good storytelling helps us heal. That’s what I think we did with this series, and I’m proud of my role in that.
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Telling Their Story
MM: How has this experience shaped you as a filmmaker and storyteller?
MB: I think it’s the same as the last question. I was able to step into this world and role of healing and work closely with traumatized communities to tell their stories. We had a team of incredible Laotian consultants on the set, [as well as] academics and theater artists. We worked closely with them while telling this story.
I immersed myself in the culture; I went to local temples. It shaped me as a storyteller because I know I want to do that moving forward. I also don’t love hierarchical sets, so we created — I hope — a set that wasn’t based on hierarchy. People had a voice.
We also had a Southeast Asian mentorship program on set. We brought on a directing mentee and a producing mentee paid by the studio. They had an incredible DEI program, which is probably canceled now, but they had one then. Those are things I want to carry forward in my life.
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On the Horizon
MM: What else is on the horizon for you, career-wise?
MB: I am currently developing a feature horror film called The Devil’s Tears. It is set in a small Sri Lankan village after a 30-year civil war. It’s about a tiny community fractured by war. A paranormal threat comes to the village, and they work together to defeat it. It’s based on my travels around the world in post-conflict zones. It’s also an homage to one of my favorite filmmakers, John Carpenter, who has made incredible films like The Fog and The Thing. That is in development with a company called Fae Pictures. We’re hoping to shoot in 2026.
I’ve got a comedy series called How to Be Brown with a company called 90th Parallel. That’s a Broad City-style comedy about race and representation set in the early 2000s, post-9/11 Toronto. Then, there are lots of other small things and documentaries I work on all the time.
MM: Have you watched anything interesting lately?
MB: I watched a movie called Blue Ruin. It is an intense, creepy revenge thriller, and I loved it. I’m also watching Mo on Netflix, a hilarious comedy series. It’s [about] a Palestinian comic. Mo Amer is one of the funniest people.
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Favorite Films
MM: Name your five favorite films.
MB: Woman in the Dunes is one of my all-time favorite films. It’s an older Japanese arthouse film based on a cool book about a researcher who goes into a rural area in Japan to research insects. He meets a woman who lives inside of a sand dune. She slowly lures him in, and then he gets trapped down there with her. It becomes this hotbed of sexual tension and anger.
Sunset Boulevard is another timeless classic favorite. It’s a dark film noir. I recently watched a Korean horror film called The Wailing, which is creepy and intense. Korea does horror better than almost anyone. Blade Runner, which I hadn’t seen until two years ago, and I can’t believe I never saw [it]. It’s iconic and beautiful. Harrison Ford is, as always, so engaging.
I also really like the new Nosferatu. I’m a big gothic horror fan, and Nosferatu delivers. It’s Robert Eggers’ latest film. The cinematography is stunning — the light and shadow. Dracula is one of my favorite novels of all time. I reread that every few years because it gives me something new every time.
Thank you, Maya, for chatting with GGA!
You can now watch The Taylor Files in its entirety and check out Maya’s site to keep up with her work.
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What I do: I'm GGA's Managing Editor, a Senior Contributor, and Press Coordinator. I manage, contribute, and coordinate. Sometimes all at once. Joking aside, I oversee day-to-day operations for GGA, write, edit, and assess interview opportunities/press events.
Who I am: Before moving to Los Angeles after studying theater in college, I was born and raised in Amish country, Ohio. No, I am not Amish, even if I sometimes sport a modest bonnet.
Bylines in: Tell-Tale TV, Culturess, Sideshow Collectibles, and inkMend on Medium.
Critic: Rotten Tomatoes, CherryPicks, and the Hollywood Creative Alliance.
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