What happens when a surgeon becomes an actor, a poet becomes a screen presence, and a filmmaker discovers his next talent somewhere he least expected to look?

Conroy Chan has spent decades moving between worlds — from modelling and acting to music and filmmaking — building a career that refuses to settle into a single definition. As the producer behind 852 Films, the Hong Kong-based company he co-founded with Josie Ho, he has continued to champion films that exist somewhere beyond the obvious, embracing genre, risk and stories with the potential to travel beyond their place of origin.

Iman Taheri arrived from an entirely different direction. A former surgeon and lifelong poet, the Iranian-Canadian artist entered Hong Kong cinema almost by accident, after meeting Chan and Ho through circumstances far removed from a film set. What began as a real-life encounter evolved into a creative collaboration, eventually making Taheri the first talent signed by 852 Films. His screen debut in The Mage, directed by the Pang Brothers, marks the beginning of a new chapter — one in which medicine, poetry and performance begin to occupy the same space. 

Their story speaks to something larger than reinvention. In an industry increasingly built around recognisable formulas, both have chosen movement over definition: between cultures, disciplines, identities and creative languages. Now, as The Mage carries a distinctly Hong Kong supernatural story into an increasingly international landscape, Chan and Taheri talk with Numéro Berlin about crossing borders, finding new creative identities, the freedom of being an outsider — and what happens when the most unexpected parts of a life become the material for something new. 

SB: Hong Kong has historically existed at a fascinating intersection of cultures — Chinese, Cantonese, colonial, international — and its cinema developed an identity that travelled far beyond the city itself. What does Hong Kong represent to you culturally today, and what part of that identity are you trying to preserve or reinvent through 852 Films?

Conroy Chan & Iman Taheri: I feel with the advent of mass transportation, the internet and the smartphone that culture has evolved and is not purely designated to one place or another. It’s funny when people ask me what 852 stands for; I just say call me! When we first started our journey we were finding ourselves and our identity but at the same time the driving motivation for 852 Films was always and forever be creativity and entertainment!

SB: Contemporary culture is increasingly shaped by algorithms, franchises and the pressure to be immediately legible. 852 Films has often moved in the opposite direction, towards genre, cult cinema and unconventional characters. Is being difficult to categorise becoming a form of cultural resistance?

CC&IT: At the start of our journey it was sort of like that but as you evolve you realise we are all one living under the same sun! The boundaries and borders slowly melts away! If anything it adds to the melting pot that is known as culture.

SB: Cult films often begin outside the mainstream and end up influencing it. When you make something deliberately unconventional, are you thinking about an audience at all — or does cultural relevance sometimes require ignoring what an audience supposedly wants?

CC&IT: We follow our instinct and creativity and try not to be bounded by the audience or any boundaries. If you build it they will come! Just don’t know how many though.. haha!

SB:  Through 24Herbs, you were also part of developing a distinctly Hong Kong expression of hip-hop. Hip-hop itself is a culture built on translation, localisation and resistance. What happens to hip-hop when it becomes Hong Kong music rather than an imported American form? And how do you look at the contemporary global Hip Hop culture right now?

CC: Haha! In the band we always say “ 好聽Clan “ Ho Tang Clan (riffing off Wu Tang Clan): “Sounds Good Clan. “ Doesn’t matter what genre, where or when as long as it sounds good! Love the vibes now, love seeing people doing their thing!

SB: Hong Kong cinema had an extraordinary global cultural influence in previous decades. Do you think a new generation of Hong Kong filmmakers feels the weight of that history, or is the more interesting question now how to escape it? What are other young filmmakers you are looking at right now? And what shapes their language and how is it different from yours?

CC&IT: I don’t think the newer generations feel the weight of history as they’re having a hella of a time trying to handle the “ Now “! Recently got to see “ Magic Farm “ by Amelia Ulman and “ Backrooms “ by Kane Parsons. I’m loving the more DIY culture now as there are more tools at your disposal! Love that creative force. Definitely the same spirit but now is at a more mature state. We had to experiment more as things weren’t as accessible as now!

SB: The Mage belongs to supernatural and horror cinema, but horror has historically been one of the most effective genres for talking about collective fears, trauma and social anxieties. What fear beneath the supernatural surface of The Mage interested each of you most?

CC&IT: That fear stems from humanity whether you are human or ghosts and that no matter how dark it seems there is always hope!

SB: Asian horror has profoundly influenced the global visual language of the genre. What do you think audiences outside Asia still misunderstand about the cultural or spiritual ideas behind Asian supernatural cinema?

CC&IT: The misunderstandings are far less now with so much information out there! It’s more to do with sifting through the information and misinformation to form your own opinion! It’s more about perspectives nowadays!

SB: Iman came into the 852 Films world through an extraordinary real-life encounter with Conroy before eventually becoming an actor. When you worked together on The Mage, did that history change the level of trust between you?

AKR: That’s funny, because when I first heard the song, I immediately thought of the music I used to watch on MTV.

Julian: Before we started writing, we had a bunch of demos that were still pretty electronic. But at some point, we listened to a lot of reference tracks and realized: okay, no, this needs to rock. I had already sensed that. Fabi had been missing some of that guitar energy too. So it suddenly clicked.

AKR: Why do you think that sound feels so right again now?

Julian: Indie sleaze has been creeping back for a while, but right now it feels especially present. You see it in a lot of new bands. I recently came across this new Berlin duo, the Nightclubs, and they look like they’ve stepped straight out of New York in 2009. Maybe we’re drawn to that era because it was the last time the world still felt somewhat in order.

AKR: Which almost feels unusual now, when creativity is so quickly expected to become a strategy or a product.

Fabian: Exactly. We grew purely out of fun. We didn’t have a band name, a target or a release plan. We met a few times and tried to establish a routine simply because we wanted to get better together and have fun. Only later did it become: okay, maybe we should actually release something.

Julian: I also think people often approach music in a very goal-oriented way now: “I need a hit, I need a record.” But when you’re young, you don’t think like that. You just play. Maybe the next song is a reggae track, then a ballad, then something completely different. We’re trying to keep some of that freedom.

AKR: So essentially, you create from a place that comes from the heart rather than overthinking it.

Julian: Exactly. There are endless days where we try a thousand things in the studio and end up sticking with nothing. We don’t have a huge master plan behind it. That’s actually what I love about it.

AKR: Your name is Neuswanstein, which might raise an eyebrow or two. Where did it come from? What was the original idea behind it?

Julian: I just think König Ludwig was crazy. My dad used to act in a play where King Ludwig was a character. Even as a kid, I found it absurd to learn about this person in school who went wild with state funds, was gay, and cared way more about art and culture than boring day-to-day state business. He had this almost extravagant, tragic existence. I’ve always found that fascinating. And of course there’s the castle — this completely over-the-top symbol of fantasy.

AKR: Fabian, as a native of Munich, what does the name mean to you?

Fabian: I love it. We’re both from the Munich area, so there’s obviously a connection. But what I like about Neuschwanstein is that it’s almost surreal. You have this very conservative idea of Bavaria, and then suddenly there’s this completely excessive fairytale castle sitting in the landscape. That contradiction is great.

AKR: Things can move incredibly fast now. What are the next steps for the whole project?

Julian: We want to make an EP and hopefully gain a few listeners along the way. But honestly, the main thing is that we enjoy making it. If it evolves naturally, great. If it doesn’t, that’s okay too.

Fabian: Over the last few months, we’ve had references and a direction we liked, but whenever we tried to push too hard toward something specific, it became too calculated. The EP will tell us where this wants to go.

AKR: What’s the musical idea behind the project as a whole?

Julian: For me, it needs to contain enough guitar that we can actually reproduce it live. I want it to feel electronic and indie at the same time — a bit like the way The Hellp combine those references.

Fabian: And I want to be able to DJ our music, but also play it live. We could bring in external friends and family if we want to stand onstage as a five-piece with drums and everything. But there’s also enough of an electronic backbone that we could simply DJ and plug in a guitar. That versatility is the idea.

Julian: It’s too early to define it too strictly. For us, it’s mostly about expressing emotions through music.

AKR: I hope I get to see you live soon.

Antonia Schmidt: You’ve already done several pop-ups in other cities. Why now Berlin?

Arnaud Frisch: In Berlin, club culture has historically functioned as a cultural form in its own right, bringing together music, performance, visual culture and communities in an organic way. In that sense, Berlin feels very close to something that has always been central to Silencio.

AS: Nightlife as well.

AF: Berlin is the model. This city has inspired the rest of the world. I have great admiration for the clubs here, the ones still running and the ones that are gone, and not only for the music. What Berlin built is a place where individual freedom is taken seriously, where people are protected and where everyone is allowed to be whoever they are for a night.

AS: Watergate specifically is a great location.

AF: Watergate is a landmark, and taking over a room with that history is intimidating. It drew its own path to the city with that window onto the Spree. Anyone who has watched the sun come up over the water from the lower floor knows it. Its closing was a real loss for Berlin. What mattered to us was that it stays a club rather than becoming offices.

AS: Can you tell me a bit about the program already?

AF: Cultural programming is the centre of the project. In Paris, beyond the club nights, we run carte blanche invitations, art performances, concerts, installations and talks. The first Berlin night already gave a sense of it: a performance by Valentina Magaletti, DJ sets from Richie Hawtin and Ben Klock, and a limited-edition military tag by Maurizio Cattelan given to everyone who came.

AS: Berlin has this quality, where all these different scenes are already so connected to each other. The music scene overlaps with the fashion scene, the film scene… A lot of people are already in exchange with each other.

AF: In Paris the scenes overlap, but they’re vertical. Everything passes through institutions, and each world has its own gatekeepers. Berlin is horizontal. People collaborate before anyone has given them permission, and that changes what a night can be.

AS: Tell me a bit about your relationship with Mumi, the founder of Reference Studios who is now supporting you with the pop up.

AF: It happened naturally. Mumi came to our first Fashion Week at Silencio. His agency was new then and was doing things nobody else was doing: connecting fashion with art, hospitality, and other fields. That was very close to how we were already working. We kept crossing paths around the world, and it grew from there.