Mickey Lai is a Malaysia-based writer-director with an MA in Film and TV Production from MetFilm School, London. Raised in a multiracial and religiously diverse society, she is drawn to examining how institutions such as family, religion, education, and the state quietly shape bodies, choices, and silences. Her thesis film, The Cloud Is Still There (2020), was selected at the Busan International Film Festival. This was followed by her documentary short, A Worm, Whatever Will Be, Will Be (2022), which received the Jury Award at SeaShorts. Her latest short, WAShhh (2024), premiered at the 77th Locarno Film Festival, where it won the Pardino d'Oro SRG SSR for Best International Short Film. That same year, she was selected for the Golden Horse Film Academy as a directing fellow, and in 2025 for the Locarno Spring Academy. She is also a 2026 Prince Claus Seed Awardee and a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS). In Quiet Hands is her debut feature.