Hong Kong legends Eric Tsang and Nancy Sit star in ‘Rags 2 Richmond’
After drawing more than 9 million Instagram views in its first month, Asian male pageant comedy Rags 2 Richmond has grown into a feature film starring Jonathan Wong alongside Hong Kong entertainment veterans Eric Tsang and Nancy Sit.
NextShark Studios has joined the independently produced musical comedy, with NextShark founder and CEO Benny Luo coming aboard as an executive producer ahead of its September 14 market screening at TIFF Lightbox.
The film follows Nathan, played by Wong, who enters Canada’s first Asian male beauty pageant hoping to break into entertainment. Set across Richmond, Vancouver and Hong Kong, the story explores ambition, identity and belonging through Nathan and an unlikely group of contestants.
Wong leads a cast that also includes Richmond-born Jennifer Tong, known for Fakes and Fire Country, and Shannon Kook of The Conjuring franchise and Reacher.
Tsang brings a five-decade career in film and television, including Infernal Affairs, while Sit, whose credits include Stephen Chow’s The God of Cookery, has been a fixture of Hong Kong entertainment for more than six decades.
Returning performers from the original microdrama include Leslie Kwan, Kristina Lao, Yasmine Ross and Davin Tong, who became widely known as Peter Chao during YouTube’s early years.
Created by Wong, Justina Shih and Simon Yin, Rags 2 Richmond debuted on Instagram in December 2024 as a 28-episode vertical series. Its audience helped fuel a partnership with digital and influencer marketing company Viral Nation and the expansion into a feature.
Filmed in Richmond and Vancouver, the movie introduces a new central female character played by Jennifer Tong and expands the original series’ two songs into a 12-song soundtrack composed largely by Wong. Wong wrote the screenplay with Patrick Do and Aaron Sprecher.
The premise draws on Richmond’s connections to Miss Hong Kong, TVB’s Mr. Hong Kong competition and Fairchild TV’s Canadian Sunshine Boyz competition, which served as pathways into Asian film, television and music.
“Having grown up watching and later working closely with beauty pageants, I’ve seen how difficult it has traditionally been for Asian men to be portrayed positively in mainstream media,” Shih said in a statement. “This story reminds people they don’t have to hide behind a mask or pretend to be someone else. They can be themselves, and that’s enough.”
Wong describes the project’s ambition as “Asian possibility”: showing Asian characters who are ambitious, funny, flawed and larger than life.
For Luo, the film reflects how creators can use an existing audience to bring larger projects to life.
“Creators no longer have to develop something behind closed doors and hope there is an audience—they can put an idea in front of people, see what connects and build from there,” Luo said. “Jonathan and the team found an audience and are using that momentum to create something much bigger. I’ve always believed culturally specific stories shouldn’t have a ceiling.”
Luo’s film credits include Stem, My Dad, the Rockstar, Loving Day, Flavor of the Month and Death & Ramen.
Executive producers also include Kevin Healey and Paul Telner, alongside Viral Nation. Healey, chief creative officer of Media Trifecta and a former co-head of Kevin Hart’s Hartbeat Studios, counts Scare Tactics, The Carbonaro Effect, Die Hart and the Tribeca documentary Group Therapy among his credits.
The project is also expanding into unscripted television, with Telner and Media Trifecta’s Sharone Ostrovsky and Healey developing a competition series centered on Asian male pageantry.
Production on the feature has wrapped, and distribution discussions are underway. According to the filmmakers, its premiere market screening is scheduled for Monday, September 14, at 9:45 p.m. at TIFF Lightbox as part of TIFF: The Market. Worldwide rights are available through Zac Reeder of Lucky 27 Media.
