In 1972, on the sunlit beaches of Goa, India, T'ang Haywen crossed paths with filmmaker Tom Tam and his partner, Martha Sandler. This encounter led to T'ang's appearance in the psychedelic short film Furen Boogie, which was filmed on Goa's shores alongside his friend Andre Dzierzynski and Martha. A year later, in 1973, Tom Tam and T'ang collaborated to create T'ang Boogie, a groundbreaking work that is widely regarded as the first film d'artiste produced by a modern Chinese painter.

A note by Philippe Koutouzis: During my time in Hong Kong in 1994–95, I discovered an address for Tom Tam in New York among T'ang's papers. I sent several letters to this address but received no response. It wasn't until I moved to New York that Tom, having finally received one of my recent letters, reached out to me. Coincidentally, he lived just a few blocks away. We met, and he shared the fascinating story of his meeting with T'ang in Goa and the creative process behind T'ang Boogie. To support my research, Tom generously gave me the original wheel of T'ang Boogie and connected me with Martha Sandler, whom I later had the opportunity to meet.