Rainbow War
(Bob Rogers, Canada 1987, 20 min., 16mm)
Zu: Warriors from the Magic Mountain
(Suk saan: San suk ssan gim hap, Hong Kong 1983, 98 min., 35mm, Cantonese with English subtitles)
The inspiration for Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, this classic early 80s swordplay fantasy epic is what started it all. During a Chinese civil war in the 1740s, forces of good and evil face off in the Zu Mountains and, with no short supply of magic, battle through the air and across mountains. Hark's film finds its charm in the telling of spectacle-filled myth on a meager budget, where dazzling visuals and over-the-top stylistics make for a wild, wild ride. Preceded by Rainbow War, a short film created for Expo 86, held in Vancouver, a futuristic fable in which a society separated by color is brought together by a young man who builds a vitruvian ring that can travel between the kingdoms.
These films are screened as a part of The 2026 Anomaly Film Festival.
Film prints from the George Eastman Museum collection.