WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW Special Screening: April 28.2012
Friday April 13, 2012
WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW: SEEDIQ BALE
SPECIAL SCREENING with Director and Producer in Attendance
April 28, 2012 – 7 PM – Cineplex Odeon International Village
This will be a SOLD OUT Event!!!
Reserve your seats now!
Short Synopsis
Some eighty years ago, in the mountains of Taiwan, two races clashed in defense of their faiths. One race believed in rainbows, the other believed in the sun. Neither side realized that they both believed in the same sky.
Long Synopsis
Wei Te-sheng’s epic film Warriors of the Rainbow: Seediq Bale reclaims an extraordinary episode from 20th- century history which is little-known, even in Taiwan. Between 1895 and 1945, the island was a Japanese colony inhabited not only by the majority (Han Chinese Immigrants) but also by the remnants of the aboriginal tribes who first settled the mountainous land. In 1930 Mouna Rudo, the leader of the Seediq tribe settled on and around Mount Chilai, forged a coalition with other Seediq tribal leaders and plotted a rebellion against their Japanese colonial masters. It was to begin at a sports day meeting where the assembled tribesmen were to attach and kill the Japanese officials and would then broaden to sieges on police stations and local government offices in the region. The initial uprising took the Japanese by surprise and was almost entirely successful. But the Japanese soon sent in their army to crush the rebellion, using aircraft and poison gas.
Mouna Rudo knew from the start that the relatively small force of Seediq tribesmen stood no chance of defeating the might of Japan. But he and his allies were sustained by the beliefs and myths which had nourished their tribes since time immemorial. Young males in the tribes had to undergo a rite of passage to become adult men, which gave them the right to have their faces tattooed. In the tribal language, they became Seediq Bale – heroes of the tribe. Their belief was that their ancestors would lead the spirits of the Seediq Bale across a rainbow bridge to the summit of the mountain when their time came. And so whatever the result of their uprising against Japan, they would march in victory across the rainbow bridge. The heroism and fortitude of the Seediq warriors and their womenfolk shocked even the Japanese, and won them enduring respect.
IN ATTENDANCE
Director / Screenwriter: Wei Te-Sheng Biography
Born in 1969, Wei Te-Sheng joined a small production company in 1993 and learned his craft on the job. He has assistant director credits on many films, including Edward Yang’s MAHJONG (1996) and Chen Kuo-Fu’s DOUBLE VISION (2002). He made his feature ABOUT JULY as a modest independent production in 1999, winning praise from critics in Taiwan and a Special Mention from the Dragons & Tigers Award jury at Vancouver Film Festival. His second feature, CAPE NO. 7 (2008), was also made on a relatively modest scale but became the highest-grossing Taiwanese film in the history of Taiwan and picked up prizes at the Golden Horse Awards, Hawaii Film Festival and the Asian Marine Film Festival. The huge success of CAPE NO. 7 helped him to raise the finance to make WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW: SEEDIQ BALE, a project he has nurtured since the mid-1990s.
Producer: Jimmy Huang Biography
One of the most experienced producers in Taiwan, Jimmy Huang is best known for his collaborations with Tsai Ming-Liang (THE RIVER and THE HOLE) and with Chen Kuo-Fu (THE PERSONALS and DOUBLE VISION, the latter co- produced with Columbia Pictures. He went on to produce a string of blockbusters: Su Chao-Pin’s sci-fi thriller SILK, Jay Chou’s SECRET, and Wei Te-Sheng’s CAPE NO. 7, which went on to become one of the biggest hits in Taiwan film history.
Awards
WARRIORS OF THE RAINBOW: SEEDIQ BALE, the Official Selection for the 84th Annual Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film; Official Selection, Toronto International Film Festival, Venezia Cinema 2010 Fuori Concorso; Nominated for Best Film, Best Director, Best Cinematographer, Best Production Designer, Best Supporting Actor, and Best Composer at the Asian FIlm Festival; Nominated for Best Action Asia Award at the Deauville Asian Film Festival; Nominated for a Golden Lion for Director Te-Sheng Wei at the Venice Film Festival.
