Event

FANTASY OF DEER WARRIOR

Dir. Ying Chang, 1961.
Taiwan, 87 min.
In Min Nan with English subtitles.

Fantasy of Deer Warrior is a Taiwanese children's movie featuring human actors dressed up in simple animal costumes to play their roles as the warriors of the forest.

It is part of the series Children on Fire which collects some of the strangest and most unconventional films to deal with ideas of childhood, play and growth, imagination and personal responsibility. Though many of them flirt around the edges of the standard "coming of age" movie, none are committed to easy answers about the mysteries of youth and the painful passage into young adulthood. The result is a vision of youth that is very different from what we see in mainstream cinema and television. Here, the threats against youth and innocence do not come from outside influences, but rather from within the children themselves, be it overactive imaginations and hormones or a lack of internal moral compass. These movies will both shock and delight you with their portrayals of how youth is projected in cinema, and how it projects itself back when it's given voice and intent.