Xu Haofeng - script writer for Wong Kar Wai's The Grandmasters - is about to premiere his directorial debut The Sword Identity in Venice and Toronto and ScreenAnarchy is proud to premiere the film's English subtitled international teaser.
A very artistic take on the swordplay genre Xu's picture is a gorgeously composed piece of work that appears to ignore the hyperkinetic trends of the past decade in favor of a far more classic style. Watch the teaser below.Once upon a time in the Southern Chinese city of Guancheng, there lived four families, each of them faithful keepers of martial arts. Anyone who wanted to establish a new school, or a new form of kung fu, had to fight his way through the family's gates.
Two swordsmen enter the city to request a competition and start their own school, their strange new weapons are mistaken for Japanese swords and therefore forbidden by purist Chinese masters as a foreign fighting device. They are accused of being Japanese pirates by the masters of the martial arts schools.
Facing arrest, the swordsmen must prove the value of swordsmanship by defeating the masters and a living legend who has returned from exile in the mountains.