Set in a spectacular post-apocalyptic world many thousands of years in the future, this riotously inventive, action-packed 3D animation epic from YiLi Studios in China is like nothing we’ve ever seen before.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2015
10,000 Years Later 3D 2015
Yi wan nian yi hou
The first fully CGI-animated film from China, 10,000 Years Later draws on a Tibetan fable about the dangers of technology, but technology is what it flaunts – in delirious outbursts of wildly inventive imagery.
Many thousands of years after the collapse of civilisation, the world is a post-tech wasteland inhabited by fantastical humanoid tribes. Peace is threatened by the return of an evil warlord, Wushen – a sinister shapeshifting manifestation of the evils of modern technology – who threatens to enslave all comers. The unlikely heroine is Zhuma, a ten-year-old girl accompanied by Zhanggong, her lion-esque Tibetan Mastiff dog. With the help of an ethereal goddess she must assemble a motley band of allies from the surviving tribes to stop Wushen from gaining control over an ancient power. The imagery is both surreally beautiful and mind-blowingly nightmarish – from a fantastic valley where broccoli grows like redwoods to a ravenous pack of skeletal dogs who hunt down our heroes. The awe-inspiring animation is complemented by striking sound work from POW! Post in Wellington in a first-of-its-kind China/New Zealand collaboration.