This event is part of Forbidden Worlds Film Festival 2026. Visit www.forbiddenworldsfilmfestival.co.uk to see the full line-up as well as buy Weekend/Day Passes.

Dir: Ronny Yu | Hong Kong | 89 mins | Cert. 18

Ronny Yu’s stylish action film combines many of the traits that make Hong Kong fantasy films so unforgettable. With its lavish and visually stunning production combined with hauntingly touching scenes and grand sword fights, The Bride With White Hair tells the story of doomed lovers caught between warring clans.

Cho Yi Hang (A Better Tomorrow’s Leslie Cheung), a sword fighter of the Wudang Sect (aka the Wu-Tang Clan) who devotes his talents to righting wrongs, is haunted by the memory of Lian Nichang, a mysterious young girl who saved him from wolves as a boy. Now, many years later, he is reunited with her again, only to find Lian (Zu Warriors from the Magic Mountain’s Brigitte Lin) is now the lead killer for an evil cult.

Will their love triumph against the clans’ need for power and violence? Or does their future only hold death and betrayal?

With its jaw-droppingly beautiful cinematography by Peter Pau (Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon) and over-the-top action sequences, The Bride with White Hair is one of the best swordplay fantasy films ever made.

The film will be preceded by a panel discussion about women’s role in myths and legends and why, despite the genre’s popularity, they are often sidelined in fantasy films.

The panel will be chaired by Archaeo-Heritage Film Festival director Ellie Hendricks who will be talking to Mara Gold, author of Ancient Myths and Legends Without Men and film journalist and Empire Magazine’s ‘Geek Queen’ Helen O’Hara, author of Women Vs Hollywood: The Fall and Rise of Women In Film.

The panel will be approximately 45 mins long. There will be a 15 minute intermission between the panel and the film.

The film will be screened in its original Cantonese with English subtitles from Eureka Classics’ 4K restoration courtesy of Mandarin Motion Pictures Limited.