Pigsy
A fast-paced, action-packed animated science fiction extravaganza that takes cues from China’s centuries-old Monkey King legends, as a streetwise pig in a bustling future metropolis makes friends and foes in his quest to stop the Bull Demon King’s evil plans.
Pigsy is unsatisfied with his life in Old Town, a dilapidated and overcrowded neighborhood in a futuristic Taiwan. He dreams about moving to the New World, but unfortunately for the self-absorbed pig, only the most productive members of society are selected for utopia. In a last-ditch effort to secure his and his grandmother’s future, he agrees to help a sketchy underground organization get access to the Nirvana algorithm that selects who goes to the New World. As Pigsy spies on his boss, the algorithm’s inventor, he finds himself becoming friends with the very people he must betray to get to the New World. Pigsy is based on the classic Chinese novel “Journey to the West” and is about becoming part of a community by learning to appreciate the people in your life. Director Li-Wei Chiu’s expressive animation combines 2D and 3D techniques to create a distinctly high-energy Taiwanese style with a cyberpunk twist.
—Mackenzie Wardlow
- Original Language Title: 八戒
- Director: Li Wei Chiu
- Principal Cast: Kuan Ting Liu, Chung Hua Tou, Kuang Han Hsu, Harlem Yu, Yu Wei Shao
- Country: Taiwan, Netherlands
- Year: 2023
- Running Time: 95 min.
- Producer: Phil Tang, Bruno Felix
- Screenplay: Li Wei Chiu, Takahashi Natsuko, Ang Zheng Su, John Pao Chuan Wang
- Cinematographers: Li Wei Chiu
- Editors: Meng-Ju Shieh
- Music: George Chen, Francis Sun
- Awards: Golden Horse Awards 2023 (Best Animation)
- Filmography: Barkley (2017), Weather Boy! (2016)
- Language: Chinese
- Has Subtitles: Yes
- International Sales: Greener Grass Culture Co., Ltd.