Sasha Rainbow’s feature debut, Grafted (2024), is a striking entry into the genre of body horror, distinguished by its satirical exploration of adolescence, beauty, and social conformity. Rainbow’s direction—particularly her use of cinematography and attention to the physical performances of her young actors—brings a visceral intensity to the film. Central to the film’s emotional core is Joyena Sun’s portrayal of Wei, a young Chinese woman whose arc reflects the physical and emotional contortions young women will endure in the quest for beauty, acceptance, and success.

A Diasporic Story: Crafting Grafted

Rainbow, a New Zealand–born filmmaker with Romani heritage and a deep sense of diaspora, draws from her own complex identity and the experiences of her family in her work. Rainbow worked with awarded horror fiction writer Lee Murray to bring Hweiling Ow and Mia Maramara’s original script centering an immigrant protagonist to the screen. Rainbow’s previous work, including award-winning documentary shorts Kamali and Kofi and Lartey, address issues of economics and access, gender, consumerism, and the environment. These themes are embedded in Rainbow’s approach to Grafted, a razor-sharp commentary that leaves a mark. “I felt strongly that it’s society that creates the monsters of our world,” says Rainbow. 

The body horror in Grafted is both physical and psychological, exploring how the pursuit of beauty can deform one’s identity. Wei’s journey is filled with visual symbolism, including references to Chinese and Greek mythology, most notably the stories of the Chinese fox spirit, and that of Narcissus. “From the moment I read the script I felt it was a fable, one inspired by Chinese as well as classical Greek myths,” says the director. Rainbow deftly incorporates these elements into the film’s symbology, as she plumbs into the depths of self-obsession and the societal forces that drive it.

Dual Arcs: Beauty and Brutality

At the center of Grafted is Wei, whose physical and emotional journey is captured through Rainbow’s expert direction of Sun and the rest of the cast. Wei is a brilliant young scientist, but her brilliance is overshadowed by a prominent birthmark on her face, a physical manifestation of her outsider status. As she travels from China to New Zealand in a quest to complete her father’s scientific work, Wei’s desperation for beauty and acceptance takes on increasingly grotesque dimensions. Rainbow’s direction emphasizes the physicality of this transformation, as Wei finds beauty and power in violence.

Rainbow’s approach to filming the young actors was rooted in improvisation, building on Sun’s mannerisms to create a shared physical language among the cast. “I thought of the evolution-of-man images,” Rainbow explains, “and how the character’s physicality would change as she changed as a person, to start small and withdrawn, to end frenetic and almost weightless.” 

The Power of Perspective

In Grafted, Rainbow delivers a powerful critique of the lengths young women are pushed to take in pursuit of impossible ideals. Her direction, combined with Sun’s haunting performance, turns Wei’s transformation into a harrowing meditation on the costs of social acceptance. Rainbow’s ability to capture the raw, painful experience of adolescence through such a stylized and symbolic lens marks Grafted as a standout in contemporary horror cinema. Sasha Rainbow’s Grafted is presented at the 44th Hawai’i International Film Festival as part of the Vilcek Foundation’s New American Perspectives program. The program is an important platform that centers and shines a spotlight on immigrant and foreign-born filmmakers and their contributions to contemporary cinema.