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And the winner is... Udine; specialist Asian film festival dons a larger mantle
05 May 2025
"Her Story", a Chinese feminist drama movie, was named the top prize-winner at the Far East Film Festival in Italy’s Udine in the small hours of Saturday morning. An extended version of Hong Kong box-office record-breaker "The Last Dance" also collected multiple awards. But the overall winner was the festival itself.
Now in its 27th edition, FEFF Udine has completed a transition from European fan event, one focused on commercial not art-house Asian films, to an essential stop on the Asian film industry calendar.
One wag suggested that Udine is becoming an alternative and substitute for the mighty Cannes festival, which starts a short hop away in southern France in a matter of days. FEFF’s narrower geographical focus and its different selection criteria are unlikely to ever make that completely true.
But Udine has emerged as a cheaper to use and more efficient industry event for companies in the business of developing, producing and distributing Asia-Pacific films.
Several participants judged it important enough to make the 27-hour trip from Australia.
A project market, works-in-progress screenings, a conference series with a focus on East-West coproduction and finance, as well as a mentoring programme now receive support from local institution backers as diverse as the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia Audiovisual Fund and multiple agencies of the European Union.
They now see the festival as a component of the FVG region’s soft-power outreach, along with the Venice Biennale, the Venice film festival and another festival dedicated to animation in Pordenone. Udine’s museums and shops decorate themselves for the occasion.
International backing comes from Taiwan’s TAICCA, four different Hong Kong agencies, Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Office, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the German Federal Film Board and Telefilm Canada.
Industry-focused conference sessions addressed matters such as improving distribution of European films in Asia and how producers can use AI-powered focus groups. (Hint: once trained, the virtual group members replicate their real-world role models’ opinions with a 90% accuracy and are available 24-7 for a year.)
The festival proper also organises an annual campus that trains youngsters from Asia and Europe in the dark arts of film criticism and industry reporting.
Udine’s highlights nevertheless remain the films and filmmakers themselves.
Triple Tokyo festival winner “Teki Cometh” and the controversial Hong Kong family drama “Papa” were standouts in a programme of nearly 70 films.
Taiwan superstar Sylvia Chang was on hand to receive a lifetime achievement award. So too was pioneering ...
"Her Story", a Chinese feminist drama movie, was named the top prize-winner at the Far East Film Festival in Italy’s Udine in the small hours of Saturday morning. An extended version of Hong Kong box-office record-breaker "The Last Dance" also collected multiple awards. But the overall winner was the festival itself.
Now in its 27th edition, FEFF Udine has completed a transition from European fan event, one focused on commercial not art-house Asian films, to an essential stop on the Asian film industry calendar.
One wag suggested that Udine is becoming an alternative and substitute for the mighty Cannes festival, which starts a short hop away in southern France in a matter of days. FEFF’s narrower geographical focus and its different selection criteria are unlikely to ever make that completely true.
But Udine has emerged as a cheaper to use and more efficient industry event for companies in the business of developing, producing and distributing Asia-Pacific films.
Several participants judged it important enough to make the 27-hour trip from Australia.
A project market, works-in-progress screenings, a conference series with a focus on East-West coproduction and finance, as well as a mentoring programme now receive support from local institution backers as diverse as the Italian Ministry of Culture, the Friuli-Venezia-Giulia Audiovisual Fund and multiple agencies of the European Union.
They now see the festival as a component of the FVG region’s soft-power outreach, along with the Venice Biennale, the Venice film festival and another festival dedicated to animation in Pordenone. Udine’s museums and shops decorate themselves for the occasion.
International backing comes from Taiwan’s TAICCA, four different Hong Kong agencies, Japan’s Visual Industry Promotion Office, the Film Development Council of the Philippines, the German Federal Film Board and Telefilm Canada.
Industry-focused conference sessions addressed matters such as improving distribution of European films in Asia and how producers can use AI-powered focus groups. (Hint: once trained, the virtual group members replicate their real-world role models’ opinions with a 90% accuracy and are available 24-7 for a year.)
The festival proper also organises an annual campus that trains youngsters from Asia and Europe in the dark arts of film criticism and industry reporting.
Udine’s highlights nevertheless remain the films and filmmakers themselves.
Triple Tokyo festival winner “Teki Cometh” and the controversial Hong Kong family drama “Papa” were standouts in a programme of nearly 70 films.
Taiwan superstar Sylvia Chang was on hand to receive a lifetime achievement award. So too was pioneering director Tsui Hark, who gave a masterclass and presented a sumptuous 4K restoration of his 1984 comedy Shanghai Blues.
– By Patrick Frater
Far East Film Festival, Udine,
2025 Prize Winners
Gold Audience Mulberry: “Her Story” (China) dir. Shao Yihui.
Silver Audience Mulberry: “The Last Dance (Extended Version)” dir. Anselm Chan.
Crystal Audience Mulberry: “Like a Rolling Stone” (China) dir. Yin Lichuan
Purple Mulberry: “Silent City Driver” (Mongolia)
White Mulberry for best first-time director: “Diamonds in the Sand” (Philippines, Japan, Malaysia) dir. Janus Victoria.
Special mention: “The Square” (Korea) dir. Kim Bo-sol.
Mulberry for best screenplay: “Welcome to the Village” (Japan) dir. Jojo Hideo.
Black Dragon Audience Award: “The Last Dance (Extended Version)".
TAICCA/Focus Asia Co-Production Award (EUR10,000 development support prize): Filipino project "What’s Left of Us", directed by Tyrone Acierto and produced by Wilfredo Manalang (FUSEE)
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