The principal aim of the Far East Film Festival has always been that of
reducing the cultural distance between the East and the West by showcasing the films which are popular in Asia: the films people are actually going to see at the cinema - the blockbusters and genre films that rarely used to reach Western audiences except through pirated copies or in other unorthodox ways.
Over the past 20 years, many of the channels which provide access to films (free TV, pay TV, VOD, streaming and home video) have begun devoting varying amounts of space to the greatest Asian filmmakers.
And most of the titles which have reached Western audiences have passed through the Far East Film Festival.
The
birth of Focus Asia has been, therefore,
a natural development of the festival.
15 titles have been selected by Focus Asia, the
Far East Film Festival's Project Market dedicated to
“films of tomorrow” with convincing potential for co-production and co-financing
in Europe or Asia, which will be presented from the
30th of April to the 2nd of May during
FEFF 21 to over 200 professionals from the sector as part of a densely-packed programme of panels, one-to-one meetings, screenings and networking opportunities.
The
selection committee examined
95 projects in total (which arrived in Udine from
31 countries) and is composed of four professionals who are leaders in the world of genre cinema:
Thomas Jongsuk Nam of NAFF - Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (Bucheon, South Korea),
Sten-Kristian Saluveer of the Black Nights Film Festival - Industry@Tallinn & Baltic Event (Tallinn, Estonia),
Mike Hostench of the Sitges International Fantastic Film Festival of Catalonia (Sitges, Spanish State) and
Valeria Richter of Nordic Factory / Nordic Genre Boost (Oslo, Norway).
This year the project market includes the new
Chinese Focus section which includes
6 Chinese language projects and is part of
China Coproduction Day, an event dedicated entirely to opportunities for cooperation between China and Europe (organized in collaboration with
Katherine Lee, producer of My Favorite Films – Hong Kong).
Furthermore, thanks to the new collaboration between the
Far East Film Festival and
HAF - Hong Kong, the winner of the
Focus Asia Award assigned in Hong Kong (the Philippine
The Grandstand by
Mikhail Red) will have the opportunity to participate in the event in Udine.
Focus Asia has also launched a further international partnership with
Golden Horse Film Project Promotion – Taiwan.
Let's not forget that the
Project Market is organized by the
Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche/Far East Film Festival of Udine with the help of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Audiovisual Fund and of the MiBACT General Directorate for Cinema.
FOCUS ASIA 2019 – The 15 projects selected:
Everybody Leaves, by Phyllis Grae Grande and produced by Alemberg Ang (Philippines)
Hope dies last, by Stephanie Leitl and produced by Hong Kai Sun Austria (China)
In Youth we Trusted, by Hoang Diep Nguyen and produced by Hoang Diep Nguyen and Thach Thao Vo (Vietnam)
Plan 75, by Chie Hayakawa and produced by Eiko Mizuno-Gray (Japan)
Rosamie, by Joon Goh and produced by Elise Shick (Malaysia)
The Convenience Store, by Satoshi Miki and produced by Emi Ueyama e Mark Schilling (Japan)
The Sleepless Girl, by François Chang and produced by Ke Ma (France, Taiwan, Canada)
Under Construction, by Nadim Tabet and produced by Georges Schoucair and Myriam Sassine (Lebanon)
FOCUS ASIA Award at the HAF - Hong Kong:
The Grandstand, by Mikhail Red and produced by Pauline Zamora (Philippines)
CHINESE FOCUS:
Faruk & Abdullah, by Tawfiq Nizamidin and produced by Stefano Centini and Chuti Chang (Taiwan, France, Netherlands)
Honey Badger, by Yan Zhou and produced by Yuan Li (China)
Lovers on the Volcano, by Yahan Lei and produced by Li Fang (China)
Money Is Everything, by Mandrew Kwan and produced by Jacqueline Liu and Yuin Shan Ding (Hong Kong SAR China)
The Alaya: Mind Divers, by Chung LEE and produced by Sky T.H. Chao (Taiwan)
The Boy from Pluto, by Chuang Shiang-an and produced by Patrick Mao Huang (Taiwan)
Please find below our FOCUS ASIA Industry Guide 2019
INDUSTRY_GUIDE_FEFF21-WEB.PDF
Please find below our FOCUS ASIA Program
industry-guide_calendario-def.pdf
It is possible to get the FOCUS ASIA Panels badge at the following link:
https://vp.eventival.eu/fareastff/2019