A new award, created especially for the occasion of the FEFF’s twentieth birthday (2018): the White Mulberry (Gelso Bianco), which will be awarded to the best first film in the official selection for FEFF25:
Ho Wi Ding
Born and raised in Malaysia, Ho Wi Ding attended film school at NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts and is now based in Taipei. His last feature film Terrorizers (2022) had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival and was the Opening Film of 2021 Taipei Golden Horse International Film Festival, where it garnered five nominations at the Golden Horse Awards. It was screened in various international festivals such as the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival and the 2022 Udine Far Fast Film Festival. Cities of Last Things (2018) had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival, where it won the Platform Award, and it was the Opening Film of the 2018 Singapore International Film Festival. His debut feature film Pinoy Sunday (2010, funded and supported by NHK, Japan) also had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Domestically Pinoy Sunday made headlines in Taiwanese cinema for the fact that its main language was not Mandarin and that it starred two non-Taiwanese actors, and it won Ho Wi Ding the Best New Director award at the Golden Horse Awards. It has since been hailed as a classic of modern Taiwanese cinema.
Ho Wi Ding was first noticed at Critics Week in Cannes with his short film Respire, which won two awards and later Best Fantasy Short Film at the SITGES Fantasy International Award. Back in 2005, the film depicted a distant future where people were required to wear masks by law because of an airborne virus – a frightening prediction of the Covid-19 pandemic 15 years later.
Fred Tsui
Originally an academic at Harvard University, Fred Tsui started his career in the film and TV business by programming for television, then segueing into film acquisitions for the world’s first commercial VOD service in Hong Kong, before becoming the general manager and head of sales and international co-production at Media Asia for 21 years. In October 2022, he started his own company Moebius Entertainment, serving as its founder and CEO.
Under this new outfit, he is currently the consultant for Peter Chan’s Changin’ Pictures, Louis Koo’s One Cool Group, and other Hong Kong and international companies. His scope of work encompasses film sales & acquisitions, festival and marketing strategies, investments and co-productions, script evaluation, hosting for airlines inflight entertainment, as well as various writing & translating.
A member of the Hong Kong Film Critics’ Society, he started writing film reviews in the 80’s and has since been on the jury in many film festivals around the world. He is currently a member of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences in the US and the Film Development Council in Hong Kong. Previously, he has been a board member of the Independent Film & Television Alliance in Los Angeles and Mercato Internazionale Audiovisivo in Rome.
Sydney Sibilia
Producer, director and screenwriter Sydney Sibilia has written and directed several successful short films, including the award-winning Oggi Gira Cosi (2010).
He made his feature debut with the dazzling Smetto quando voglio (2014), produced by Fandango, Ascent Film and Rai Cinema. The film was a huge hit with audiences and critics, was presented at prestigious international festivals (including the London Film Festival and the Reykjavik International Film Festival), received twelve nominations for the David di Donatello and won numerous awards, including the Nastro d’Argento for Best Producer and the Ciak d’Oro for Revelation of the Year.
In the same year he co-founded the film production company Groenlandia.
Subsequently, he also wrote and directed the sequels Smetto quando voglio Masterclass, produced by Groenlandia, Fandango and Rai Cinema, and Smetto quando voglio – Ad honorem, both released in cinemas in 2017.
In 2020, Netflix distributed his feature film Rose Island, which obtained numerous nominations for the David di Donatello, taking home three awards.
His latest film, Mixed by Erry, a Groenlandia production with Rai Cinema, was released in March 2023.