After Hong Kong superstars Stephy Tang and Josie Ho brought the glamour to the red carpet and Japanese legend Takeshi Kitano collected his Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement award live from Tokyo ("I'm now editing together my new film and I hope to come to Udine to present it to you"), Far East Film Festival 24 comes to an end with a grand total of 40 thousand spectators. 40 thousand spectators who, for nine days, literally became a single body...
As per a tradition dating back to the very first edition, it was the FEFF public who chose the winner, this year decreeing the victory of South Korea and awarding the Golden Mulberry to Miracle: Letters to the President by Lee Jang-hoon, a sweet-natured hymn to the power of dreams. In second and third place on the podium was China with Li Ruijun's Return to Dust and Xing Wenxiong's To Cool to Kill. Black Dragon pass-holders also voted for Return to Dust, while MYmovies readers chose South Korea's Kingmaker by Byun Sung-hyun.
The jurors for the best debut film (the Manetti Bros. and Vanja Kaludjercic, director of the Rotterdam Film Festival) confirmed the general enthusiasm for Too Cool to Kill, awarding it the White Mulberry, while the Mulberry Award for Best Screenplay - new this year - went to Jojo Hideo's Love Nonetheless (selected by several of the jurors of Gorizia's "Sergio Amidei" Prize: Massimo Gaudioso, Doriana Leondeff, Francesco Munzi and Silvia D'Amico).
After 2020's completely digital festival and 2021's blended edition, split between a streaming audience and an audience in the Visionario, the FEFF has finally come home, bringing with it more than 70 guests from Asia: the “Giovanni da Udine” Teatro Nuovo has resumed its role as headquarters and the Visionario played host to the special sections (Visions of Manila, The Odd Couples, Best of the Best) and the Canicola exhibition Tales from the Dusk. 'Normality' might still be some way off, but Udine's Festival has definitely helped shorten the distances - the enthusiasm of the Fareasters and the explosion of creativity documented by the programme speak for themselves...
Let's have a look at the numbers: 1,338 pass-holders this year, including numerous film students from Hungary, Britain, France, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria (as well as Italy). About 10 thousand people took part in the FEFF Events scattered throughout the city centre, and 250 professionals came from all over Europe (or connected online from the rest of the world) for the Focus Asia industry sessions. And on the platform managed by Mymovies, the online FEFF recorded over 10 thousand visitors from 24 countries.
Let's not forget that the 2022 line-up fielded a total of 72 films (13 world premieres, 18 international premieres, 11 European premieres and 13 Italian premieres), 42 of which in competition. The film industries of 10 Asian nations were represented, and 15 countries were involved (including, in an absolute first, Italy, with The Italian Recipe, an Italy-China co-production). 28 of the titles showing were selected for streaming on the platform managed by MYmovies.
All that remains now is to mark on your calendar the dates of the next edition, when the Far East Film Festival will hit a milestone – the quarter century: see you in Udine from the 21 st to the 29 th of April, 2023!