When the West Turns Its Gaze on Contemporary Asia
75 titles from 11 countries examining time and society through cinema.
Sylvia Chang will be collecting the Golden Mulberry for Lifetime Achievement Award.
Opening title is Chinese comedy Green Wave, a story of hopes and mistakes.
If Asia is a galaxy, contemporary Asia is the planet upon which the Far East Film Festival of Udine rests its eyes – eyes that are as curious as they are enamoured. That's what it's been doing ever since its very first edition in 1999, and now that it's about to write the 27th chapter of its long history, its eyes are looking more intensely than ever. And as well as being curious and enamoured, its eyes are also deeply attentive to the colours, nuances and pressures of current events. Even more than being a journey and an accumulation of narratives, the FEFF is a gaze - a gaze that graphic designer Roberto Rosolin has crystallised in the new official image that the festival will multiply through the thematic trajectories of the new line-up.
75 titles (48 in competition, 27 out of competition) from 11 countries. More precisely, 7 world premieres, 15 international premieres, 20 European premieres and 19 Italian premieres. A vast selection of popular cinema, which obviously also includes auteur movies and tributes to the past, through which to observe today's Asia and its narrative close-up. Very close-up. Never before, in fact, has popular cinema seemed so interested in speaking about time and society - without giving up its popular, mainstream and commercial vocation, but also without skimping on the food for thought. Food for thought that is sometimes trenchant. And from this point of view, the box office of mainland China certainly represents an emblematic case.
Chinese viewers loved Upstream, which reflects upon the phenomenon of the gig economy (after being fired, its protagonist tries to get by with temporary work), and they loved FEFF 27's opening film: Green Wave, which reflects on the phenomenon of tangping (young people metaphorically “lying down” in rejection of the ultra-competitive logics of career and success). And what is there to say about Her Story and Like a Rolling Stone? Two directors, Yihui Shao and Yin Lichuan, with two great stories of gender equality. Stories that use different languages – the language of comedy and the language of the biographical journey - to address the crux of the issue of female emancipation: the right of women to decide for themselves, to rebel, and to fly with their own wings.
Held in Udine at the historic headquarters of the Teatro Nuovo theatre and in the spaces of the Visionario cinema, FEFF 27 will close with a surprise film which is already destined to join the grand family of Far East cult movies: we're talking about the irresistible and highly anticipated Ya Boy Kongming! The Movie, the live-action adaptation of a famous manga set during the Music Battle Awards 2025, a contest where Japanese record labels battle one another fiercely. It's hard to imagine a film which is more anarchic, or more allergic to being classified!
From 24 April to 2 May the festival will offer a 9-day full immersion (with screenings from morning to night, talks, a daily live press review and stars walking the red carpet, without obviously forgetting the Focus Asia industry section, the journalistic itineraries of Bambù and the educational focus of the FEFF Campus) and will transform the heart of the city into a vibrant Asian Zone (there are over 100 Far East Film Events scheduled). A true celebration of cinema which is reflected in the words of the main sponsors, Credifriuli and Amga Energia & Servizi - Commercial brand of the Hera Group.
"For us," says Luciano Sartoretti, President of Credifriuli, "supporting the Far East Film Festival for the twelfth year in a row is not simply a question of tradition, but one of identity. We are a bank which is rooted in the local area and made up of people who believe in the value of culture and its power to create connections. The FEFF is much more than a festival: it's a bridge between Friuli and the world, just as we try to be for our community. Supporting events like this means investing in something that enriches all of us, and we will continue to do so with the same enthusiasm as always."
"The energy of Amga Energia & Servizi Gruppo Hera, with its solutions for sustainability and green mobility, is also at the service of the Far East Film Festival this year," says Isabella Malagoli, CEO of EstEnergy Spa and Hera Comm Spa, "and electric cars with our branding, which can be quickly and easily recharged at the Hera Ricarica recharging columns located in the Teatro Nuovo parking lot and throughout the city, will be available to the organisers and their international guests for the entire duration of the event. Our company is one of the historic supporters of the festival, which is undoubtedly one of the most important events for the city of Udine and for the entire Friuli Venezia Giulia region. The FEFF has the ability to anticipate cultural trends and has continued to attract the interest of the public for 27 years now. Its pioneering vision, open to the world and to new influences, reflects the values of innovation, sustainability and roots in the local area that are at the heart of the Hera Group's mission."
SYLVIA CHANG: A QUEEN IN UDINE
In 2024 a king by the name of Zhang Yimou took the stage of the Teatro Nuovo and the FEFF awarded him the Golden Mulberry for Lifetime Achievement Award. This year, on the same stage, a queen will be collecting the Golden Mulberry for Lifetime Achievement Award: Sylvia Chang. Actress, singer, director, screenwriter, producer and radio DJ. If it weren’t so overused, the word “icon” would be perfect for her - but to be honest, no word can really capture her greatness! FEFF 27 will allow visitors to admire the diva of yesterday, with Tsui Hark's legendary Shanghai Blues (one of the gems of the restored classics section), and the diva of today, with splendid family drama Daughter’s Daughter.
THE CINEMATIC GEOGRAPHY OF FEFF 27
As we wrote at the beginning when talking about mainland China, never before has popular Asian cinema seemed so interested in telling stories of time and society, and this powerful contemporary impulse is the common thread that connects cities, metropolises and nations on the map of Asia, outlining the cinematic geography of FEFF 27. If mainland China talks to us about the gig economy, tangping and gender equality, Japan entrusts the Lynchian Teki Cometh with one of the most thorny and debated topics: the ageing population. A theme which authors and directors in its homeland have been tackling for some years now (remember Plan 75?). If South Korea sides with those left on the margins (there are a thousand ways to be discriminated against and to become an outsider, as titles like Hear Me or Love in the Big City remind us), the Philippines pulls out Sunshine and points the finger at the criminalisation of abortion: a dramatic descent into the darkness of Manila for one of the most powerful, and most beautiful, titles of this edition. And finally, if living in the post-truth millennium forces us to try and distinguish every day between what is authentic and what is not, from Thailand comes incredible debut film The Stone where - as in the case of the terracotta bowl around which the opening film Green Wave unfolds - concepts of “true” and “false” become absolutely tangible. The Thais believe that amulets bring good luck and protection: this is why they are more precious than gold and diamonds and why the market is dominated by violent power struggles…
MONDO MIZUKI, MONDO YOKAI
100 original pages of artwork, magazines, books, video documents and critical texts to reconstruct the universe of legendary mangaka Shigeru Mizuki: we're talking about Mondo Mizuki, Mondo Yokai, the exhibition curated by Canicola, Vincenzo Filosa and Mizuki Productions which from the 26th of April to the 30th of August will bring the creative universe of a true giant of the manga form to the “Casa Cavazzini” Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Udine. A giant who specialised in stories about Yokai, the creatures of Japanese mythology. Organised on the occasion of FEFF 27, Mondo Mizuki, Mondo Yokai is the first anthological event in Italy and the second in Europe to celebrate one of the major protagonists of this Japanese art.
A MONSTER OF A RETROSPECTIVE!
Yokai also feature in this year's retrospective (and publication): Yokai and Other Monsters: From Asian Folklore to Cinema. 12 films that will fill the FEFF 27 screens with bizarre and disturbing "presences"! Japanese Yokai (sometimes very dangerous, like the fearsome Snow Woman) will alternate with Thailand's terrifying Krasue (flying head) and the almost analogous Mananang-gal from the Philippines, along with the leaping Chinese vampire known as the Jiangshi who is kept at bay not by garlic but... by rice. In short, a true embarrassment of riches to choose from. If Western horror cinema has always been nourished by folklore beliefs dating right back to Count Dracula, this retrospective intends to document how Asian horror-fantasy cinema has always plundered its own folklore, celebrating and redefining its own local monsters.
RESTORED CLASSICS
A special mention goes to the restored classics section, which is packed with truly unmissable movies: from the European premiere of Barking Dogs Never Bite, the explosive directorial debut of Oscar winner Bong Joon-ho, and Filipino evergreen Bona by Lino Brocka, right up to Johnnie To's absolute masterpiece PTU. The FEFF has also renewed its collaboration with the Taipei Archive (Taiwan Film and Audiovisual Institute) and will be presenting a three-film tribute to director Pai Ching-jui who, in 1961, managed to realise his dream and enrolled at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome where he studied Italian cinema and, in particular, neorealism.
FEFF ONLINE
Supported as always by MYmovies, this year's FEFF will also offer a priceless selection of titles online for the entire duration of the festival: 22 films that Asian distribution houses have made available for streaming.
THE JURY IS IN
If, as always, it is the public and the public alone who decide the three films that will climb the podium of the Far East Film Festival 27 to claim the the Golden Mulberry, the Silver Mulberry and the Crystal Mulberry, it will instead be the job of the two specialised juries to assign the White Mulberry for Best First Film and the Mulberry for Best Screenplay: these are, respectively, Megumi (actress, singer, influencer), Kim Yutani (programmer of the Sundance Film Festival) and Sakoda Shinji (international film representative), and three jurors from the "Sergio Amidei" Gorizia International Award for Best Screenplay: screenwriter Massimo Gaudioso, screenwriter Silvia D'Amico and director Francesco Munzi.
FEFF GOES GREEN
For a genuine reduction of its environmental impact, the FEFF last year started a process of calculating its carbon footprint in collaboration with TEC4IFVG and eFrame within the European project Capacity2Transform. This effort is part of the broader objective of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Region to reach carbon neutrality by 2045.