Director Lee Jang-hoon’s “Miracle: Letters to the President” was selected on Saturday as the best winning film at the Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, after an audience poll. Festival organizers described the South Korean film as “a gentle hymn to the power of dreams.”
The second and third places belong to China-produced pictures of Li Ruijun “Back to Dust” and Xing Wenxiong “To Cool to Kill” respectively. Black Dragon season ticket holders voted for “Back to Dust,” while Korean “King Maker” by MYmovies user Byun Seung Hyun voted for it.
The jury for Best Debut Film awarded the Festival’s White Mulberry Prize for “Too Cool to Kill”. Mulberry Award for Best Screenplay by Jojo Hideo “Love Nonetheless”.
If the award rankings seemed like a return to pre-COVID normal, so did the running of the event, Udine 24th. After a full online release in 2020 and a hybrid event in 2021, the 2022 edition ran largely as an in-person traditional event, welcoming more than 40,000 human spectators.
COVID controls have been in place inside the two main cinemas, but they’ve been no more restrictive than getting on a plane in Europe these days. And at events held outdoors, participants became mask-free.
Stevie Tang and Josie Ho, escaping disease-restricted Hong Kong, make an in-person appearance in Udine, show their latest films and meet audience members and the media.
Renowned Japanese actor and director Kitano Takeshi has received the Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement Award. But it was a virtual party, as the FEFF organizers bravely tried to put on their best smiles.
Kitano canceled two years of preparations with a last-minute change of mind at Tokyo’s Narita Airport, which he variously blamed on airport lounges, the war in Ukraine, ongoing COVID concerns and his poor health. Speaking via the video link, Kitano said he was finishing up a movie and would show it in Udine in the future.
Audi also saw the return of in-person presentation sessions, a project marketplace and workshops in the context of Focus Asia Industrial sessions, which brought together around 250 participants. The Ties That Bind initiative, which seeks to link the business of European and Chinese independent cinema, was also present.
Held about three weeks before the Cannes Film Festival, and after two years of seclusion for many Asian films, this was a useful re-introduction to many for in-person meetings, crowds and parties.
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