The 15th edition of the Udine Far East Film Festival April 19 – 27 in Italy features a great lineup of films from Southeast Asia. This year the European premiere at Udine of Ip Man:The Final Fight on April 25 closely follows its theatrical release in China on March 22 and Hong Kong on March 28th. The setting is in postwar Hong Kong, where the Wing Chun Grandmaster, Yip Kai-man, teacher of Bruce Lee is challenged by rival kung fu styles and must fight one last time. Anthony Wong Chau-Sang plays Ip Man and Herman Yau who did the first Ip Man: the Legend is Born was in attendance at the festival.
Udine is the largest portal of films from South East Asia in Europe, and many of the films come directly from their premieres in their country and make their international film festival debut. This is an international festival attracting journalists from North America and Europe, and it is the first stop after Asia for many films.
San Francisco deserves an Asian film festival like Udine with new films from South East Asia after their theatrical releases.
Here are the reasons why Udine is so successful:
- Timing:
Udine screens films after the South Korean Busan International Film Festival in October and in the interim before Cannes and Venice through special contacts from their festival committee. This makes it a special niche market for new Asian films. Udine festival director Sabrina Baracetti has been at Busan from the beginning from the Busan Festival.
- Cooperation with other festivals, distributors and exhibitors:
Besides the Busan festival , Udine has a partnership with the Venice Film Festival regarding selection of Asian films. Many directors often come with their films to Udine and the festival has made John Woo, Johnny To, Tsui Hark, Takeshi Miike, and Miike Kitano known in Italy.
Films shown at Udine get national distribution. Faithful to the best selling novel Confessions by Minato Kanae and magnificently directed by Japanese director Nakashima Tetsuya (Kamikaze Girls and Memories of Matsuko), Confessions opens at Italian film theaters on May 9. The film is about two school boys who murder the daughter of their teacher.
At the 65th Cannes (2012), a special "Thai Cinema Night" was arranged for Her Royal Highness Princess Ubolratana Rajakanya Sirivadhana Barnavadi, an established actress. Many programmers and marketers were interested in this event. Trailers from Thai films screened at previous Udine festivals were screened. An actress known in Udine, Penpak Sirikul ("It Gets Better" - 2012) was on the panel for the event and as well as director Tom Waller who made – “Mindfulness and Murder” from 2012. Once again Udine established itself as an important threshold for Europe to see fresh films from Southeast Asia.
- All screenings at same venue
All the screening at the festival except for retrospectives of classic Asian film at the nearby cinematheque - Visionario are held at the Teatro Giovanni da Udine. This centralization creates a warm atmosphere among the spectators. The special guests are seated in the middlewhere spotlights are directed and then come up on stage to be introduced. This is a great gesture of hospitality on the part of the festival.
- Seminars
Every good festival should have seminars about themes and directions in cinema. Udine has an exceptional program with the directors and actors. These are translated for the public who are given headphones. They films are all subtitled in English.
- DVD/book market:
Spectators in the Udine audience have become experts on films from Asia, which is demonstrated through DVD / book market sales at the festival. This is a specialized market of books on Asian cinema , directors, trends, etc and films that have been shown at previous festivals.
- Special premieres:
The Udine festival has Italian premieres, European premieres, international premieres and world premieres. This is important for the distributors who want their films shown at festivals.
This year there are also three world premieres from Japan: Maruyama, The Middle Schooler by Kudo Kankuro, Angel Home by Tsutsumi Yukihiko, and It's Me, It's Me by Miki Satoshi who guests the festival with super pop idol Kazuya Kamenashi.
Other highlights this year include A Story Of Yonosuke by Japanese director Okita Shuichi who made the brilliant Woodsman and the Rain (2011). The Bullet Vanishes is a Chinese detective story set in the late nineteenth century directed by Derek Yee with an all-star cast including Lau Ching-wan and Nicholas Tse. There is also the Hong Kong action Cold War by Longman Leung and Sunny Luk, and Lost In Thailand by actor/director Xu Zheng, who holds a box office record for Chinese cinema in mainland China
This year the Udine Golden Mulberry for Lifetime Achievement goes to the South Korean historic director Kim Dong- ho of the Busan Film Festival held in South Korea, which is called the 'Cannes of the East'. Kim says that Udine is a window of new Asian films in Europe.
Moira Sullivan has attended the Far East Film Festival in Udine since 2005.
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