Social drama Abang Adik has become the first feature from Malaysia to win the Golden Mulberry at the Far East Film Festival (FEFF) in Udine, Italy.
The directorial debut feature of Jin Ong follows two undocumented men, played by Taiwan’s Wu Kang-Ren and Malaysia’s Jack Tan, one of whom is a deaf-mute and whose relationship is upset after an accident.
Ong attended the festival and collected the top prize as well as the White Mulberry for best debut feature and a further award voted by the festival’s Black Dragon season pass holders.
FEFF’s second place prize went to South Korea’s Rebound by Chang Hang-jun while third place was awarded to Yudo by Japan’s Suzuki Masayuki.
The Mulberry for best screenplay went to Taiwan’s Day Off by Fu Tien-Yu and a special mention in the debut film section went to Ka Sing-fung’s Hong Kong drama Lost Love.
Users of Italian cinema website MYmovies voted for Janchivdorj Sengedorj’s Mongolian comedy The Sales Girl as their prize winner.
As previously announced, the festival’s Golden Mulberry lifetime achievement award went to Japanese actress Baisho Chieko, who thanked the audience in Udine by improvising a song.
The 25th edition of the festival ran from April 21-29, screening a record high of 78 titles from 14 countries, including nine world premieres. This led to a record number of 200 guests and organisers said 60,000 spectators attended the festival over the nine days.
It marked a full return for the festival, which took place online in 2020 and as a hybrid edition in 2021 due to the pandemic, while almost getting back to normal last year.
Reflecting on the success of this year’s edition, FEFF co-directors Sabrina Baracetti and Thomas Bertacche called on public institutions to better fund the festival.
“We believe… the festival deserves to continue seeing its potential for growth bear fruit: are public bodies ready to support the FEFF with more funding, transforming it into a genuine hub that connects the East and the West,” said Baracetti and Bertacche in a joint statement.
“Will the future of the FEFF continue to be that of a major international film festival or can its network of over 20-year-long relationships be developed into something more wide-ranging?”
More than 3,000 guests of the festival stayed in Udine, while this year there were 1,600 accredited guests, including 120 cinema and language students from the UK, Hungary, France, Slovenia, Croatia and Austria and Singapore as well as Italy.
More than 200 European industry attended the Focus Asia industry sessions and over 10,000 people took part in the FEFF Events scattered throughout the city centre. The online FEFF, streamed on the MYmovies ONE platform, registered more than 10,000 visitors, with the most watched films being South Korea’s Ditto by Seo Eun-young and The Legend & Butterfly by Japan’s Otomo Keishi.
The 26th Far East Film Festival is set to take place in Udine from April 19-27, 2024.
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