The Far East Film Festival (FEFF, April 24-May 2) in Italy’s Udine has revealed the selection for its 28th edition, which will honour Chinese star Fan Bingbing and Japanese actor Koji Yakusho.
Each will receive FEFF’s Golden Mulberry lifetime achievement award at the festival. Fan is known for her award-winning roles in I Am Not Madame Bovary, Buddha Mountain and Cell Phone, which played at first edition of FEFF in 2004, as well as Hollywood feature X-Men: Days Of Future Past. Her latest performance in Chong Keat-aun’s Mother Bhumi saw her win best actress at the Golden Horse Awards and the film will play in competition at FEFF.
Yakusho has a screen career spanning more than 40 years and led Wim Wenders’ Perfect Days, winning best actor at Cannes in 2023. FEFF will host a retrospective of his work titled Yakusho Koji - Perfect Roles, which will comprise The Blood Of Wolves, The Woodsman And The Rain, The Eel, Perfect Days, Tampopo, Under The Open Sky, 13 Assassins and Cure. Programmed in collaboration with the Japanese Cultural Institute in Rome and the Japan Foundation, five of these titles will screen in Rome after playing in Udine.
This year’s FEFF includes 76 titles from 12 countries, of which 52 are in competition and 24 out of competition. Among them are eight world premieres, 18 international premieres, 22 European premieres and 20 Italian premieres.
The festival will open with Anthony Chen’s We Are All Strangers, which became the first ever from Singapore to play in Competition at the Berlinale. The film explores unconventional surrogate relationships through a 21-year-old man and his modest father who must redefine their family when a woman enters their lives. Lead actor Yeo Yann Yann will present the film in Udine.
FEFF’s closing film will be announced on April 8.
The selection includes some of Asia’s biggest box office hits of recent years. They include Kokuho, a three-hour epic centred on kabuki actors, which ranks as Japan’s highest-grossing local live-action film of all time. Director Lee Sang-il will be in attendance.
Period drama The King’s Warden, which is the highest-grossing film ever in South Korea, will play in competition with director Chang Hang-jun, producer Lim Eunjung and star Yoo Hai-jin heading to Udine.
Heartfelt prison drama Sunshine Women’s Choir, which became Taiwan’s highest-grossing local film earlier this year, will also play in competition with director Gavin Lin and screenwriter Hermes Lu at FEFF.
Retro nightclub comedy Night King, which led Hong Kong’s box office over Chinese New Year, will also compete.
Japanese actor and producer Megumi will return to the festival for a Japan Night event and the world premiere of female-led drama Fujiko, in which she stars and co-produces.
FEFF will also introduce a section examining the fast-growing medium of microdramas. Vertical Stories will be curated by festival consultant Roger Garcia.
The festival’s prizes include three audience awards – the Golden Mulberry, Silver Mulberry and Crystal Mulberry – while two juries will hand out the White Mulberry for best first feature and Mulberry for best screenplay. The first feature jury comprises director Mabel Cheung, producer and distributor Jeffrey Chan and producer and consultant Michael Werner.
The festival will again be based at Udine’s Teatro Nuovo theatre and the Visionario cinema.
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