Udine Far East Film Festival: South Korea wins ‘Miracle: Letters to the President’ grand prize

Udine Far East Film Festival: South Korea wins ‘Miracle: Letters to the President’ grand prize

South Korean romantic drama Miracle: Letters to the President There was a big win Sunday night at the closing ceremony of the 24th Far East Film Festival (FEFF), a popular Asia-focused event held every spring in the picturesque northern Italian city of Udine.

The film is directed and co-written by Lee Jang-hoon (Being with you), took Udine’s top prize and the Golden Mulberry award, which is awarded annually for the festival’s audience voice. Described by organizers as “nature’s sweet hymn about the power of dreams”. Miracle It tells the true story of a high school math lover who works with his family to bring a private train station to their remote town.

The Chinese film industry was the second big winner in Udine on Sunday. The impressive village by Chinese author Li Ruijun return to dust It came in second with the Audience Award and a hit comedy by Beijing-based filmmaker Xing Wenxiong. Download cool killing game He came in third. Both films were enthusiastically acclaimed by spectators at the Famous Vocal and Broad Thought Festival in Udine.

Japanese film legend Takeshi was awarded the Udine Lifetime Achievement Award in Kitano’s year. The 75-year-old actor/director/comedian was unable to attend the festival in person, but appeared in a live video that was shared at the Udine Grand Teatro Nuovo to grab his drink and tell people, “Now I’m editing together. My new film and I hope to come to Udine to present it”.

The Udine Festival revived a strong pandemic era in 2022 after being forced online for the past two years. The festival brought together over 70 filmmakers from Asia and produced 72 films (13 world stars, 18 international stars, 11 European and 13 Italian stars) for an audience of over 40,000 people (casi la mitad de los 100,000 inhabitants of the city). People). . The event also maintained the digital innovations driven by the pandemic, streaming all 28 festival titles on the Italian video platform MYmovies, which attracted a further 10,000 virtual festival attendees from 24 countries.

The Udinese jury awarded the Blackberry Award for the best debut film to Xing, starring Manetti Bros. and by the director of the Rotterdam Film Festival, Vania Kaludzercic. Too good to kill. Holders of the Festival’s Black Dragon Pass, a premium badge for spectators with premium access to all shows, also voted for a separate award from the audience. Return to dust. Likewise, online viewers of the Mymovies platform chose their favorite title, which was awarded to a South Korean political thriller this year. influencer, By Byun Sung Hyun. An entirely new award for best screenplay has been awarded to Japanese director Jojo Hideo Love at least.

The Far East Festival 2022 also restored its various industrial functions, which took place over seven days at scattered locations in Udine’s historic city centre. Around 250 European film professionals attended the event to participate in the market and industry sessions of the Focus Asia project. Udin also returned to FEFF Campus, a film journalism internship program that follows 10 young aspiring writers/critics from around the world for a week of hands-on training at festivals and industry.

In her closing remarks on Sunday night, festival co-founder Sabrina Baracetti invited the public to celebrate next year’s lineup as the FEFF celebrates its 25th anniversary with a special edition June 21-29, 2023. .

“World events may still not be normal,” Barachetti said from the stage. “There is a pandemic; And there is a terrible war. But now the main thing is that we are together and we celebrate this art form that we love.

Leaving the stage, he added, “Peace and love until next year!”

Source: Hollywood Reporter

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