Film fest
Asia's hottest blockbusters arrive in Udine on Friday with the 11th edition of the Far East Film Festival...
Billed as ''return ticket to the Far East'', this year's nine-day program counts 54 films from nine different countries.
Nearly half of the festival entries are European premieres.
''These are the most popular, commercial pictures coming out of Asia right now,'' said festival organizer Sabrina Baracetti, who explained that while Asian films d'auteur enjoy growing popularity at international film festivals, Udine focuses on the films that fill the theaters.
''We're interested in films that work within and reinvent the classic genres,'' she said.
Opening the festival this year is the European premiere of Ong Bak 2, the highly anticipated follow-up to the 2003 Thai-action hit starring martial arts hero Tony Jaa.
Also making its European debut is If You Are The One, a romantic comedy about love and marriage in modern-day China by Feng Xiaogang, one of the country's most celebrated directors.
''If You Are The One'' has grossed over £31.5 million since its release in December 2008 to become the biggest homegrown money-maker in Chinese cinema history.
Also from China is Silver Medalist, a black comedy by Ning Hao, whom critics are calling a ''Chinese Coen brother''.
From Japan come a pair of 2009 releases by Nakamura Yoshihiro.
Fish Story is a fast-paced genre bender about punk music and the end of the world, while The Triumphant General Rouge, casts emergency room doctors in a hospital whodunit.
Among filmmakers touching down in Udine is Yasuhiro Mase, Producer of Departures, which won an Oscar at the 2009 Academy Awards for Best Foreign Language Film.
Chinese Director Cao Baoping will also be appearing to present his black comedy The Equation of Love and Death, for which he was awarded best new director at the 2008 San Sebastian International Film Festival.
This year's Far East Film Festival broadens its horizons to Indonesia with six entries representing the country's burgeoning film industry.
''There's a lot of ferment in Indonesian cinema right now,'' said Baracetti, who explains that faithful young audiences are paving the way for an industry in expansion.
''Indonesia released close to 100 films last year,'' she said. ''That's almost as many as Italy''.
Standing out among Indonesian entries is Chants of Lotus, a controversial film about love, sex and motherhood by four female directors whose battle with the national board of censors became the focal point in an ongoing debate about women's rights and the freedom of expression.
Screenwriter and Director Upi Avianto will be attending the festival to present the film and discuss her experiences making it.
The Far East Film Festival was first organized in 1998 by the Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche, an association of local film aficionados interested in sharing the Hong Kong cinema renaissance of the 1980s and 1990s with European audiences.
With the help of public sponsorship from the Culture Ministry, the Friuli-Venezia Giulia Region and the city of Udine, the festival became a launching pad for such key names in contemporary cinema as Director Johnnie To, whose success up until that point had been largely confined to his native Hong Kong.
Some 50,000 people turned out for the Far East Film Fesival in 2008 according to organizers, who expect an even bigger showing this year.
This edition is dedicated to Dutch Producer Wouter Barendrecht, a pioneer in the promotion and distribution of Asian cinema, who died in Bangkok on 5th April at the age of 43.
Source: www.italymag.co.uk