Like film festivals elsewhere, the annual Asian genre cinema showcase, begun 21 years ago in Udine, Italy to champion the cause of HK films, went online in 2020. Kelly Le participated from her living room.

Alessandro Gropplero, coordinator of Far East Film Festival’s Focus Asia industry program. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

The shadow of the global COVID-19 pandemic forced the 22nd edition of the Far East Film Festival (FEFF) in Udine, northern Italy, to be transferred online. And, like festivals all over the world, FEFF soon learned how quickly events — and people — can adapt.

“At first, we were a bit worried,” explains Alessandro Gropplero, the coordinator of the festival’s Focus Asia industry program. “We didn’t know what would happen, there was a lot of uncertainty. But, in the end, it worked out well. When we went digital, we found there were no borders, no frontier anymore. You can reach a lot of people without traveling or overlapping with other events.” 

Beijing-based director Yang Wang made useful contacts with potential producers on Far East Film Festival’s virtual platform. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

FEFF — held from June 26 to July 4 — has since its inception championed the cause of Hong Kong cinema, through a program that focuses on commercial or “popular” Asian films, rather than the art-house kind usually associated with European festivals. 

To that end, FEFF screened the likes of the Ray Yeung-directed award-winning drama Suk Suk, Norris Wong’s critically acclaimed My Prince Edward, Johnnie To’s sports action-musical Chasing Dream and local director Derek Tsang’s bullying-focused mainland drama Better Days, which took the festival’s main Golden Mulberry award. All the films – plus a series of chats with various filmmakers — were hosted on an online platform set up via MYmovies.it.

Norris Wong’s debut vehicle, My Prince Edward, traces a woman’s journey towards self-determination. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Finding funding

But FEFF is not just about showing new Hong Kong films to an international audience. In recent years, the festival has also expanded into the production side of the game through Focus Asia, which continues to help Hong Kong filmmakers put their projects together by introducing them to possible partners and, hopefully, funds.

Despite the current global crisis — and its impact on film industries everywhere — FEFF still managed to showcase how easily connections could be made. The virtual edition of the festival attracted 3,000 accredited pass-holders from 45 countries, and there were more than 800 requests for individual meetings between filmmakers across Focus Asia.

Producer Ding Yuin-shan was looking for possible collaborators for the zombie horror flick Possession Road on Far East Film Festival’s virtual platform. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

In this way FEFF showed what could be achieved as we look forward to Hong Kong International Film Festival, re-scheduled from March to run in August 2020 in the traditional format, while its market and production platforms — FILMART and the Hong Kong-Asia Film Financing Forum (HAF) — have been moved to the virtual world.

Gropplero said the great turnout at this year’s online FEFF showed the world was keen on Asian content and hugely interested in Asian markets. “I could feel it from all different levels, from the producers’ perspective, from sales agencies’ perspective. It’s a positive sign that what we are doing makes sense,” he said.

The scene shifted from Udine to the attendees’ living rooms in the fifth edition of Focus Asia. There were Zoom meetings and webinars, and additions to the usual fare in the form of Far East In Progress, billed as the only “work in progress” section for Asian films presented to an international audience. 

Derek Tsang’s Better Days won the Golden Mulberry award at Far East Film Festival, held as a virtual event this year. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Its focus was on following up for films previously presented in other major Asian project markets and working on how to promote them in cinemas and festivals on both continents.

This year, four international cinema experts — Thomas Jongsuk Nam of the NAFF-Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival, Sten-Kristian Saluveer of the Black Nights Film Festival, Mike Hostench and Valeria Richter of Nordic Factory — selected the projects, and handed a US$20,000 prize for international distribution to We Are Living Things, a China-US-Italy coproduction in the works from Italian director Antonio Tibaldi.

Johnnie To’s sports-action musical melodrama Chasing Dream stars Jacky Heung as an MMA fighter. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Hong Kong voices

There were a number of Hong Kong connections at Focus Asia this year, including producer Ding Yuin-shan’s new project Possession Road. To be directed by Jack Lai, the co-director of A Step into the Past (2001), and co-produced by Joey O’Bryan, best known for Motorway (2012) and Full-Time Killer (2001), the film is a Hong Kong-based zombie horror movie, featuring a group of people who find a hidden bunker where secret lab experiments are being carried out.

Ding previously worked for veteran director Johnnie To, an FEFF regular. This was his third time “attending” the festival He said half of those he had talked to across Focus Asia’s three days were “old friends” while the rest were new acquaintances. 

The filmmaker said he turned to FEFF to find funds and global talent that could help with the zombie design and post production special effects, skills lacking back home. In addition, he was looking for feedback as FEFF was his first opportunity since the COVID-19 slowdown to show his project publicly.

Suk Suk by Ray Yeung is the story of a close encounter between two men in their twilight years. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

“Me and my collaborators have been working completely on our own without sharing anything with people outside,” he said. “We hope the comments and feedback we gained in return will help to make our project even better.”

Beijing-based director Yang Wang had Girl in the Playground in Focus Asia’s All Genre section. The project was written by Wang who will also direct. The story follows the reappearance of a criminal suspect, evoking memories of the lead character’s high-school past.

Wang might have been logging in from the other side of the world from Italy but she said she “still felt the passion” for Asian cinema at the festival. “A lot of participants wanted to talk about my project, and the first two days were fully occupied,” said Wang. “Most of the film firms were super professional, taking my projects seriously, and they were super enthusiastic. Sometimes there were technical issues but they would email me again to apply for another conversation.”

The audience in Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine at a previous edition of Far East Film Festival. (PHOTO PROVIDED TO CHINA DAILY)

Online vibes

Of course the one thing missing at this year’s FEFF was human contact.

Ding said he missed the vibe in the northern Italian town. “FEFF is the most friendly film festival in the world,” he said. “I’ve been to a few festivals, and I have to say FEFF is super, super friendly. Our work is supported, well-received, and celebrated there. It’s just an amazing place to be.” 

Gropplero agreed that a hybrid version of a film festival might be a smart choice in the near and even distant future, saying moving online had “opened the door” for more people in Europe to gain access to Asian filmmakers this year, without leaving home. But he hoped there would also be opportunities ahead for people to meet face-to-face. “It’s not just good for business but also a question of taking the time to learn from each other,” he said.

Ding said no matter the format, the most important thing was that progress — and films — continued to be made.

“For me, the more people you meet the better,” he said. “But I don’t care if they meet me in person or talk to me on Zoom. What FEFF showed was how things could be done in the future.”