FEFF26 – The story.
There are numerous ways to start a story, and the story of the Far East Film Festival 26 starts out by speaking the language of numbers.
This year, Fareasters will have the chance to enjoy 75 films (48 in competition and 27 not in competition) from 12 countries. More precisely, 11 world premieres (including those of the restored classics), 21 international premieres, 23 European premieres and 17 Italian premieres.
Not only of the twenty-sixth edition, which will once again showcase the horizons of today’s Asian cinema and the changes it is undergoing, but the FEFF in its entirety: an all-embracing gaze over the Far East which since 1999 has been engaging with, transcending, and never ceasing to delve deeper into questions of diversity, distance and every possible interpretation of the word “inspiring”.
While last year’s festival documented the cultural and economic consequences of the pandemic, outlining a map that took in 14 Asian countries, this year it will be documenting the signals of an industry that is gradually getting back on its feet with the help of movies and artists that often represent (and symbolise) a break between “before” and “after”. For example the many young directors who are filling cinemas with a new kind of poetry and a new vision, telling local stories that speak to a global public.
Taiwan films at FEFF26
18×2 Beyond Youthful Days
Fujii Michihito
Innocent love story in the countryside, Taiwan/Japan 2024
European Premiere
Old Fox
Hsiao Ya-chuan
The Prince and the Pauper in Taipei, Taiwan 2023
European Premiere
Tales of Taipei
An ode to the city from 9 directors, Taiwan 2023
International Premiere
Trouble Girl
Chin Chia-hua
Beware of the unstoppable girl, Taiwan 2023
European Premiere
FEFF26 Golden Mulberry Award
On Thursday 2 May, Zhang Yimou will be receiving the Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement on the stage of the Teatro Nuovo! Taiwanese producer Chiu Fu-sheng will also be receiving the Golden Mulberry Award.
Chiu Fu-sheng
Apart from being the five masterpieces we all know they are, what do Johnnie To’s The Mission, Zhang Yimou’s
To Live and Raise the Red Lantern and Hou Hsiao-Hsien’s The Puppetmaster and A City of Sadness have in
common? The answer is their absolutely legendary Taiwanese producer Chiu Fu-sheng – a unique figure in the
panorama of last century’s Asian cinema – and the fact that it’s been practically impossible to see them for
decades. Five masterpieces that were honoured and venerated in the West (A City of Sadness, won the Golden
Lion, Raise the Red Lantern won the Silver Lion and To Live triumphed at Cannes). And that’s where the Far East
Film Festival comes in: because Chiu Fu-sheng decided to restore all five films from the original negatives, and
FEFF 26 will be hosting the world premiere of the restored versions of To Live and Raise the Red Lantern.
