Udine’s Festival of Asian Film To Shift Online

By Patrick Frater

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Udine’s Far East Film Festival, one of the world’s top film meetings for Asian cinema, will become a wholly online event this year, organizers announced on Tuesday.

The 22nd edition of the festival was previously postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak from its traditional late-April slot to a new position at the end of June. Now, with COVID-19 still rampant within much of Europe, including northern Italy, the festival has chosen to stick to its new dates, rather than postpone again. Instead it will undergo a transformation and become virtual.

Italy has declared 220,000 cases of coronavirus, making it the fifth most infected country in the world. Its death toll from the virus at 30,700 is the world’s third highest.

Operating under the slogan “heart to heart,” the Udine festival will run June 26 – July 4, 2020. Focus Asia, its accompanying film industry component, comprising a market, post-production event and webinars, will run June 30 – July 2.

“All of the festival’s contents (will be) adapted as much as possible to the needs and possibilities of streaming,” organizers said in a statement. The festival will lean on MYmovies as its technology partner.

“(The festival) won’t simply be a list of titles: it’ll be a meeting place for all Fareasters, who will be called upon to vote for the winners of the Audience Awards and to participate in the video greetings of the actors and directors and the in-depth talks with the big names of Asian cinema.”

Further details of the film program, schedule and events will be announced in the coming weeks.