15 Films you shouldn’t miss at the 23rd Udine Far East Film Festival

By Asian Film Festival on June 25, 2021 • ( Leave a comment )

These are fifteen films you shouldn’t miss at the 23rd Udine Far East Film Festival, which is taking place online and in cinemas from June 24th – July 2nd, 2021.

About the festival:
Far East Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Udine, Italy. It is one of the most important events promoting Asian Cinema in Europe. It focuses mainly on the films from East Asia.

To watch the films online please go here: https://www.mymovies.it/ondemand/23feff/

Selected Films:

**A is For Agustin**by Grace Simbulan – Philippines | 2019 – 74 minutes
**Section**: Documentaries Out Of Competition

Forty-year-old coalman Agustin has always wanted to go to school, so when his boss tries to rip him off he decides to enrol in the first grade. Over the following years he is increasingly torn between the worlds of school and work. As the needs of his family increase, he must decide whether to continue his studies or leave the opportunity to his son. A film of great humanity that paints a truly memorable picture of the daily life of the protagonist and his family.

Schedule:
June 28th, 2021 | Monday | Visionario | 14:00 pm
Available online from June 24th – July 2nd, 2021 | Worldwide

Trailer:

**Assassins** by Ryan White – USA | 2020 – 104 minutes
**Section**: Documentaries Out Of Competition

If it were the plot of a spy movie, the critics would say it was farfetched. But it actually happened. In February 2017, Kim Jong-nam, halfbrother of North Korean dictator Kim Jong-un, was assassinated by two women at Kuala Lumpur airport in full view of all present. Arrested and facing a death sentence, the two women claimed that they had been hired by someone to play what they thought was a hidden camera–practical joke on a stranger. But what happened was no joke at all…

Schedule:
June 27th, 2021 | Sunday | Visionario | 14:00 pm
Available online from June 24th – July 2nd, 2021 | Only in Italy

Trailer:

**Before the Next Spring** by Li Gen – China | 2021 – 105 minutes
**Section**: White Mulberry Award Candidate

Where is home? For a group of Chinese students studying and working in Tokyo, it might be the Nankokute restaurant whose manager has been in Japan for years without ever managing to obtain a residence permit. The cook left his family in China and hasn’t yet managed to have them brought over to join him and one waiter’s father is sick while the other’s is a violent alcoholic. An engaging fresco of everyday life with touching moments and an authentic, natural atmosphere.

**Blue** by Yoshida Keisuke – Japan | 2021 – 107 minutes
**Section**: In Competition

In Japan, the blue corner of the ring is for the underdog. The perfect place for the protagonists of Blue who, through sweat and pain, pursue seemingly impossible goals. Professional boxers Urita and Ogawa are friends, the first never winning a bout and the second hiding the early signs of the dementia fighting has caused him. Then there is clumsy Narazaki who seeks revenge with his fists. The three will have to face important challenges – but can life’s problems really be solved in the ring?

Trailer:

**Dear Tenant** by Cheng Yu-chieh – Taiwan | 2020 – 107 minutes
**Section**: In Competition

Dear Tenant subverts the cliches of its genre so brilliantly that it would be a mortal sin to give away anything more than a brief idea of the plot. Chien-yi has been Ms. Chou’s tenant for five years: he does the cooking, takes care of her and accompanies her grandson to school. When his landlady dies, her son discovers that she has left her apartment to Chien-yi. But when narcotics are found in Ms. Chou’s blood, suspicions begin to arise.

Trailer:

**Drifting** by Jun LI – Hong Kong | 2021 – 112 minutes
**Section**: In Competition

When he is released from prison, Fai is taken in by other homeless people on a street corner. But the police implement a ‘clean-up’ plan to clear out their makeshift shelters and their belongings end up in the trash. Spurred on by a combative young social worker, Fai and his homeless companions take their battle to court. Based on a true story, this empathetic chronicle of Hong Kong’s homeless population describes their situation without passing judgment.

Trailer:

**Fan Girl** by Antoinette Jadaone – Philippines | 2020 – 100 minutes
**Section**: In Competition

High school student Jane is a fan of star Paulo Avelino (playing himself), and her obsession leads her to hide in his pickup and follow him home. She ends up in an unknown house, in an unknown place, with an unknown Paulo Avelino, and when the reality of her idol turns out to e very different from Jane’s idealized image, a creeping sense of unease starts to undermine her certainties. They say you should never meet your heroes, and Jane is about to find out exactly why.

Schedule:
June 28th, 2021 | Monday | Visionario | 8:45 am
Available online from June 24th – July 2nd, 2021 | Worldwide

Trailer:

**Jigoku-no-hanazono OFFICE ROYALE** by Seki Kazuaki – Japan | 2021 – 103 minutes
**Section**: White Mulberry Award Candidate

The stereotypical female office worker has immaculate clothes and perfect make-up, and Naoko is no exception. But between coffee breaks, these girls battle it out for leadership of the company. Naoko befriends new colleague Ran, but things get intense when an external threat appears. Video game combat, cartoonish characters and manga culture counterbalance the elegant silk scarves worn by the office workers, who only seem meek and polite on the outside

Trailer:

**Keep Rolling** by Man Lim-chung – Hong Kong | 2020 – 113 minutes
**Section**: Documentaries Out of Competition

An intimate portrait of one of Hong Kong’s greatest directors, Ann Hui. One of the very few female directors of the Hong Kong New Wave, she paved the way for future directors, and Keep Rolling brings together interviews with a host of famous directors who have worked with (and been inspired by) Hui and close-up footage of the director herself to take a multifaceted look at the life and career of the most award-winning Hong Kong filmmaker of all time.

Schedule:
June 29th, 2021 | Tuesday| Visionario | 14:00 pm
Available online from June 24th – July 2nd, 2021 | Worldwide (Except China)

Trailer:

**My Missing Valentine** by Chen Yu-hsun – Taiwan | 2020 – 119 minutes
**Section**: In Competition

Anyone can forget to buy a Valentine’s gift, but Hsiao-chi goes one step further: she misses Valentine’s Day itself! After falling asleep on Saturday night, happily looking forward to a date with a guy she really likes the following day, she wakes up on what she thinks is Sunday but is actually Monday. She is mysteriously tanned and has sand in her shoes. And why does the usual customer at the post office where she works look like he’s been punched in the face?

Trailer:

**Rainbow’s Sunset** by Joel Lamangan – Philippines | 2018 – 112 minutes
**Section**: Eddie Garcia Section

Elderly Ramon Estrella is a retired senator who comes out to his family in order stand by his closest friend and lover, Fredo, who is terminally ill. Although his wife sympathises with him, their three children Eddie, Georgina and Fe do not. And their attempts to conceal their father’s ‘scandal’ reveal many of the things they find difficult to accept in their own lives. In the twilight of life, what are we willing to give up to conform to society?

Schedule:
Available online from June 24th – July 2nd, 2021 |Worldwide

Trailer:

**The Goldfish: Dreaming of the Sea** by Ogawa Sara – Japan | 2021 – 76 minutes
**Section**: White Mulberry Award Candidate

How much pain can hide behind a delicate mood that hints at the inner world of a film’s protagonist? And can that pain be overcome? This dazzling debut might give us some answers. In a friendly foster home, 18-year-old Hana befriends Harumi, an introverted, prickly newcomer. Harumi gradually begins to find her place as Hana plays the role of the sympathetic older sister, but the girls carry within them deep and mysterious scars.

Trailer:

**The Maid** by Lee Thongkham – Thailand | 2020 – 102 minutes
**Section**: In Competition

strange rich couple hire young Joy as a maid and to look after their daughter. But a presence lurks among the marble and gaudy tapestries of their house, tormenting the girl and child, and the villa’s staff are afraid to reveal its secrets. The landlady’s birthday party is approaching and evil is sharpening its claws. A Russian doll of a horror film as elegant as it is brutal and as surprising as it is cruel: this is The Maid!

Trailer:

**Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy** by Hamaguchi Ryusuke – Japan | 2021 – 121 minutes
**Section**: In Competition

Winner of a Silver Bear at the last Berlin Film Festival, Wheel of Fortune and Fantasy is an intense film that explores the female world in three episodes, investigating the “intermittences of the heart” with a touching delicacy of vision and splendid performances by its four female protagonists. Within the game of fate and imagination, which is the meaning of the title, three encounters take place, each of which teaches the protagonists – and us – something about love.

Trailer:

**You’re Not Normal, Either!** by Maeda Koji – Japan | 2021 – 98 minutes
**Section**: In Competition

Lovers of fast-paced screwball comedies, this one’s right up your street! Brilliant maths teacher Yasuomi is a disaster when it comes to relationships. His unlikely guide through the maze of emotions is one of his teenage students, Kasumi, who has a diabolical plan: she wants to introduce her teacher to Minako, the girlfriend of the man she’s in love with, thereby setting up her friend and sabotaging her rival’s wedding plans in one fell swoop. But… well, in love there is always a ‘but’.

Trailer: