The Udine Far East Film Festival, Europe’s biggest festival of popular and genre films from Asia, has gone online for its 22nd edition, which runs from June 26 to July 4.
This year the festival is streaming its line-up of 46 films from eight Asian countries, including Japan, South Korea, China and Hong Kong, to audiences beyond Udine in partnership with MyMovies.it, Italy’s largest movie website. Buyers of a pass will have access to the films online. Due to distribution rights issues, however, some are available only in Italy, others in Europe and still others worldwide.
The Japanese selection, including nine films in competition, a special screening of Nobuhiko Obayashi’s final masterpiece “Labyrinth of Cinema” and a four-film section dedicated to indie director Hirobumi Watanabe, is eclectic as well as the largest of any country represented. The films range from Shinobu Yaguchi’s “Dance with Me,” a musical in the Hollywood belt-it-out tradition, to Takashi Koyama’s “Colorless,” a quietly devastating study of a relationship gone wrong. Some of the films, such as “Dance with Me,” “Romance Doll” and “Wotakoi: Love Is Hard for Otaku,” have already been released in Japan, while others, such as Akiko Ohku’s whimsical female buddy comedy “My Sweet Grappa Remedies,” had their local releases postponed due to the coronavirus.