[KineJapan] Fw: Japan triumphs at FEFF 26: Mihara Mitsuhiro's "Takano Tofu" takes home the Golden Mulberry

Sun May 19 07:22:45 EDT 2024

As you can see from the announcement below, two Japanesefilms got the audience awards at Udinethis year.

Takano Tofu, written and directed by Mihara Mitsuhiro, won top prize.Mark Schilling, in the film’s festivalblurb, said “Not that the film is in any way an Ozu homage.” That is, apartfrom it being set in Onomichi; the plot revolving around a widowed fathergetting his daughter married, with mutual non-disclosures; Fuji Tatsuya, actingthe father, donning a Ryū Chishū accent in some scenes; and he makes tofu.There are also numerous punctuation shots, only some of which depict movingtrains.

For all that, I concede that it’s not made in Ozu’s style but in thefamiliar style of a Japanese heart-warming comedy. I wouldn’t condemn it as asit-com. In too many sit-coms, the characters have to forget, for each gag,their previous experiences. This was the opposite: there were straight scenesand hammed-up scenes, but all the characters brought forward their experiencein both kinds of scene. And, yes, the film did win me over.

Confetti also succeeded, through its script by Suzuyuki Kaneko, intransforming several familiar elements of a teen drama into something more interesting.As Mark Schilling’s intelligent reviewsays, “its focus is less on challenging heteronormative prejudice than showingthe transformative power of theater”.

I found other interesting Japanesefilms at Udine in a necessarilyshort stay. missing, by Yoshida Keisuke, entirely lacks any feel-goodfactor for an audience award. It brought me back to one of the bleakestdocumentaries I have seen – Barzakh, lit.: Limbo, 2011, by Manta Kvedavaričius, a documentary on the samesubject, albeit set in Chechnya.After a screening at the Dochouse in London,  SarahWhittaker, a clinical psychologist – spoke that, of the obstacles to copingwith a disappearance, the greatest of these is hope. She did not directly alludeto 1 Corinthians, but the inversion of Paul left her point in my ears. Sen’ya,ichiya, 2022, (not at this festival) directed by Kubota Nao, script Aoki Kenji,touched on the same subject, but Yoshida’s target was the exploitation of hope,particularly through social media.

The good news is that all of thesefilms are also slated at Nippon Connection this year.

Roger

   ----- Forwarded message ----- From: Feff Press <feff at cecudine.org>To: Feff Press <feff at cecudine.org>Sent: Friday, 3 May 2024 at 13:43:23 GMT+4Subject: Japan triumphs at FEFF 26: Mihara Mitsuhiro's "Takano Tofu" takes home the Golden Mulberry!

24 April/2 May 2024 - Udine, Italy, Teatro Nuovo and Visionario

Japan triumphs at FEFF 26:

Takano Tofu takes home the Golden Mulberry and

Confetti wins the Silver Mulberry!

On the third step of the podium, 

Hong Kong's Time Still Turns the Pages. 

The 2024 edition concludes with three new records: 65,000 spectators, 3,000 guests and 1,700 pass holders.

Press release for the 3rd of May, 2024 

For immediate publication/release

UDINE – "It's the first time I've been to the Far East Film Festival, which is a very big and very important event for us Asian filmmakers. You know: it's rare today to find 1,200 people attending a film screening. It's rare anywhere in the world. And I am deeply moved to see such a full cinema, without empty seats, and to see how much you love our work! I will be coming back here to the Teatro Nuovo in Udine, which is a beautiful city, because you have really moved me..."

Zhang Yimou's words contain more than just happiness at an enthusiastic welcome for an art form – cinema – which is once again starting to soar: they contain the very meaning of the Far East Film Festival. A freewheeling, exuberant journey through Asia's pop-culture soul. A long love affair which since 1999 has never stopped forging bonds between East and West.

In confirmation of the fact that cinema is once again starting to fly, FEFF 26 brought to Udine 79 films (12 world premieres, 22 international premieres, 23 European premieres and 19 Italian premieres), 228 guests of honour (including, of course, the legendary Zhang Yimou, winner of the Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement and protagonist of a memorable masterclass) and 65,000 spectators. And, in line with a tradition dating back to FEFF 01, it was the votes of the public itself that decided this year's winners.

Japan dominated the 2024 Audience Awards, triumphing with Mihara Mitsuhiro's moving Takano Tofu (Golden Mulberry) and also coming second with Fujita Naoya's deeply touching Confetti (Silver Mulberry). Third place went to one of the cinematic highlights of the season: Time Still Turns the Pages by Hong Kong director Nick Cheuk (Crystal Mulberry). Japan also made sparks with Black Dragon pass holders (who voted for Shiraishi Kazuya's samurai movie Bushido) and the MYmovies community (who chose Takano Tofu).

The jurors of the first feature section (Anthony Chen, Edouard Waintrop and Matsuzaki Kaoru) awarded the White Mulberry to South Korean romance Mimang by Kim Tae-yang while the Mulberry for Best Screenplay went to action comedy Citizen of a Kind by South Korean director Park Young-ju (selected by some of the jurors of Gorizia's "Sergio Amidei" International Best Screenplay Award: Massimo Gaudioso, Marco Risi, Doriana Leondeff and Francesco Munzi).

A record number of more than 3,000 guests were lodged in accommodation around the city by FEFF 26, and the number of pass holders also reached a record high: 1,700 - an increase of 25% over 2023 - made up of enthusiasts, journalists, experts, professionals, and the FEFF-curious, it's worth underlining, 130 university cinema students (from Italy, United Kingdom, Austria, Slovakia, Hungary and Singapore), showing just how much interest there was even among younger Fareasters.

Over 200 professionals arrived from all over Europe for the Focus Asia industry sessions and around 15,000 people took part in the FEFF Events taking place across the centre of Udine. And last but not least, the online FEFF, streaming on the MYmovies ONE platform, recorded 8,775 attendees from 200 Italian municipalities. The top city for online users was Milan, followed by Rome and Turin, and the most streamed films were the Alienoid saga (with 1,500 hours of viewing) and Takano Tofu (with 624 hours of viewing).

So all that remains to do is make a note in your diary of the dates of the next edition, when the Far East Film Festival will be turning twenty-seven: see you in Udine from 24 April to 2 May 2025!

Press Office / Far East Film Festival 26

Gianmatteo Pellizzari & Ippolita Nigris Cosattini

+39 0432 299545

feff at cecudine.org - stampafareastfilm at gmail.com

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