On an enormous night time for Japan, Mitsuhiro Mihara’s Takano Tofu took dwelling the highest prize on the twenty sixth Far East Movie Competition (FEFF), which concluded on Thursday night time within the northern Italian metropolis of Udine. The household drama, which stars Tatsuya Fuji and Kumiko Aso as a father and daughter who run a tofu retailer in a small city, gained FEFF’s coveted Golden Mulberry Viewers Award. Takano Tofu additionally gained the Purple Mulberry Award, which is chosen by customers of MYmovies, Italy’s main movie fan platform.
It was a one-two for Japan in the principle viewers awards, as Naoya Fujita’s youthful drama Confetti got here second place. In third was the Hong Kong movie Time Nonetheless Turns the Pages, a devastating drama from Nick Cheuk who scored greatest director wins on the Asian Movie Awards and Hong Kong Movie Awards for a similar movie.
FEFF’s Black Dragon critics prize class noticed one other win for Japan with Kazuya Shiraishi’s interval samurai function Bushido taking the award. The White Mulberry Award for first time director went to Korea’s Kim Tae-yang for his movie Mimang that has discovered favor at a number of festivals around the globe. Shot over 4 years, Mimang is a daring function a couple of man and lady who meet by probability and stroll round a altering Seoul.
Rounding out FEFF’s 2024 prizes, the Mulberry Award for greatest screenplay went to Korea’s Citizen of a Variety, an motion comedy directed by Park Yong-ju a couple of mom who seems to be for revenge after falling sufferer to a rip-off.
“For 26 editions now we’re proud to have helped introduce industrial Asian cinema to the world, and in the event you take a look at these winners right here tonight you possibly can see why we proceed to be excited by what’s taking place throughout Asia,” mentioned FEFF president Sabrina Baracetti in remarks on the awards ceremony. “The viewers right here in Udine shares our ardour and we are going to proceed to discover new horizons with them — and with Asian cinema.”