The 23:e Far East Film Festival, Udine Italy
By Moira Sullivan The Far East Film Festival is now in its 23 year (Feb 11 - 19) and for 2021 offers a physical festival and online festival with European, Italian and World streaming titles. Last year the festival was fully online due to the pandemic and this year there are five screens accommodating 400 spectators. The Far East festival is brilliantly organized by the Center for Cinematographic Expression in Udine Italy headed by festival President Sabrina Baracetti with a crew of consultants located in Asian countries who recommend the best films for the current year. The festival features press conferences, daily meetings with directors and film experts in Asian cinema and panel discussions about new trends in Asian Cinema from Japan, Mainland China, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, Taiwan, South Korea, the Philippines, Indonesia, Myanmar and Thailand. The festival screens new popular films from Asia and directors attend or are available in video conferencing making Udine the next