Chinese gender equality tale Her Story (pictured above), directed by Yihui Shao, was presented with the Golden Mulberry audience award at the close of this year’s Far East Film Festival (FEFF) in Udine, Italy (April 24-May 2). Hong Kong’s The Last Dance – Extended Version, directed by Anselm Chan, won the Silver Mulberry.
The Crystal Mulberry was awarded to Like A Rolling Stone, directed by China’s Yin Lichuan. Like Her Story, the film tackles the theme of gender equality and is directed by a female filmmaker.
The three jurors of the debut film section (Kim Yutani, Sakoda Shinji and Japanese celebrity Megumi) awarded the White Mulberry to Diamonds In The Sand, a Philippines-Malaysia-Japan co-production, directed by the Philippines’ Janus Victoria and starring Japan’s Lily Franky.
The Mulberry for Best Screenplay award went to Japanese psychological thriller Welcome To The Village by Jojo Hideo. The three jurors for this award – Massimo Gaudioso, Silvia D’Amico and Francesco Munzi – also gave a special mention to Korean animated film The Square, directed by Kim Bo-sol.
Over at the Focus Asia industry platform, Filipino project What’s Left Of Us, directed by Tyrone Acierto, won the TAICCA/Focus Asia Co-Production Award.
FEFF also announced that the most popular titles on its MYmovies platform, which streamed 23 titles from this year’s selection, included Janchivdorj Sengedorj’s Mongolian noir Silent City Driver, which was awarded the Purple Mulberry, and Japanese filmmaker Hideo Jojo’s thriller A Bad Summer.
The festival also presented Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement awards to Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark and Taiwanese actress-director-producer Sylvia Chang.
“We’re living in a very crazy world now, and in the middle of all this chaotic situation I feel we’re very blessed we still have films,” said Chang while collecting her award. “We still have movie houses that we can go to – whether you want to escape or you want to cry, you want to laugh, you want to share emotion – well, at least in that two hours we still believe the world is beautiful.”
FEFF also announced that the next edition of the festival will take place April 24 to May 3, 2026.