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Chinese comedy-drama Her Story scooped the Golden Mulberry for best film at the Far East Film Festival (Feff) in Udine, Italy.

Shao Yihui’s feminist feature is about a single mother and her friendship with a new female neighbour, which proved a major box office hit when released in China last November, grossing nearly $100m.

Scroll down for full list of winners

Feff’s top awards are decided by a public vote and saw the Silver Mulberry go to the extended version of The Last Dance, Anselm Chan’s funeral rites drama that ranks as Hong Kong’s biggest local film of all time.

Soi Cheang’s Twilight Of The Warriors: Walled In was the big winner at this year’s Hong Kong Film Awards, taking nine prizes including best film and best director.

The martial arts action thriller, set in the infamous Kowloon Walled City in 1980s Hong Kong, also scored in the technical categories, winning best editing, best cinematography, best art direction, best costume & make-up design, best sound design, best visual effects and best action choreography. Soi Cheang also won best director at last year’s Hong Kong Film Awards for mystery thriller Mad Fate.

The Last Dance, written and directed by Anselm Chan, also triumphed at this year’s awards, taking five prizes including best screenplay, best actress for Michelle Wai’s performance, best supporting actor for Chu Pak-hong, best original film score and best original film song.

The drama about a Taoist priest and a wedding planner who team up...

Over the decades, the paths of the Far East Film Festival (Feff) and legendary director Tsui Hark have crossed more than once—from the explosive 2015 Closing Night screening of The Taking of Tiger Mountain to his memorable 2007 interview featured in an essay on Patrick Tam. Yet, until now, the perfect storm had never materialized. That changes this year, as Feff 27 presents a celebration that is sure to delight Tsui Hark fans around the world.

The programme features the international festival premiere of his latest fantasy blockbuster, Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, alongside the restoration of his 1984 masterpiece Shanghai Blues, and the revival of cult favorite Green Snake as part of the Yokai and Other Monsters retrospective.

Adding to the excitement, Feff 27 will host not one, but two Golden Mulberry for Lifetime Achievement presentations. On Thursday, 1st May, Sylvia Chang—iconic actress and star of Shanghai Blues—will be honored onstage.

Tsui Hark is a great director. Tsui Hark is a great actor (here the most expert will immediately mention Final Victory by Patrick Tam). Tsui Hark is a great producer. But Tsui Hark is first of all a Great Dreamer. A tireless creator of wonders who, from the late 80s to today, has continually rewritten the expressed codes of entertainment and the rules of the mainstream industry (let’s not forget the Hollywood experiences with Van Damme: Double Team and Knock Off). A brilliant activist of the Hong Kong New Wave who has constantly reinvented himself, project after project, always looking “further ahead”. Eyes wide open to the future but a heart deeply tied to roots and tradition.

Tsui Hark will present the super fantasy “Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants” and will receive the Far East Film Festival Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement from celebrated China-Hong Kong actor Tony Leung Ka-Fai!

Iconic Hong Kong director Tsui Hark will be celebrated with a lifetime achievement award at Italy’s Far East Film Festival in Udine, where his latest film “Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants” will have its international festival premiere.

Tsui will receive Udine’s Golden Mulberry Award from Tony Leung Ka-fai, best known for his roles in Jean-Jacques Annaud’s “The Lover” based on the Marguerite Duras novel and Johnnie To’s “Election” and appears in “Legends of the Condor Heroes.”

Tsui, who is considered the leading figure of Hong Kong’s New Wave of the 1980s and has been dubbed Asia’s Spielberg, is best known for his “Once Upon a Time in China” saga and “Detective Dee” film series, among other titles. His more recent blockbuster action movies — prior to “”Legends of the Condor Heroes” — include “Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back” and “The Battle at Lake Changjin.

Acclaimed Hong Kong filmmaker Tsui Hark is set to be honoured with a lifetime achievement award at the Far East Film Festival (Feff) in Italy’s Udine.

The director, known for blockbusters The Battle at Lake Changjin, Journey to the West: The Demons Strike Back and the Detective Dee film series, will receive the Golden Mulberry Award at the festival on April 30.

The award will be presented by Tony Leung Ka-Fai, who appears in Tsui’s latest martial arts film, Legends Of The Condor Heroes: The Gallants. The feature, which was acquired by Sony Pictures International Productions, will screen at...

Taiwan industry icon Sylvia Chang will receive the Golden Mulberry lifetime achievement award at the 27th Far East Film Festival, which has set Chinese comedy “Green Wave” as its opening film.

The Far East Film Festival is set to once again transform the Italian city of Udine into a vibrant Asian cultural hub with its most expansive edition yet, showcasing 75 titles from 11 countries, including 7 world premieres, 15 international premieres, 20 European premieres, and 19 Italian premieres.

This year’s lineup specifically examines “time and society through cinema,” with selections that reflect current Asian social phenomena. The opening film, Chinese comedy “Green Wave” from director Xu Lei, explores the “tangping” movement (young people metaphorically “lying down” in rejection of ultra-competitive career paths), while films like “Upstream” address the gig economy. Female directors Yihui Shao and Yin Lichuan bring stories of gender equality with “Her Story” and “Like a Rolling Stone.”

Japan’s “Teki Cometh...

If Asia is a galaxy, contemporary Asia is the planet the Far East Film Festival (Feff) of Udine has observed since its first edition in 1999. Now in its 27th year, the festival remains focused on the evolving landscape of Asian cinema. This year’s lineup includes 75 titles from 11 countries: 7 world premieres, 15 international premieres, 20 European premieres, and 19 Italian premieres. The selection spans popular cinema, auteur films, and tributes to the past, offering a deep look at today’s Asia.

Graphic designer Roberto Rosolin captures this perspective in Feff’s official image, reinforcing the festival’s ever-curious gaze.

In 2024, legendary filmmaker Zhang Yimou received the Golden Mulberry for Lifetime Achievement Award at Feff. This year, the honor goes to a queen of Asian cinema: Sylvia Chang—actress, singer, director, screenwriter, producer, and radio DJ. “Icon” may be overused, but few words truly capture her impact. Audiences will be able to celebrate her...

The Far East Film Festival in Italy’s Udine has unveiled the full line-up for its 27th edition, which will honour Taiwanese actress and filmmaker Sylvia Chang with an honorary award.

Chang will receive Feff’s Golden Mulberry for lifetime achievement award in recognition of a career spanning several decades. Daughter’s Daughter, for which she received an honourable mention at Toronto in September, will screen at the festival alongside a restored version of Tsui Hark’s comedy Shanghai Blues from 1984.

The festival will open with Green Wave, a Chinese father-son comedy drama directed by Xu Lei, which won the...

Zhu Yiran was aware there would be unique challenges ahead when he signed on to direct what’s being heralded as the first Chinese documentary to be shot in space.

Before and during the shoot for Shenzhou 13, Zhu and his team from the China Media Group Television Series and Documentary Center had to spend more than a month training three astronauts in the art of filmmaking. They also had to adapt 8K Uhd technology in order for their cameras to function in outer space, and then there were the daily snafus that only became apparent once shooting had started.

The film — which follows the Shenzhou 13 spacecraft’s mission into space from launch on October 15, 2021 to landing on April 15, 2022 — chronicles the daily tasks undertaken by astronauts Zhai Zhigang, Wang Yaping and Ye Guangfu, including space walks and maintenance onboard Tiangong space station, all shot by the astronauts themselves on cameras specially...

Legends Of The Condor Heroes: The Gallants is exclusively in cinemas February 20, 2025. Watch the official trailer now.

Under Genghis Khan, the Mongolian army pushes west to destroy the Jin Dynasty, setting its sights on the Song Dynasty next. Amid internal conflicts among martial arts schools, Guo Jing unites the Central Plains’ warriors to defend Xiangyang, embodying courage and loyalty in the fight for the nation.

Directed by Tsui Hark and starring Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Dafei, Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants is an action-packed fantasy drama adapted from Jin Yong’s classic martial arts novel, “The Legend of the Condor Heroes”.

"The world is big enough to have many masters, The one with the best skills does not necessarily have a kind heart." Sony has debuted their official trailer for the Chinese action movie epic called Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, adapted from a famous martial arts novel. This movie is another massive production from China, featuring tons of action and massive set pieces and endless numbers of people in giant battles. Under Genghis Khan, the Mongolian army pushes west to destroy the Jin Dynasty, setting its sights on the Song Dynasty next. Amid internal conflicts among martial arts schools, Guo Jing unites the Central Plains' warriors to help defend Xiangyang, embodying courage & loyalty in the fight for the nation. Directed by Tsui Hark and starring Xiao Zhan and Zhuang Dafei, Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants is an action-packed fantasy drama adapted from Jin Yong's book...

Though once head-spinningly prolific, Tsui Hark hasn’t directed a solo feature since 2018’s Detective Dee: The Four Heavenly Kings, the time between then and now seeing one short in the Septet omnibus and two co-helmed entries in China’s über-popular Battle at Lake Changjin series. Thus making notable Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants, a fantastical-looking epic he’s directed and scripted––based on a novel by Jin Yong, himself inspiration for Tsui’s The Swordsman and Swordsman II––which Sony will release on February 20, signaling his biggest stateside opening in decades. Ahead of this comes a U.S. trailer.

Here’s the official synopsis: “Under Genghis Khan, the Mongolian army pushes west to destroy the Jin Dynasty, setting its sights on the Song Dynasty next. Amid internal conflicts among martial arts schools, Guo Jing unites the Central Plains’ warriors to defend Xiangyang, embodying courage and loyalty in the fight for the nation.

The Hong Kong box office took $3.9m (Hk$30.6m) over five days from January 28-February 1, down 37.1% on the same five-day Lunar New Year period in 2024 and 59.3% down on pre-Covid 2019.

The Hong Kong Box Office, which released the data, said that the results were disappointing and hoped that more people would go to the cinemas to support Chinese New Year releases.

Two Hong Kong comedies took the top two places. Hit N Fun topped the chart with $959,715 (Hk$7.47m) from Tuesday to Saturday, while My Best Bet ranked second with $744,693 (Hk$5.8m).

Hit N Fun follows a boxing trainer who helps...

The Chinese box office hit a record high over Lunar New Year with animation Ne Zha 2 and prequel Detective Chinatown 1900 helping deliver a total gross of more than $1.1bn (RMB8bn) over six days from January 29 to February 3

The Year of the Snake made a strong start last Wednesday (January 29), the first day of the holidays, with takings of $250m (RMB1.8bn), up 35% on 2024 and the biggest single day gross ever in China – beating the previous record of $235m (RMB1.69bn) from 2021.

Six new local titles were released over the period and the total gross is expected to...

Worldwide box office: January 31-February 2 Rank Film (distributor) 3-day (world) Cume (world) 3-day (int’l) Cume (int’l) Territories 1. Ne Zha 2(various) $283.6m $416.3m $283.6m $416.3m 1 2. Detective Chinatown1900(various)

$129.4m $247.4m $128.7m $246.3m 8 3. Creation Of The Gods II: Demon Force(various) $42.9m $125.1m $41.6m $123.8m 10 4. Dog Man(Universal) $40.2m $40.6m $4.2m $4.6m 31 5. Boonie Bears Future Reborn(various) $25.6m $56.5m $25.6m $56.5m 1 6. Legends Of The Condor Heroes: The Gallants(various) $21m $74.6m $21m $74.6m 3 7. Mufasa: The Lion King(Disney) $17.8m $653m $11.7m $423.5m 53 8. Companion(Warner Bros) $15m $15m $5.5m $5.5m 61 9. Operation Handal(various) $13m $35.4m $13m $35.4m 1 10. Sonic The Hedgehog 3...

The Chinese box office experienced a massive boost over the Lunar New Year holiday, with five major releases propelling weekend earnings to $536.9 million, according to Artisan Gateway.

The five-day holiday frame delivered a cumulative total of $1.24 billion for 2025, marking a 234.1% increase from the same period last year, driven by strong debuts and record-setting performances in Imax.

Enlight Pictures’ “Ne Zha 2” led the charge, opening to RMB2.16 billion ($300 million) in its two-day debut. The sequel to the 2019 animated hit follows the mythological hero in a new fantasy adventure, continuing the franchise’s dominance at the Chinese box office. Its cumulative gross has already reached $434.2 million, making it the undisputed leader of the holiday period. The film also led the Imax box office, generating $22.1 million, making it the fastest Imax release to surpass RMB100 million in China and the 13th highest-grossing local-language film in Imax history.

The five-day opening for “Ne Zha 2...

Sony Pictures International Productions (Spip) has acquired international rights, including the US and Hong Kong, to Tsui Hark’s upcoming martial arts film Legends Of The Condor Heroes: The Gallants, following the studio’s recent success with Yolo.

The Chinese-language film is set for release in mainland China cinemas on January 29, the first day of Chinese New Year through China Film Group.

Spip will release it on the same day in Hong Kong, followed by Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, Australia and New Zealand on February 20, the US on February 21 and Indonesia on February 26.

The film is adapted from the novel of...