The Far East Film Festival has revealed that Chinese superstar Fan Bingbing and Japanese actor Yakusho Koji will each receive the Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement at the 28th edition of the event, set to run April 24 through May 2 in Udine, Italy.
Fan Bingbing plays the lead in Malaysian director Chong Keat Aun’s FEFF competition title “Mother Bhumi.” Yakusho, winner of the best actor prize at Cannes in 2023 for Wim Wenders’ “Perfect Days” and a commanding presence across four decades of Japanese cinema, will be the subject of a career retrospective titled “Yakusho Koji: Perfect Roles,” programmed in partnership with the Japanese Cultural Institute in Rome and the Japan Foundation. Seven films will screen in Udine – including “13 Assassins,” “Tampopo,” “The Eel,” “Perfect Days,” “The Blood of Wolves,” “Under the Open Sky” and “The Woodsman and the Rain” – with five titles subsequently traveling to Rome.
The 28th edition features 76 films drawn from 12 countries and regions, comprising 52 titles in competition and 24 out of competition. The lineup includes 8 world premieres, 18 international premieres, 22 European premieres and 20 Italian premieres. The closing film will be revealed on April 8.
The festival opens on April 24 with Anthony Chen‘s “We Are All Strangers,” a Singapore family drama whose lead actress Yeo Yann Yann will be present for the premiere at the Teatro Nuovo Giovanni da Udine. The film bowed in competition at the Berlinale and opened the Hong Kong International Film Festival. Two further Singapore titles – Geck Priscilla Ang’s “Ah Girl” and Michael Kam’s “The Old Man and His Car” – mark the first time three Singaporean films have featured in the same FEFF edition.
Vietnam emerges as a particular focus of the 2026 lineup with Leon Lê’s period drama “Ky Nam Inn,” the action film “Hijacked” directed by Ham Tran, Bui Thac Chuyen’s war film “Tunnels: Sun in the Dark” and Phan Gia Nhat Linh’s “Blood Moon Rite 8,” a remake of the cult Japanese film “One Cut of the Dead,” which will screen on the festival’s closing night before the Audience Award announcements.
Lee Sang-il’s “Kokuho,” adapted from Yoshida Shuichi’s novel of the same name, receives special billing at the event, with the director attending the Udine screening. The film, which was Japan’s entry to the Oscars and emerged as the country’s highest grossing live action film of all time, will open in Italian cinemas on April 30 under the Tucker Film banner. Lee’s earlier film “Hula Girls,” which premiered at the FEFF two decades ago, will also screen in a new 4K restoration.
South Korean cinema is represented in part by Jang Hang-jun’s period epic “The King’s Warden,” the biggest hit of all time in the country, with lead actor Yoo Hae-jin confirmed to attend. “The Seoul Guardians,” a documentary account of South Korea’s December 3, 2024 martial law declaration, becomes the first documentary to enter the festival’s competition section. Also entering competition for the first time are three animated titles: Hong Kong’s “Another World,” Hong Kong/Taiwan co-production “A Mighty Adventure,” and Japan’s “The Last Blossom.”
Japanese actor and producer Megumi will return to the FEFF with a Japan Night event and the world premiere of the female-led drama “Fujiko,” which she co-produces and stars in.
This edition also introduces Vertical Stories, a new section curated by FEFF consultant Roger Garcia examining microdramas as both an art form and an emerging industrial system.
The audience alone will determine the three Audience Award winners – the Golden Mulberry, Silver Mulberry and Crystal Mulberry. Two specialist juries will award the White Mulberry for Best First Feature, for which 12 competition titles are eligible, and the Mulberry for Best Screenplay. The Best First Feature jury comprises Hong Kong director Mabel Cheung, Hong Kong producer and distributor Jeffrey Chan, and Hong Kong-based producer and consultant Michael Werner.
FEFF 28 – Full Lineup
Competition
China
“Jet Lag in Summer” (Yan Kunao)
“Linka Linka” (Kangdrun)
“The Shadow’s Edge” (Larry Yang)
“Take Off” (Pengfei)
“Unexpected Family” (Li Taiyan)
“A Writer’s Odyssey 2” (Lu Yang)
Hong Kong
“Another World” (Tommy Ng)
“A Mighty Adventure” (Toe Yuen)
“Measure in Love” (Kung Siu-Ping)
“Night King” (Jack Ng)
“Road to Vendetta” (Njo Kui-ying)
“The Snowball on a Sunny Day” (Philip Yung)
“Someone Like Me” (Tam Wai-ching)
“Unidentified Murder” (Kwok Ka-hei, Jack Lee)
“We’re Nothing at All” (Herman Yau)
Indonesia
“Dopamine” (Teddy Soeria Atmadja)
“Ghost in the Cell” (Joko Anwar)
Japan
“5 Centimeters Per Second” (Okuyama Yoshiyuki)
“90 Metres” (Nakagawa Shun)
“All Greens” (Koyama Takashi)
“Fujiko” (Kimura Taichi)
“The Last Blossom” (Kinoshita Baku)
“The Sickness Unto Love” (Hiroki Ryuichi)
“Suzuki=Bakudan” (Nagai Akira)
“Tiger” (Anshul Chauhan)
“Unchained” (Yoshida Keisuke)
Malaysia
“The Fox King” (Woo Ming Jin)
“Mother Bhumi” (Chong Keat Aun)
Philippines
“Filipiñana” (Rafael Manuel)
“Midnight Girls” (Irene Villamor)
Singapore
“Ah Girl” (Ang Geck Geck Priscilla)
“The Old Man and His Car” (Michael Kam)
“We Are All Strangers” (Anthony Chen) – Opening Film
South Korea
“The King’s Warden” (Jang Hang-jun)
“My Name” (Chung Ji-young)
“Number One” (Kim Tae-yong)
“Once We Were Us” (Kim Do-young)
“The Seoul Guardians” (Kim Jong-woo, Kim Shin-wan, Cho Chul-young)
“The World of Love” (Yoon Ga-eun)
Taiwan
“Deep Quiet Room” (Shen Ko-shang)
“A Foggy Tale” (Chen Yu-hsun)
“I Blew Out the Candles Before Making a Wish” (Chao Koi-wang, Hu Chin-yen)
“Kung Fu” (Giddens Ko)
“Sunshine Women’s Choir” (Gavin Lin)
Thailand
“Gohan” (Chayanop Boonprakob, Baz Poonpiriya, Atta Hemwadee)
“The Last Shot” (Puttipong Nakthong)
“Tha Rae: The Exorcist” (Taweewat Wantha)
Vietnam
“Blood Moon Rite 8” (Phan Gia Nhat Linh)
“Hijacked” (Ham Tran)
“Ky Nam Inn” (Leon Lê)
“Tunnels: Sun in the Dark” (Bui Thac Chuyen)
Closing Film: To be announced April 8
Out of Competition
Yakusho Koji: Perfect Roles
“13 Assassins” (Miike Takashi, Japan 2010)
“The Blood of Wolves” (Shiraishi Kazuya, Japan 2018)
“The Eel” (Imamura Shohei, Japan 1997)
“Perfect Days” (Wim Wenders, Japan/Germany 2023)
“Tampopo” (Itami Juzo, Japan 1985/4K 2022)
“Under the Open Sky” (Nishikawa Miwa, Japan 2020)
“The Woodsman and the Rain” (Okita Shuichi, Japan 2011)
Special Screenings
“Ciao UFO” (Patrick Leung, Hong Kong 2019/2026)
“To My Nineteen-Year-Old Self” (Mabel Cheung, Hong Kong 2022)
“Kokuho” (Lee Sang-il, Japan 2025)
“Tokyo Taxi” (Yamada Yoji, Japan 2025)
Documentaries
“Mr. Kim Goes to the Cinema” (Kim Dong-ho, South Korea 2025)
“The Ozu Diaries” (Daniel Raim, U.S. 2025)
Restored Classics
“Cageman” (Jacob Cheung, Hong Kong 1992/4K 2026)
“Love Massacre” (Patrick Tam, Hong Kong 1981/4K 2025)
“Gamera” (Yuasa Noriaki, Japan 1965/4K 2025)
“Hula Girls” (Lee Sang-il, Japan 2006/4K 2025)
“Chilsu and Mansu” (Park Kwang-su, South Korea 1988/2K 2014)
“Push! Push!” (Park Chul-soo, South Korea 1997/4K 2026)
“In the Wink of an Eye” (Mike De Leon, Philippines 1981/4K 2023)
“Macho Dancer” (Lino Brocka, Philippines 1988/4K 2023)
“Connection by Fate” (Wan Jen, Taiwan 1998/2K 2025)
“Good Neighbors” (Lee Hsing, Taiwan 1962/2K 2026)
“Love Never Ceases” (Shao Lo-hui, Taiwan 1962/2K 2026)
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