Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia to receive the Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement Award and Far East Film to set up a special dedicated retrospective – the restored version of CLOUD OF ROMANCE, European Premiere, among the titles.
When CEC – Centro Espressioni Cinematografiche opted to let go of national titles in favor of exploring Asian filmographies – Hong Kong Film – nobody quite grasped and
appreciated the foresight of that bold move. Love makes one fearless, especially if it is love at first sight. This was without doubt the case of CEC and Wong Kar-wai’s HONG KONG EXPRESS. The love that CEC felt for this title sparked the creation of Hong Kong Film, which then spread its reach globally and became the now world-famous Far East Film Festival.
Spring of 2018. The Far East Film Festival will not only stage its 20th edition from 20th to 28th April, after having transformed the small city of Udine into the European epicenter of Asian cinema, but it will also symbolically (and poetically) come full circle: on Friday 20th April, the memorable protagonist of HONG KONG EXPRESS, the icon Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia, will inaugurate FEFF20 and the following day, on Saturday 21st, will be presented with the Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement Award.
Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia is considered the goddess of Taiwanese and HK cinema; from the early 70s up to the mid 90s (she was chosen by Wong Kar-wai as the lead for HONG KONG EXPRESS and ASHES OF TIME) she can boast a truly impressive filmography: over 100 films, ranging from sentimental melodramas and wuxia titles (an obvious mention is SWORDMAN II by Tsui Hark), to thrillers and eccentric experimental projects, which the Far East Film Festival will ‘distill’ into a small and precious retrospective, featuring
the European premiere of CLOUD OF ROMANCE (1977), recently restored by the Taiwan Film Institute.
Her Majesty Brigitte Lin Ching Hsia will be accompanied by legendary Hong Kong producer Nansun Shi, in Udine once again after having received the Golden Mulberry Lifetime Achievement Award during FEFF17 (she was welcomed on stage to present THE TAKING OF TIGER MOUNTAIN by Tsui Hark).