Italy’s Far East Film Festival is moving online this year as the country continues to grapple with the novel coronavirus pandemic.
The 22nd edition of the festival, an influential specialty event that brings popular and arthouse Asian cinema to Europe, was originally slated to run April 24-May 2. In February, as Italy became a COVID-19 hotspot, FEFF’s organizers postponed the event to June 26-July 4. The latest move will see FEFF keep its rearranged dates but with all of the festival’s activities moved online.
As well as screening the competition films on demand, FEFF is arranging an online vote for the audience awards and streaming panels and talks with actors and directors that are showing at the festival.
From June 30-July 2, the festival’s project market and seminars will also be online, including the Focus Asia industry event and the new Far East in Progress program, Europe’s first platform dedicated to supporting Asian films in post-production.
Festival organizers hope to announce the new film schedule and accreditation process in the coming weeks.
FEFF is the latest festival to move online for 2020 due to the global COVID-19 crisis. Montreal’s Fantasia Film Fest, Tribeca, Oldenburg and Locarno are among the festivals to have switched their events to be partially or fully online.
