“A Melody to Remember” wins audience award at Udine Festival

PanARMENIAN.Net - Lee Han’s “A Melody to Remember” scooped the audience award at the 18th edition of the Far East Film Festival, which unspooled April 22-30 in Udine, Italy, Variety reports.

The drama about a Korean War veteran who organizes a choir at an orphanage after returning from the front was an international premiere at the festival following its January 2016 release in Korea by Next Entertainment World.

Shuichi Okita’s quirky comedy “Mohican Comes Home” was given the ‘Black Dragon Audience Award,’ voted on by special pass holders, as well the third place audience award. Both director Okita and star Ryuhei Matsuda were on hand to accept the prizes.

The second place audience award went to Lee Ho-Jae’s drama “Sori: Voice from the Heart,” which was also the closing film. The Mymovies Award, selected by Internet voters, was given to Hitoshi One’s manga world comedy “Bakuman.”

‘Golden Mulberry Awards’ for lifetime achievement went to director Nobuhiko Obayashi, four of whose films were screened in the festival’s retrospective dedicated to Japanese sci-fi and fantasy classics, and Hong Kong martial arts legend Sammo Hung, whose new film “The Bodyguard” was also shown on closing night. Launched in 1999, the Udine Far East Film Festival has become Europe’s largest showcase of Asian genre and popular films.