Korean films take three prizes at Udine's Far East Film Festival

Korean films walked away with a strong haul from the 28th Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, taking three of the top prizes alongside winners from Japan, China and Vietnam.

"The Seoul Guardians," a documentary on the political unrest that gripped Seoul on the night of Dec. 3, 2024, took the Silver Mulberry, the festival's runner-up prize, decided by public vote. The film was the first documentary ever selected for the festival's competition section.

Produced by Kim Jong-woo, Kim Shin-wan and Cho Chul-young of local TV network MBC, who also share directing credits, "The Seoul Guardians" chronicles the six tense hours following then-president Yoon Suk Yeol's shocking martial law declaration as protesting citizens and lawmakers faced off with troops at the National Assembly. The film world premiered earlier this year at the International Film Festival Rotterdam.

It also took the Black Dragon critics prize, sharing the award with Japan's "Fujiko," and earned a special mention in the White Mulberry race for first-time directors.

Chung Ji-young's Jeju massacre drama "My Name" and Chang Hang-jun's period drama "The King's Warden" each picked up a Crystal Mulberry, the festival's third-place audience prize.

The prize was shared this year with two other titles: Yuen Woo-ping's Chinese martial arts epic "Blades of the Guardians" and Bui Thac Chuyen's Vietnam War feature "Tunnels: Sun in the Dark."

"My Name," starring Yeom Hye-ran and Shin Woo-bin, world premiered in February at the Berlin International Film Festival's Forum sidebar and opened in South Korean theaters on April 15. The film moves between 1998 and 1948, following a traditional dance instructor whose buried memories of the mass killings on Jeju island by government troops and right-wing paramilitaries — known in Korea as the Jeju April 3 Uprising — resurface as she raises her teenage son.

"The King's Warden" has been the 2026 runaway box-office hit, drawing more than 16 million admissions and becoming the highest-grossing Korean film of all time. The period drama follows the unlikely friendship between a village chief (Yoo Hai-jin) and the deposed King Danjong (Park Ji-hoon) during the young king's exile.

Elsewhere in the lineup, the White Mulberry for first-time directors went to Hong Kong's Kwok Ka-hei and Jack Lee for "Unidentified Murder," and the screenplay prize went to "Tunnels: Sun in the Dark." Japanese actor Koji Yakusho, Chinese filmmaker Yuen Woo-ping and Chinese star Fan Bingbing were each honored with career awards.

The Golden Mulberry for best film went to "Fujiko," directed by Kimura Taichi.

This year's festival ran from April 24 to Saturday and drew 70,000 spectators, screening 75 films from 12 countries, organizers said.