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Sammo Hung set to be special guest at Udine Far East Film Festival

After last year’s sensational guests Joe Hisaishi and Jackie Chan, this year the Far East Film Festival will welcome another big name of Asian cinema: Sammo Hung, who will also be awarded the Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement
On the Closing Night of April 30th, all spotlights will be on Hung and his much awaited for European première action thriller “The Bodyguard”.

UDINE – After last year’s sensational guests Joe Hisaishi and Jackie Chan, this year the Far East Film Festival will welcome another big name of Asian cinema: Sammo Hung, a Honk Kong legendary icon admired all over the world. He is an actor, film director and fight choreographer and over time has managed to revolutionize the perception of martial arts.

On the Closing Night of April 30th, all spotlights will be on Hung and his action-thriller “The Bodyguard” which also sees him director of the film. FEFF 18 will pay homage to his extraordinary artistic career which started at the age of eleven, by awarding him the Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement. His career has been marked by his costant efforts of experimenting and by his ability of fluidly changing genres.

Other than the great Sammo Hung, other people that have been awarded the Golden Mulberry Award for Lifetime Achievement are Johnnie To, Kim Dong-ho, Michael Werner (of the Fortissimo film production company), Joe Hisaishi, Jackie Chan and Nansun Shi. The award has been created by Idea Prototipi®, a company located in the Friuli region which is leader in the metal production industry and which has also created the three “Mulberries” of the Audience Awards (which are assigned by FEFF’s audience to the Best Movies in the competion).

Friend and adventure companion of Jackie Chan since he was at the China Drama Academy, Sammo Hung has worked with some of the greatest actors in the film industry, from Bruce Lee to Yuen Biao, from Jet Li to Andy Lau and as for the western audience, he starred in the television series Martial Law and also starred in the cult tv series Walker Texas Ranger, starring Chuck Norris.

FEFF will present the film The Bodyguard as a International Festival Première. It tells the story of a retired bodyguard who settles into a small village where China and Russia meet. There he meets and befriends a young girl whose life is threatened by her father’s connection with a local crime lord. The father is played by Andy Lau. When the young girl and her father disappear, the bodyguard will do everything in his power to save them.

A perfectly judged mix of tension, growing adrenaline and great martial arts fight scenes together with a pinch of humour. These are the ingredients that make Sammo’s formula a succesful one and that have secured him a place in the pantheon of Asian cinema. I’ts impossibile to synthesize Sammo’s film history that goes from crime stories to slapstick commedies and from the wuxia genre to comic horror movies: it’s best to meet him in Udine and admire him live!

Attached Picture of Sammo Hung ©Photographed by Chen Man
Courtesy of Harper’s Bazaar China

Last Updated on 2018/12/10

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