Udine, Italy

Over the past decade, Italy's Far East Film Festival established itself as the place in the west to see commercial films from Asia. In its early days, the event was home to visiting Hong Kong stars and directors such as Stephen Chow Sing-chi and Johnnie To Kei-fung. This year's edition, which ran from April 24 to May 2, returned to its Hong Kong roots by presenting a day-long celebration of the work of Ann Hui On-wah.

The focus did something daring for a western retrospective: it showcased Hui's early television work instead of her feature films. Episodes such as The Road from the series Below the Lion Rock and Boy from the Social Worker series are well-established here but they've rarely been seen outside of Hong Kong.

'The episodes allowed our audience to look deeply into Hui's style, her ideas and the way she works,' festival president Sabrina Baracetti says. 'They are also a very good way for people to learn about Hong Kong culture. These shows are very much linked to the way that people lived in Hong Kong. They are about important social and political issues. We haven't seen many Asian films in the west that deal with these kind of issues.'

Festival co-ordinator Thomas Bertacche says: 'By watching Ann's television works, we can get a greater understanding of her films, and Hong Kong film in general. The TV programmes have both Asian and western influences. Ann worked in Hong Kong but she studied in England, and there was also an English influence around her in Hong Kong.

'From watching her TV work we can get a better understanding of the ideas that formed the foundations of the Hong Kong New Wave,' he says. The Hui focus won all the festival's audience awards.

The festival also focused on Thai action films popularised by Tony Jaa, an expert in muay thai boxing. Jaa's mentor Pana Rittikrai and Ong Bak director Prachya Pinkaew were guests of the festival, and films by Jaa and female fighting sensation Jeeja Yanin were screened. 'The audience went crazy for Jaa's Ong Bak 2 - the theatre was packed,' Baracetti says. 'Jeeja Yanin's Chocolate is also a very strong movie - she is an excellent fighter, and she gave the audience something that they'd never seen before.'

Thai action films are very popular among young Italians, Bertacche says. 'The Italian fans know the films and stories, and are very good at distinguishing the different fighting styles,' he says. 'We thought that mainly older fans of Bruce Lee would be interested in this section, so we were surprised at how popular the films were with younger audiences.'