MBC’s “Night in Seoul” Documentary Sweeps 3 Awards at Italian Film Festival!

MBC’s documentary film “Night in Seoul” has made a huge splash at the 28th Udine Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy, taking home three awards, including the prestigious Audience Award!

Launched in 1999, the Udine Far East Film Festival is a key event for introducing Asian popular cinema to Europe, focusing on films from East and Southeast Asia. This year’s competition featured 52 films from 11 countries, including 6 from Korea, 9 each from Japan and Hong Kong, and 6 each from China and Taiwan.

“Night in Seoul” made history as the first documentary ever invited to the festival’s competition section and the first to win in major categories. The film captures the intense and urgent moments at the National Assembly immediately following former President Yoon Suk Yeol’s declaration of emergency martial law on December 3, 2024.

This isn’t the film’s first win! Back in February, it grabbed attention at the 55th Rotterdam International Film Festival (IFFR), ranking 2nd in audience ratings and receiving a special mention from the NETPAC (Network for the Promotion of Asia Cinema) jury. It also won the “Bill Nemtin Award” at Hot Docs, North America’s largest documentary festival in Canada, for its contribution to triggering social and political change. Currently, it is screening in the “Korean Cinema” section of the 27th Jeonju International Film Festival until the 8th, with a screening at the Seattle International Film Festival scheduled to start on the 7th.

In other exciting news from the Udine Far East Film Festival, the “Crystal Mulberry Award” (3rd place) in the Audience Award category was shared by two Korean films: “My Name Is” (directed by Jung Ji-young and starring Yeom Hye-ran), which focuses on the Jeju April 3 incident, and “The Man Living with the King” (directed by Jang Hang-jun and starring Park Ji-hoon and Yoo Hae-jin), a massive hit with 16.77 million viewers.