Day 3 of CUEAFS's stay in Udine began with a lot of excitement and anticipation. After having our regular morning breakfast meeting with everyone (although some of us didn't really have to get up quite that early, after having gone to bed at about half past four), the documentary team, together with Andreea and myself headed down to the theatre to film and record Spencer interviewing Lee Yong-ju from South Korea, director of Possessed. While we were waiting for the press area to be opened, some of the other members came back from the screening of Echoes of the Rainbow (2010) by Alex Lau - a Hong Kong melodrama about the adventures of two brothers, seen through the naive and innocent eyes of a child. We formed a small circle and had a short meeting, discussing our plans for the day and also the impressions of the screened film.

I was getting quite nervous about the interview, although I wasn't the one asking the questions, just taking notes and recording audio. But the pressure was somewhat getting to me. All this disappeared, though, once we entered the press area, which was filled with a calm vibe and the atmosphere was totally friendly and somewhat informal. After having sat through the Italian interviews (which had some good points, but mainly not too relevant questions), it was Spencer's turn to impress Lee Yong-ju with his knowledge of East Asian (and not only) cinema. They talked about the genre and the style of the film, the ideology behind some of the character choices, future plans, etc.

The funny thing was that Lee's interpreter didn't speak English and the interview was about to be very long, translated from English to Italian to Korean and then from Korean to Italian to English, but we were fortunate enough to find a woman who spoke Korean and English and she was nice enough to offer her assistance in the matter. After our interview we waited around for a while longer to get a picture of the team with Lee Yong-ju and then we spreaded out, attending to our individual schedules.

I went to see a Korean police thriller by Lee Yeon-woo - Running Turtle (2009), telling the story of an unfortunate cop with a gambling problem, who steals money from his wife to bet on a bull fight. He does surprisingly win a great deal of money only to be robbed by a wanted criminal, who moved back into town, and becomes obsessed with catching the runaway and taking back his belongings. The film was light-hearted and funny and although it ran slowly and there wasn't anything too exciting about the plot or the development of the story, it wasn't at all boring, but rather engaging and simply entertaining.

After having seen the film, I set off to write reviews and a summary of the interview with Lee Yong-ju, whilst the other writers were doing their due writing and the documentary team were set up filming outside, catching people from the press on camera, as well as directors of Gallants Clement Cheng and Derek Kwok, saying 'Coventry Rocks' and La Comedie Humaine's producer and actor Chapman To. Some members attended the Hong Kong cinema panel later on, featuring the three celebrities. Afterwards, some of CUEAFS's members went to see La Comedie Humaine (2010) by Chan Hing-kai and Janet Chun, where Chapman To preceded the film with a short speech.

As I was heading off to see The Arrrival (2010) from Philippine director Erik Matti with Andreea, we both got some food and entered the theatre only to find there were no seats available on the second floor and once we left, we weren't let back in. So we decided to accept the circumstances and go to dinner with the rest of the group. We ended up in a nearby Italian pizzeria and after dinner headed back to see Secret Reunion (2010) by Jang Hun (South Korea). Most of the members were quite tired after another hard day and couldn't help but fall asleep at certain moments, as I myself skipped some five minutes of the action, even though the film was really interesting and kept me watching. The story was quite similar to the story of Running Turtle - an unfortunate cop fails to catch a criminal, who he encounters some six years after and, while both believe the other one hasn't recognised them, they start working together as spies. The story here goes a lot deeper than the thriller/action motion and tells a touching tale of family bond and unexpected male friendship.

As the day was over, we were desperate to get to the hostel and sleep, although we were sure none of that would happen before 3-4 am in the morning. We are starting to get a little sad already, as tomorrow will be our last day in Udine (as we have to leave early on Saturday), and we don't want to leave. But we are determined to work even harder during our last day and produce as much material as possible for our web platforms.

For the interview with director Lee Yong-ju and reviews of the films, as well as an article on the Hong Kong cinema panel, visit CUEAFS's website and the website of our partners Cine-Vue.