Udine Festival to Open With Virus-Obsessive Film ‘IWeirDo’

The Festival of Far East Film in Udine will open with a world premier screening of “IWeirDo,” a romantic comedy that is curiously prescient about the coronavirus and human obsessions.

Entirely shot on an iPhone XS, the film chronicles the meeting of two obsessive compulsives; a young man who is constantly washing his hands, and a woman who covers herself from head to toe in order to ward off germs. While written off by the rest of society, the couple have a bizarre sentimental connection.

The film was made by first-time director Liao Ming-yi, and produced by Activator Marketing Company.

“Watching Po-ching and Ching grapple with their microphobias and fear of human contact and contagion (which at heart is actually fear of life itself), it’s hard to avoid thinking about the health emergency of the last few months,” said the festival organizers in a statement. “But ‘I WeirDO’ was conceived and produced before the coronavirus was even a blip on the horizon. (It) doesn’t immerse the viewer in the worrying news.”

The Italian festival is regarded as curating one of the best annual selections of Asian cinema and is normally held in late April. Its 22nd edition was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak and the nationwide lockdown from which Italy is only now emerging. It shifted to later dates, but recently conceded that a real-world, physical festival is not going to be possible this year. Instead, FEFF will run online only June 26 to July 4, 2020.

Udine will use http://www.mymovies.it as its streaming platform. Organizers aim to ensure audience and professional participation through online voting for the winners of the audience awards, and seminar sessions involving some of the big names of Asian cinema.