PETALING JAYA, April 15 — Three homegrown films will make their way to the northeast of Italy at the upcoming Udine Far East Film Festival taking place from April 26 to May 4.

This year’s line-up from Malaysia will include action thriller Fly by Night by Zahir Omar, female cop thriller Motif by Nadiah Hamzah and psychological horror Two Sisters by James Lee.

Fly by Night and Motif are directors Zahir and Nadiah’s first feature film, while Lee’s Two Sisters is the maiden film under Amir Muhammad’s production company Kuman Pictures.

The festival, now in its 21st year, is the largest film festival in Europe that aims to encourage and develop the appreciation of East Asian popular cinema among audiences in Europe.

This year, a total of 76 films from more than 10 countries will be screened at the festival.

The Festival Awards are segmented into the Audience Award (Golden Mulberry, Silver Mulberry, Crystal Mulberry), White Mulberry Award for Best Debut/Second Film, the Black Dragon critic’s choice award (Black Mulberry), My Movies Award (a web award based on votes) and the Golden Mulberry Life Achievement Award.

Previous Audience Award winners include Yojiro Takita’s Oscar-winning film Departures (2009) and Hong Kong crime thriller Infernal Affairs (2003).

Fly by Night is currently in cinemas while Two Sisters premieres in Malaysian cinemas on April 18.

Motif has yet to receive a release date here.