Italy's Far East Film Festival to kick off with Italian-Chinese romantic comedy

ROME -- Italy's Far East Film Festival announced Tuesday its 2022 edition would kick off with the new romantic comedy The Italian Recipe, an Italy-China co-production with a mostly Chinese cast.

The film, which is loosely based on the 1953 classic film Roman Holiday, tells the story of a Chinese reality television star visiting Rome who falls for a Chinese woman already living in the Italian capital.

The Italian Recipe, jointly produced in Italy and China, is the first feature-length film from Beijing-born director Hou Zuxin. Most of the film's dialogue is in Mandarin Chinese.

The 24th edition of the festival, which is held in the northern Italian city of Udine, will take place on April 22-30, with The Italian Recipe the first screening for the event.

All told, the festival will show 72 films picked from more than 400 nominations. The festival will include live audiences for the first time since 2019, though 28 selections will also be available online.

Huang Yao, the female lead in The Italian Recipe, is already known to some fans of Chinese cinema for her starring role in the film The Crossing.