Countdown wins runner-up at FEFF15

Nattawut "Baz" Poonpiriya at the Far East Film Festival in Udine. Photo via Facebook.

Countdown added a runner-up prize to its trophy shelf at the 15th Far East Film Festival in Udine, Italy.

Film Business Asia details the other winners, the South Korean romantic comedy How to Use Guys with Secret Tips, which took the top-prize Audience Award, the other runner-up, Hong Kong martial-arts actioner Ip Man: The Final Fight, and the Black Dragon Audience Award to Taiwan's Touch of the Light.

Countdown director Nattawut "Baz" Poonpiriya was among the festival guests. His debut feature, Countdown was adapted from his student short film shot in New York. It won several awards this season for its performance by David Asavanond as an unhinged drug dealer named Jesus who terrorizes three Thais in their apartment on New Year's Eve.

Also at the FEFF was Chookiat Sakveerakul, supporting the screening of Home.  Other Thai entries in the fest were the gangster drama Antapal, the nine-segment horror 9-9-81 (recently reviewed at Film Business Asia) and Thongsuk 13, a.k.a. Long Weekend.

Further coverage of FEFF 15 is at the Coventry East Asian Film Society, including a review of Home.