Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 330 Taking the Initiative to Show Goodwill
The two main filming locations are St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a Caribbean island nation, and Dominica, another Caribbean island nation. Cao Yang mainly filmed scenes of the coastal rainforest in these locations.

He did not film the navigation and naval battle scenes at sea here, but chose to film in San Pedro Port, Los Angeles. Most of the intense naval battle scenes were filmed in a studio in South Bay.

Another portion was filmed using a giant water tank in Rosario, Baja California, Mexico.

Titanic, Pearl Harbor, and Master of the Far Side of the World were all filmed here, making it a very famous location in Hollywood.

At the end of December, Cao Yang was filming a naval battle with his crew in San Pedro Harbor, Los Angeles, when he unexpectedly received a phone call.

The call was from Xie Fei of the Beijing Film Academy, who is of the same generation as Cao Yang's teacher, Lao Situ.

"Hello, Teacher Xie, I'm sorry. We were just filming an intense fight scene, and my phone was with my assistant. He was so inconsiderate; he didn't give it to me in time. I've already given him a stern reprimand."

Cao Yang usually doesn't answer the phone while filming, so when Xie Fei called, his assistant didn't dare give him his phone.

Xie Fei is, after all, an elder, so Cao Yang definitely needs to explain.

"Haha, Cao Yang, when did you become so polite to me? Your assistant explained it to me on the phone earlier. I could hear the explosion even through the phone. Was the filming going smoothly?"

Xie Fei asked with a smile.

"It went well, the filming went smoothly," Cao Yang replied with a smile.

"That's good. I won't beat around the bush with you. I'm here as a middleman to sound you out first. Only if you agree will they call you personally, so that it won't be awkward for both sides."

Xie Fei first explained with a smile for a while before saying:
"Here's the thing, the president of the Berlin Film Festival, Dieter Kosslick, called me and wanted to invite you to be the president of the jury for the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. He asked me to ask for your opinion."

Xie Fei had won the Golden Bear at the 43rd Berlin International Film Festival and was considered a close associate of the Berlin Film Festival, which is why they used him to get Cao Yang's opinion first.

The Berlin Film Festival is also struggling these days. Of the three major European film festivals, apart from the Cannes Film Festival which still attracts some influential Hollywood stars, Berlin and Venice have almost no exceptionally influential stars attending.

Don't assume that the three major European cinemas are temples of art films and don't need influential superstars.

This is actually a misconception.

If the three major European TV networks want to maintain their influence, they need to at least guarantee high viewership ratings, right?

If you don't have viewership ratings, then influential movies won't come to promote them, businesses won't sponsor them, big stars won't come... and this will create a vicious cycle.

As a world-renowned institution of art-house cinema, it can't just indulge in self-entertainment and ignore the bigger picture, can it?

If things continue like that, the influence will decrease, and fewer and fewer films will participate in exhibitions and competitions.

Will the film festival still be held?

So it's not just Marco Polo's Venice Film Festival that's trying to increase its influence; the Berlin Film Festival is doing the same.

Therefore, the chairman of the Berlin Film Festival set his sights on Cao Yang.

Cao Yang has a deep connection with the Berlin Film Festival; his debut film, "On the Beach at Night Alone," was shown at the festival.

At the time, Xie Fei was a member of the Berlin Film Festival jury. He helped Cao Yang win his first major award—the Jury Prize at the Berlin Film Festival—and also helped Li Xiaoran win the Best Actress award at the Berlin Film Festival.

It can be said that the Berlin Film Festival was the starting point for Cao Yang's rise to fame, which can be considered a "favor of recognition." Xie Fei also had a "favor of recognition" for Cao Yang.

What the Berlin Film Festival finds hard to let go of is that after Cao Yang became famous, as his fame and influence grew, he never came to the Berlin Film Festival again except for his first visit.

Dieter Kosslick, the president of the Berlin Film Festival, knew very well why Cao Yang didn't come. Everyone knew that even if he came, he wouldn't get the Golden Bear, so he simply didn't come.

Dieter Kosslick initially thought Cao Yang would definitely come to Berlin, after all, Cao Yang already had the Golden Lion and the Palme d'Or, and only lacked the Golden Bear to become one of the most important "components" in the history of world cinema.

To date, only three people have won all three European Grand Slam titles, and Cao Yang is the closest to becoming the fourth.

However, as Cao Yang became more and more successful in Hollywood, and even won the Oscars for Best Picture and Best Director, his films were box office hits, showing a strong trend of developing in the so-called experimental film field.

This trend seems to have become even more pronounced, especially after Cao Yang took on roles in more commercially oriented films like "Pirates of the Caribbean: New Horizons".

Dieter Kosslick was getting anxious; he even thought that Cao Yang might not come to the Berlin Film Festival again.

If it's a regular director, it's no big deal if they don't come.

Cao Yang is different. He has won almost every influential award in the world, but he only attended the Berlin Film Festival once and never came back!
As Cao Yang's influence grows, could this create the illusion that the Berlin Film Festival is inadequate or unfair, which is why Cao Yang doesn't attend?

Out of a desire to protect the Berlin Film Festival and enhance its influence, Dieter Kosslick had no choice but to extend an olive branch, at least inviting Cao Yang to attend once, in order to dispel any misunderstandings.

However, as the chairman of the Berlin Film Festival, he was not actually very familiar with Cao Yang. If he were to be rejected by calling Cao Yang in person, it would be embarrassing for everyone. So he took a roundabout approach and called Xie Fei first.

Cao Yang frowned slightly after hearing Xie Fei's words.

Are you asking me to be the president of the jury at the 57th Berlin International Film Festival?
Are you kidding me? It's already the end of December, and the Berlin Film Festival is less than two months away. Doesn't he know I'm filming a movie?
Cao Yang's first reaction was to refuse. He usually wouldn't serve as the chairman of a film festival jury, as it's both troublesome and time-consuming. The chairman of the Venice Film Festival, Marco Müller, had invited him several times, but he hadn't accepted.

Thierry Frémaux, the president of the Cannes Film Festival, also invited him, but he declined.

"Don't be so quick to refuse, let me finish what I have to say."

Xie Fei, who knew Cao Yang somewhat, quickly said:

"Cao Yang, don't you think this is a good opportunity? You're only one Golden Bear away from a Grand Slam. If you take this opportunity to build a good relationship with Berlin, getting the Golden Bear is only a matter of time."

You need to understand that Berlin is very eager to build closer relations with you, and they are facing immense pressure. Why would they withstand pressure from all over Europe to give you the Golden Bear if you didn't cultivate a good relationship with Berlin?

Cao Yang thought for a moment, but didn't rush to make a decision. Instead, he said, "Teacher Xie, I understand what you're saying. Let me think about it. How about tomorrow? I'll call you again tomorrow."

After hanging up Xie Fei's call, Cao Yang didn't think about the matter for the time being. Filming was the priority. Filming a naval battle was a very complicated matter, and it was easy to lose all the previous efforts. The preparation work was also very lengthy and could not tolerate the slightest carelessness.

After filming this scene, Cao Yang finally relaxed his tense nerves for a while, but unexpectedly, his assistant handed him the phone again and said:
"Director Cao, I didn't dare to disturb you just now. Teacher Situ, Director Hou, Director Tian, ​​and President Han all called you. I explained to them that you are currently filming naval battle scenes and cannot answer the phone for the time being."

Cao Yang nodded and said, "Okay, I understand."

He picked up the phone, looked at the four phone numbers on it, and fell into deep thought.

It's obvious why these people are calling.

A Grand Slam! That's a Grand Slam!
(End of this chapter)