Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 340 Ambition
February 18th was the closing ceremony and awards ceremony of the 57th Berlin International Film Festival. The date was chosen perfectly, coinciding with the first day of the Chinese New Year, so few people paid attention to it.

Germany is currently observing winter time, which is 7 hours different from China. This means that when the awards ceremony is held at the Berlin Film Festival in the evening, it will be the early hours of the morning in China, during the Chinese New Year holiday. Who would be paying attention to this in real time?

It really does.

The Little Steel Cannon is one of them.

He was refreshing the message while cursing.

By the time the awards ceremony in Berlin was over, it was almost 4 a.m. in China.

Xiao Gangpao grumbled as he shut down his computer, returned to his bedroom from the study, and continued muttering to himself until he entered the room.

"Are you sick? Why are you paying attention to the Berlin Film Festival in the middle of the night instead of sleeping? You don't even have a film participating, so why are you cursing it? People who don't know any better will think that your film participated in the film festival and was treated unfairly."

Xu Fan was woken up by Little Cannon. She was a light sleeper to begin with, and she was so angry when she was woken up that she sat up straight out of bed and started yelling at Little Cannon.

Little Cannon had a lot to say and was just worried about not having anyone to talk to. Xu Fan woke up just in time, so he didn't care about the time or whether Xu Fan wanted to or not, and just started complaining.

"Honey, do you think those people at the Beijing Film Academy are crazy? Yesterday I heard from inside the academy that Wang's film, 'Tuya's Marriage,' is good enough to win the Berlin Film Festival's Best Actress award, but they don't even consider it!"

Little Cannon smacked his lips, feeling extremely indignant, and emphasized again, "He looks down on her! That bastard doesn't even respect the Berlin Film Festival Best Actress award, yet he insists on going for the Golden Bear!"

Then, he revealed a gloating expression.

"At first I didn't believe it. What kind of idiot would do something like that? Hey, guess what? It's true! There really is an idiot who turned down the Berlin Film Festival Best Actress award and had the audacity to dream of winning the Golden Bear!"

Xu Fan was initially furious and was ready to give Xiao Gangpao a piece of her mind, but then she heard the words "Berlin Film Queen"—as an actress, those words had an irresistible power over her.

"Is that true?"

Yesterday, Xu Fan also heard Xiao Gangpao talk about this. To be honest, she was also a little skeptical. Why would someone give up the Berlin Best Actress award that was already in their grasp and insist on aiming for the Golden Bear, which they were not confident about? She couldn't quite understand it.

If she were the lead actress in "Tuya's Marriage," she felt she would want to devour the director's heart, skin and bones.

In China today, with the increasing number of international film queens, the situation for actresses is becoming increasingly strange.

Without a prestigious international Best Actress award, actresses lack confidence and wouldn't dare call themselves A-list female stars.

At the very least, one needs to have won the three major domestic film awards or achieved success in Hollywood to be recognized by the public as a leading actress or actress.

The rules of the game are changing. You can no longer be considered a top-tier female star simply by becoming a certain type of "girl" or by engaging in hype.

Even Xu Fan, a talented actress with powerful connections like Xiao Gangpao, lamented that the demands placed on female celebrities in the Chinese entertainment industry are becoming increasingly stringent.

I don't know when this "unhealthy trend" started.

Can you believe that actresses like Xu Fan, Jiang Wenli, Chen Hong, and Xu Qing, who were once very popular, are now considered no longer top-tier female stars?

There are now three criteria for becoming a top-tier female celebrity.

Either win Best Actress at one of the three major European film festivals, which have international influence.

Either you have to break into Hollywood like Zhang Ziyi or Fan Bingbing, and not through hype, but by having real work to show for it.

At the very least, she should have the title of Best Actress in the three major Chinese film festivals (Golden Horse, Golden Rooster, and Golden Horse Awards) and her acting skills should be widely recognized.

That's why Xu Fan thinks it's incredible that "Tuya's Marriage" gave up the Berlin Film Festival's Best Actress award to compete for the uncertain Golden Bear.

This almost means that another top-tier female star with a Berlin Film Festival Best Actress title will emerge in China.

"It should be true."

Little Cannon grinned, feeling a mix of schadenfreude and mixed emotions.

"I just followed the Berlin awards ceremony the whole time. Tuya's Marriage didn't get a single award. It's definitely a failure to win the Golden Bear. The director surnamed Wang and the actress are both graduates of the Beijing Film Academy."

Cao Yang, that grandson... given his status, it's impossible for the Berlin Film Festival not to relinquish power if he agrees to be the jury president. He said he could give "Tuya's Marriage" the Best Actress award at Berlin, and it's highly likely that he will.

Even assuming the worst, if it weren't for director Wang's insistence on aiming for the Golden Bear, given his and the leading actress's background as graduates of the Beijing Film Academy, that bastard Cao Yang... would at least have received a consolation prize.

"Oh dear, that's such a pity."

Xu Fan's expression flickered; it was unclear whether he felt sorry for the female lead or for the movie.

However, Little Cannon didn't have time to pay attention to his wife's expression. After he finished speaking, he felt even more bitter and disappointed.

He thought of "Apple," which won the Silver Bear for Best New Actress, and this made him think even more.

He knew the director of "Apple"—a female director named Li Yu. She wasn't particularly talented; her previous films were only so-so, and she wasn't a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy…

But her film won an award!
Who can I reason with about this?

Luck, it's all luck.

If I had known that Cao Yang was going to be the president of the jury at the Berlin Film Festival, I would have made a film and submitted it to the festival myself. Just thinking about it makes me excited. If it gets into the main competition, given my brotherly relationship with Cao Yang... no, given our sworn brotherhood, he would probably give me an award.

Even if it's just a consolation prize!
Small cannons don't discriminate.

He'd be happy with the big prize, but a consolation prize would be just as good.

At this moment, Little Cannon couldn't help but slap his thigh.

That's why he kept cursing and swearing.

Little Cannon couldn't help but want to curse again.

Cao Yang, you bastard, if you're going to be the president of the jury at the Berlin Film Festival, you should at least give me a heads-up! I'm going to risk everything, drop everything, to make an art film!
What a great opportunity!

"Why didn't you think of making an art film and participating in this year's Berlin Film Festival? What a great opportunity! I don't know if there will be another chance like this in the future."

Xu Fan, whether on purpose or not, brought up the very thing he didn't want to discuss.

She understands Xiao Gangpao and knows what his long-standing heartache is.

Little Cannon shuddered, stunned for about ten seconds, then waved his hand dejectedly, "Sleepy, time to sleep, time to sleep."

Xu Fan glanced at the little cannon.

You little brat, I don't believe you can sleep.

Little Cannon lay in bed, unable to sleep at all; he was thinking about many things.

This film festival reminded me of last year's Venice Film Festival.

Last year, he took "The Banquet" to Venice, where it was included in the non-competitive screening section, and Cao Yang was invited to Venice to be a guest speaker at the opening ceremony and an award presenter.

Xiao Gangpao talked a lot with Cao Yang those few days, and also discussed his new movie "Assembly" which he was preparing.

In 2000, CCTV's "Oriental Horizon" broadcast an interview program titled "For That Bugle Call".

The story tells of how, during the Liberation War, platoon leader Chang Menglan received a mission from company commander He Youhai to block the enemy and cover the main force's retreat. He held his position and waited for the assembly order, but was later wounded and fainted.

When he woke up, he was the only survivor in the entire platoon. He had an unresolved question: whether the bugle call had been sounded and when it had been sounded, as this was related to whether their covering mission had been completed.

Once the bugle call sounds, it means the main force has completed its transfer, and their platoon's mission is accomplished.

If the rallying call hadn't been sounded, it probably meant that their platoon hadn't been able to completely stop the enemy, and the enemy had caught up with the main force, meaning their mission wasn't accomplished.

Chang Menglan searched for his original unit countless times, agonizing over whether the assembly call had been sounded, just to know whether they had ultimately completed their covering mission, given that almost their entire platoon had been sacrificed. He wanted to give his fallen comrades an explanation.

His ultimate goal was to know whether the covering mission had been completed; he wanted to "tell" his fallen comrades, not to really dwell on whether the rallying call had been sounded.

We cannot use our current mindset to understand the martyrs of that time. We must remember that back then, whenever there was such a mission or ambush, the martyrs would rush to take it. This is something we cannot understand or imagine now.

Therefore, Platoon Leader Chang Menglan's deepest concern was to comfort her comrades in the afterlife and let them know whether the mission had been gloriously completed.

After the program aired, writer Yang Jinyuan saw it and wrote a short story of 13,000 words entitled "The Lawsuit," which was published in the fourth issue of Fujian Literature in 2002 and reprinted in Fiction Monthly in June 2002.

Zhang Guoli saw the novel, thought it was good, and recommended it to his friend Xiao Gangpao. Xiao Gangpao also liked it and kept thinking about adapting it into a movie.

Little Cannon is a smart man. At first glance, this kind of adapted film can be categorized as a mainstream film.

It is well known that patriotic themes are easy to win awards at both the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards.

However, since Little Cannon and Golden Rooster had a falling out, they need a heavyweight intermediary to "make up."

So he approached Liu Heng, wanting Liu Heng to be the screenwriter.

The shrewd Little Cannon was certainly not a screenwriter chosen randomly.

Liu Heng is quite famous as a screenwriter; he has written many well-known works.

For example, works such as "Ju Dou", "Qiu Ju Goes to Court", "Finding Joy in Nothing", "Pretty Mom", "The Happy Life of Zhang Damin", "Young Emperor", and "Yun Shui Yao".

Of course, more importantly, Liu Heng is the editor-in-chief of "Beijing Literature", vice chairman of the Beijing Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and chairman of the Beijing Writers Association.

In 06, he was elected as the vice chairman of the China Writers Association.

These identities are enough to reconcile Little Cannon and Golden Rooster, and it's far more than just a simple reconciliation.

Some people believe that the fact that the Little Cannon was able to "reconcile" with the Golden Rooster Award and even win an award is the result of Huayi's efforts.

Undeniably, Huayi's "public relations" played a part in this, but how could a private enterprise with some background possibly manage to truly integrate into the official system?

The most important thing is to integrate and be accepted the first time; only then can you do other things.

(End of this chapter)