Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 400 Dieter's Promise

During this period, many directors and actors in Hong Kong looked down on directors and actors in mainland China.

In their ingrained view, films made by mainland directors are generally "uncultured" and simply cannot make commercial films—what's the use of winning many awards if a film can't make money?

It wasn't until Zhang Yimou's "Hero" was released that some Hong Kong filmmakers began to have a slightly different perspective.

Later, Xiao Gangpao, Chen Kaige, and others focused on big-budget commercial productions.

Despite mixed reviews of the film's content, Hong Kong filmmakers, regardless of their preconceived notions, have to admit that a few mainland directors are indeed quite capable of handling large-scale scenes.

Cao Yang's sudden rise to prominence did not shatter the established perceptions of Hong Kong filmmakers, but rather left many of them bewildered.

Some of them were a bit taken aback. How did a mainland Chinese art-house film director, who was good at shooting women's subjects from an alternative perspective, suddenly become one of the most influential directors in Hollywood?

How did it suddenly become able to influence the entire world?
Some people can't understand it, so they simply don't think about it or pay attention to it. They just plan to make a living in Hong Kong anyway, and they don't care about international directors. These are all too far away.

Filmmakers who plan to go north or have already gone north may not have intended to pay much attention, but they are repeatedly reminded and warned of certain precautions by their agents and investors.

Then they discovered that in this inland region they thought they could "smoothly navigate" and "alleviate poverty," there were certain rules that had to be followed, and these rules, which were said to be, only circulating in private, were initiated and formulated by that young director.

There is another situation.

Hong Kong directors who wanted to make a name for themselves in art films knew about Cao Yang's influence much earlier, because it's incredibly difficult to win an award at one of the three major European film festivals.

Du Qifeng has a deep understanding of this.

In 06 and 07, his films were nominated for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival for two consecutive years, but sadly, he didn't even receive a consolation prize.

He didn't want to put all his eggs in one basket, so this year he decisively changed his target and wanted to try the Berlin Film Festival, which is said to be very friendly to Chinese people.

Of course, for Hong Kong media, Du Qifeng, who has been shortlisted for the three major European competition sections for three consecutive years, is only one award away from becoming a "god".

This is not only due to his being nominated for the main competition of the three major European film festivals for three consecutive years, but also because he has won the Golden Horse Award for Best Director twice and the Hong Kong Film Award for Best Director three times.

For Du Qifeng, the Golden Horse Awards and the Hong Kong Film Awards have lost their novelty and challenge; only the three major European awards are his new goals and pursuits.

As for the Oscars, it is true that for Hong Kong filmmakers, the Oscars are much more prestigious than the three major European film festivals. However, Du Qifeng can't even get into Hollywood, so thinking about the Oscars is too unrealistic.

For him, the three major European countries are the most realistic.

He also decided that if the Venice Film Festival didn't work out, he would try the Berlin Film Festival, and if the Berlin Film Festival didn't work out... there was always Cannes, right?

He simply refused to believe that if mainland directors could do it, he couldn't.

After the list of films selected for the main competition at the Berlin Film Festival was announced, Du Qifeng saw that Cao Yang was among them, which gave him some ideas.

Having been selected twice for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival, he already knew Cao Yang's status in the European art scene.

Could you please ask Cao Yang for help?
This is a problem that has been troubling Du Qifeng for some time now.

To tell the truth.

Even though Cao Yang is currently a world-class director with a significant position in the European art scene, Du Qifeng, as a "senior" and a highly decorated Hong Kong director, really couldn't bring himself to speak.

In addition, he was also thinking, since there was no conflict of interest and they were not familiar with each other, why would anyone help him?

This is also why he is conflicted.

Cao Yang invited everyone to get together, and Du Qifeng was definitely more than happy to oblige.

This is a good opportunity to build a closer relationship. If we can naturally become friends in the future, or if we have the opportunity to develop some business-related connections, then there is a chance.

As for the "sending girls" PR tactics common in Hong Kong, that's a bit far-fetched for directors of Du Qifeng and Cao Yang's stature.

The targets of the "sending girls" PR campaign are mostly wealthy people or public officials in Hong Kong. Not to mention a director of Du Qifeng's stature, even a young director who has not been in the industry for long has no shortage of women.

To put it bluntly, for a director of Du Qifeng's stature, the young, beautiful, innocent, or sexy actresses he attracts are things that ordinary people wouldn't even dare to imagine.

Moreover, Cao Yang has even greater influence and a higher status.

The so-called "unspoken rules" are a joke to directors with some fame—how much must so many actresses or aspiring actors like to leave themselves vulnerable to "sneaking in"?
Therefore, when Du Qifeng met Cao Yang, he was extremely polite, shaking hands with both hands and saying, "Director Cao, I have admired you for a long time. Today we finally have the opportunity to get together."

Actually, Du Qifeng's words were a bit too polite, as Cao Yang and Du Qifeng had met before.

Two years ago, Cao Yang was invited by the president of the Venice Film Festival, Mark Müller, to be a guest at the opening ceremony, deliver a speech, and present the Lifetime Achievement Award. That's when he met Du Qifeng.

At that time, Du Qifeng was still somewhat arrogant. His film "Exiled" was shortlisted for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival, and he was riding high. He had met Cao Yang, but they didn't talk much.

Last year, Du Qifeng's film "Mad Detective" was once again shortlisted for the main competition at the Venice Film Festival, and Cao Yang, as the producer and screenwriter of "Pieta," also came to Venice.

However, he arrived a bit late, only five days after the film festival opened. This time, Cao Yang met Du Qifeng, and Du Qifeng chatted with Cao Yang for a while.

But Du Qifeng was unusually polite today, unlike last year when he was a little pretentious. Today he was very humble.

It's easy to tell whether someone is genuinely polite or just pretending.

For example, Wang Xiaoshuai could sense that Du Qifeng was polite to him on the surface, but that was completely different from his politeness towards Cao Yang.

Wang Xiaoshuai didn't seem to care much about this.

We're not in the same circle. You look down on me, and I look down on you too.

Don't assume that just because Du Qifeng is famous in the Chinese community, Wang Xiaoshuai is incomparable to him.

During this period, mainland Chinese art film directors, especially those like Wang Xiaoshuai who could win awards at the three major European film festivals, might not have made a name for themselves domestically, and their domestic box office performance wasn't very high.

But the movies they make earn euros and dollars.

The total revenue from the sold copyrights is quite considerable. The key point is that this revenue is not shared with the theaters, and the government also provides tax breaks, so it is almost all pure profit.

Furthermore, in European art circles, Wang Xiaoshuai and his group are much more famous and recognized than Du Qifeng.

This is the difference between winning awards at the three major European film festivals and not winning any. Not only was Du Qifeng polite and humble towards Cao Yang, but Ren Dahua, who came with him, was also very courteous.

Unlike Du Qifeng, Ren Dahua was not only humble and very polite to Cao Yang, but also to other mainland filmmakers, including newcomers like Da Tiantian. His politeness was not the kind that was just a pretense.

Ren Dahua is a very interesting person.

Despite often playing villains in movies, he is very approachable and down-to-earth with filmmakers from mainland China, which is quite rare among Hong Kong filmmakers of this era.

In addition, he attended the Berlin Film Festival as the male lead and brought his wife with him, which is quite rare.

The female lead, Lin Xilei, who came with Du Qifeng, is even more interesting.

While she was toasting Cao Yang, she deftly slipped a room key into his pocket, quickly and discreetly.

Jackie Chan also came.

However, he seemed to be a person detached from worldly affairs, sitting there quietly. When someone greeted him, he would nod and sometimes even show a smile.

Overall, he is in much better shape than when he was filming movies before, and he no longer seems to care about anything.

Everyone present knew how immersed he was in his role. Apart from the necessary polite words, few people would chat with him, and he didn't seem to mind.

Even as the event ended, Du Qifeng couldn't find a suitable opportunity or excuse to speak, so he could only encourage himself in his heart: "Old Du, you can do it, the Berlin Film Festival will definitely be your lucky place."

However, Shu Qi took the opportunity to reveal some information to Cao Yang when the event ended.

"This year's judging panel originally consisted of eight people: four male judges and four female judges."

Shu Qi whispered to Cao Yang:

"However, the judging process was fraught with controversy. The jury president, director Gavras, was so fed up with the noise that he forcefully expelled a French actress and a Danish female director, claiming that they were unable to attend because of their new films."

Cao Yang's heart skipped a beat, and he asked, "Does this involve me?"

Shu Qi and Cao Yang looked at each other for a moment, nodded, and said in her distinctive tone, "That Danish female director is called Susanna Bell. She emphasized that your film is too depressing and makes people see no hope. She said that such a film is not suitable for an award."

Then, she covered her mouth and laughed for a moment, saying, "The French actress who was kicked out was named Sandrine Bernard. She... she had an affair with another judge while she was a judge, and director Gavras found out."

Uh, this matter...

But considering she's a French actress, it's not so hard to understand why she would do something like this... right?
"Have the awards been announced?"

Cao Yang casually asked a question.

Shu Qi hesitated for a moment, nodded, and said in a low voice, "Dieter Koslick, the film festival chairman, was also present when voting for several important awards. Given the endless arguments in the past, a secret ballot was adopted this time."

If an award doesn't receive a majority of votes, a revote is held. If a majority is reached, the vote is recorded by Chairman Dieter in the presence of Chairman Gavras, but it is not made public.

Cao Yang glanced at Shu Qi, intending to say: "You judges have just wasted your time. Isn't it obvious that if the requirements aren't met, you should resubmit, or that you're just manipulating things behind the scenes?"
But then I thought about it, and last year when I was the president of the jury at the Berlin Film Festival, didn't the other jury members also end up with nothing? Apart from the Golden Bear, I made all the other decisions on my own…

Okay, this kind of thing is common in Europe, under the guise of fairness and justice.

On the way back, Shu Qi made several unintentional hints, but Cao Yang pretended not to notice them.

It wasn't that Cao Yang was being coy; if Shu Qi had stuffed the room key into Cao Yang's pocket like Lin Xilei had, Cao Yang might have wanted to hear Shu Qi's sweet voice.

The key point is that she is now behaving like a virtuous wife and loving mother, even her hints are veiled.

This was a bit much for Cao Yang; it felt like he was being forced, and he never did anything that seemed like he didn't want to do.

It's fine if it's consensual, and it's fine if you want some compensation, but if you have those feelings yet try to hide them, then it's pointless.

当地时间2月7日晚18点30分，京城时间2月8日凌晨1点30分，第58届柏林电影节在红毯边闪烁着的灯光中拉开了帷幕。

February in Berlin is still winter. By 5 p.m., the sky was already shrouded in darkness, but Potsdamer Platz in the city center was brightly lit, and film fans from all over Germany had gathered at the entrance of the main venue.

The opening film was "Shine Light," a music documentary directed by Cao Yang's old friend Martin Scorsese. It tells the story of the Rolling Stones' two concerts at the Beacon Theatre in New York at the end of 2006.

It's worth mentioning that all four original members of the Rolling Stones came to Berlin and walked the red carpet, which really triggered a wave of nostalgia and brought a lot of attention to the Berlin Film Festival.

Nowadays, whether it's the Berlin Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, or the Cannes Film Festival, all of them are trying every possible way to attract attention in the face of declining viewership. They've come up with all sorts of methods.

Choosing Martin Scorsese's music documentary as the opening film is a rather unconventional approach for the Berlin Film Festival.

After the celebrities, it's the judges' turn to walk the red carpet.

This time, the judging panel consisted of only six members, one fewer than the traditional seven.

Shu Qi dressed very conservatively once again, wearing a loose red halter dress with a Chinese style, without revealing her back or even her chest, only a little bit of cleavage could be seen.

It can only be said that Shu Qi, after getting ashore, did a very good job of putting on a show.

Following the jury, Martin Scorsese took the stage last, smiling and greeting the crowd before giving an interview to a local television station, expressing his hope that the Rolling Stones could resonate with today's youth.

As for Cao Yang, he was neither the first nor the last to walk the red carpet. Instead, he walked the red carpet with Berlin Film Festival President Dieter Kosslick before the jury took the stage.

Cao Yang walked the entire red carpet with this old man, and at the end, at Dieter's request, he and Dieter stood in front of the Golden Bear logo, each giving a thumbs up, and foolishly let the media take plenty of pictures.

After walking the red carpet, Cao Yang jokingly said to Dieter, "Dieter, we're friends, I've really given you a lot of face today."

A few days ago, a director from the Cannes system gave me advice, telling me to give up on Berlin and stop thinking about the Grand Slam.

"If he wins the Palme d'Or at Cannes and the Golden Lion at Venice in the future, and never participates in the Berlin Film Festival again, he'll have won enough awards to leave a mark on film history that rivals those of the Grand Slam directors."

Cao Yang gave Dieter Koslick enough time to grasp the deeper meaning of his words, and only continued after seeing a change in Dieter's expression:
“Dieter, I told you, we’re friends. This suggestion is clearly aimed at damaging the reputation of the Berlin Film Festival. How could I possibly do that, right, my friend?”

Dieter Koslick nodded firmly.

“That’s right, Cao. We’re friends, and Germany and China have always been the best partners. The Berlin Film Festival has always favored Chinese films… So, don’t worry, I swear to God, I will make sure you get a grand slam during my term.”

(End of this chapter)