Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 99 Awards
The premiere of "Secret Sunshine" was very lively, with many well-known directors and producers attending, most of whom Cao Yang met during the months he spent in Venice last year.

The chairman of the jury, David Lynch, also came, bringing with him several jury members.

Yang Ziqiong is among them.

She was very enthusiastic and kept praising Cao Yang's movies, saying that she liked "Empty Room" very much and hoped to have the opportunity to work together.

Before sitting down, she casually said, "Secret Sunshine is a very profound movie. I like it very much. It is as wonderful as Lynch's film The Brown Carriage last year."

Cao Yang's heart moved, and he smiled and said, "Thank you!"

Then he personally led Yang Ziqiong and the others to their seats.

At last year's Cannes Film Festival, David Lynch's "The Carriage" won the Best Director award, along with the Coen brothers' "The Man Who Wasn't There."

Last year's Best Director award at Cannes was a double yolk.

At the Cannes Film Festival, it is common to award double yolk eggs, nothing special.

MK2's founder, Marin Kamiz, also came with three people.

After introduction, it was found that the oldest one was Luc Godard, a senior member of the Cannes Film Festival Organizing Committee. He was responsible for all matters related to the film festival every year and was one of the people with the most say after the chairman of the organizing committee.

The other two are also members of the organizing committee.

Cao Yang shook hands and expressed his gratitude. They said that they attended the premiere on a private basis and did not represent the official party.

Well, if you say it doesn’t mean it, then it doesn’t mean it. As long as you are happy, that’s fine.

Jia Zhangke brought Zhao Tao to attend the premiere of "Secret Sunshine".

While sitting in his seat waiting for the movie to start, Zhao Tao watched waves of famous directors and actors from all over the world come to show their support, and said to Jia Zhangke with envy: "This is such a grand occasion, with a movie palace, a red carpet, and big stars."

Jia Zhangke was also envious, but he couldn't show it. He smiled and said calmly, "Director Cao is the youngest director to win the Golden Lion Award, and he has produced two Best Actresses in a row. The Cannes officials will definitely treat him as the most important guest."

This is for sure.

Film festivals and famous directors actually achieve each other's success.

For example, if a world-renowned director often takes his films to the Venice and Berlin Film Festivals, but never comes to Cannes, what would others think?
Is it that the Cannes Film Festival has lost its influence, or are there too many shady dealings in Cannes?
Even if it has no substantial impact on the film festival, what about the festival's president? Isn't this a ready-made handle for competitors?

Zhao Tao couldn't help but look towards Cao Yang. One of the top three movie queens. This is the dream of many actresses. I believe most actresses can pay any price for it.

"Do you think Gao Yuanyuan has a chance to win the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival?"

Zhao Tao asked softly, as if mumbling.

Jia Zhangke thought about it for a long time, combined with his experience as a director over the years, and then slowly shook his head and said, "It's difficult. I know Gao Yuanyuan, she's not a professional actor, she's famous for filming commercials, she's average in talent, and she's also acted in Xiao Shuai's movie before, her acting skills... hard to describe."

Then he explained to Zhao Tao, "Although everyone says Director Cao is good at training actors, training an actor's acting skills is not something that can be done overnight. It's very difficult. Director Cao is not a god. How can he transform a person completely in such a short time?"

Zhao Tao thought about it and it made sense. Unless one was extremely talented, one could only leave it to time, learn slowly, figure it out slowly, and hone one's skills slowly.

Then he thought of Li Xiaoran and Yu Feihong, and Zhao Tao's thoughts were a little shaken. He didn't know Li Xiaoran, but Yu Feihong's acting skills were just so-so, right?

How come it suddenly became so good?
Perhaps it was because she had been a teacher at Beijing Film Academy and had a solid foundation and was able to make great achievements?
After the movie started, Zhao Tao stopped thinking about these things and started watching it seriously.

At first she also thought it was a romance film until the heroine's child was kidnapped and killed.

Zhao Tao began to wonder, whose love movie is so tragic? Shouldn't the hero show his supernatural powers and fight with wits and courage in an emergency to rescue the child?
After the movie ended, Zhao Tao no longer had any messy thoughts. She only felt that the heroine was too pitiful. How could fate be so cruel to her?

Especially the crying scene in the church, which made Zhao Tao's eyes red and he couldn't stop crying.

"Director Cao is so cruel. He treated the heroine so cruelly. Why didn't he give people a little hope..."

Zhao Tao said while wiping his tears.

Who the hell said this is a romance movie? Which media is so unreliable!
Jia Zhangke fell into deep thought and remained silent for a long time.

He ignored Zhao Tao and kept questioning himself in his heart.

"Does being a director also require a very high level of talent? Why was Director Cao able to train a person's acting skills to such an extent in such a short period of time? Am I... not suitable to be a director?"

Before leaving, Jia Zhangke shook Cao Yang's hand and said, "Congratulations, Director Cao, this is a very thoughtful film with great depth.

Human nature has always been complicated. When there is no way out, some people will go with the flow, some will give up, and some will rise up in resistance... The movie is great, and the actress is great too."

Then he added, "It has been said before that Director Cao is good at training actors. This time I believe it. When I have time after returning to China, I will ask you about this issue. I hope Director Cao can give me some advice."

"Well, then, let's discuss and learn from each other. Director Jia, let's make progress together."

Zhao Tao watched with a smile on her face. After Jia Zhangke and Cao Yang finished their pleasantries, she said, "Congratulations, Director Cao, you have made another amazing movie. I am very envious of Yuanyuan now." After that, she turned around, took Gao Yuanyuan's hand, and said, "Yuanyuan, your performance in the movie is amazing. You definitely have a chance to compete for the Best Actress award."

Gao Yuanyuan smiled and replied: "Sister Tao, you flatter me too much. Your acting skills are much better than mine."

"Hey, Yuanyuan, let's stop being polite and get together after we return home."

"Okay, it's a deal."

During the Cannes Film Festival every year, many media will frequently mention a word: program brochure.

Cannes' official partner magazine Screen Daily will invite a group of well-known media and film critics from all over the world during the film festival.

This official publication of the film festival contains all the information, behind-the-scenes, reviews and advertisements about the film festival.

And the most important thing is the program scores of the films in the main competition unit.

On the surface, this thing seems to represent "public opinion" in some sense, but judging from the results of the awards ceremony every year, it is difficult for film critics and the jury to have the same tastes.

In fact, there are many reasons. The most easily understood reason is that film critics are more easily influenced by certain factors, such as the power of money, and thus give scores that are not objective.

So you can just take a look at the ratings in the brochure as a reference, but it is not necessary to use it as an indicator of winning awards.

The reviews of the movie "Secret Sunshine" in the program book are somewhat polarized. Some Western film critics don't quite understand why the heroine who believes in God still has to negotiate conditions?
So some film critics felt that their criticism of the plot was a bit unreasonable. They felt that faith should be pure and should not be linked to interests, but they praised Gao Yuanyuan's performance.

However, some Western film critics feel that this is God's test and trial of shallow believers, and the movie is very realistic. Didn't Job also doubt God in the past?
Only those who have firm faith and pass trials can receive God’s blessing and return to God’s arms.

Isn't this movie trying to tell the world, through the heroine's story, that faith requires piety?

I’m not, I didn’t, stop talking nonsense!
Although Cao Yang has repeatedly called out in the media that his film is not a religious film, but just an exploration and reflection on human nature, it is useless - as a director, you know nothing about movies, and it takes film critics to interpret them. We are professionals.

Cao Yang has intuitively felt the impact of fame. If you are just a little-known director, film critics will not have nothing better to do than discuss your movies.

On May 5, the Cannes Film Festival closing red carpet and awards ceremony was held.

"Secret Sunshine" was notified to stay and attend the closing ceremony, but Jia Zhangke regretfully did not receive the invitation.

When Cao Yang called him, he was quite open-minded and said that as long as he entered the main competition unit, he would be a winner, and he hoped that Cao Yang could win a prestigious award.

After Gao Yuanyuan confirmed the news, her excitement was beyond words. Since words could not express it clearly, she decided to take practical action.

She asked Cao Yang for advice on acting, and the discussion was so intense that they even started fighting, and there were screams at one point.

Gao Yuanyuan's voice begging for mercy could be heard faintly, asking Director Cao to slow down the discussion and just discuss it slowly and carefully.

The award ceremony procedures of the three major European organizations are similar. First, you walk the red carpet, sign autographs, have photos taken by reporters, accept a brief interview, and then find your seat and wait for it to start.

The awards for other units are presented first, with the main competition unit presented last.

What makes Cannes different from Venice and Berlin is that the permanent awards include a Best Screenplay Award, and the Jury Prize is also often presented. This is not the Grand Jury Prize, but a consolation award.

But the Best Screenplay Award is not just a consolation award. As a permanent award, it is one of the important major awards.

Apart from the highest award at Cannes, the Palme d'Or, the rest are just certificates. There is no such thing as a Silver Palm.

After the awards for the various non-competitive units were presented, it was obvious that the atmosphere on the scene was different, and the highlight was about to begin.

This year, Cannes held a 55th Anniversary Special Award in the main competition unit. The award presenter glanced down at the audience. I guess all the directors at the scene were thinking, please don’t let it be me…

Since they were told to stay, no one would want to take a consolation award.

“Bowling for Columbine, Michael Moore.”

As the presenters read out the names, most breathed a sigh of relief, except for Michael Moore.

The same situation applies to the Jury Award. If given a choice, no one wants to win this award.

After the two consolation prizes were awarded, the rest of the people breathed a sigh of relief. The next prizes were more important ones, and no matter which one they won, it would be a victory.

"The Best Actress award should be presented next."

Wu Qihua glanced at Gao Yuanyuan and reminded her softly.

Although he is the male lead, he is not the main attraction. He has few scenes and lacks explosiveness. He knows that it will be difficult for him to win the Best Actor award.

The easiest award for this movie is Best Actress.

(End of this chapter)