Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 704 Before the Opening

In the past few days, the Cannes Film Festival has been gradually announcing the jury members and shortlists for each section.

Zhang Zhen, as the only Chinese-speaking judge in the main competition, was announced very late.

When Zhang Zhen became a judge in the main competition, domestic film fans were somewhat overjoyed.

There's no other reason than that two Chinese-language films were nominated for the main competition this year, and Zhang Zhen has been doing well in mainland China in the past two years, so he should be able to win awards for Chinese-language films.

Zhang Zhen did not disappoint mainland film fans. Before heading to Cannes, he was interviewed by domestic media about the jury work. He made no secret of his desire to "promote excellent Chinese films" and said that he was willing to help other jury members understand Asian films: "If they have any questions, they can ask me."

In addition to Zhang Zhen, another piece of good news is that the short film "Yanbian Boy", incubated by the Changchun Film Festival's Golden Deer Venture Capital, has been shortlisted for the short film competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

This is a wonderful surprise!

The Changchun Film Festival was so happy it didn't know what to say. Right after the May Day holiday and before the opening of the Cannes Film Festival, it announced the list of judges for this year's Golden Deer Project Market.

The chairman of the jury for the venture capital unit is Chen Sicheng, a young director who generated 34 billion yuan in box office revenue during the Spring Festival. The other four juries are young director Xin Yukun, young actress Huang Lu, well-known Hong Kong screenwriter Qin Tiannan, and well-known producer Zhong Lifang.

This year, since the Golden Deer Ventures announced that it was accepting applications, it has been warmly welcomed by creators and companies in the industry. Four months before the opening of the film festival, the venture capital committee had already received applications from more than 60 companies and investors.

This is all thanks to the outstanding results of the previous venture capital conference. The first session was a great success, so the second session was naturally very successful.

Furthermore, Bi Gan, the rising Chinese director who has shocked the world film industry, has had his new film, "Long Day's Journey into Night," selected for the Un Certain Regard section.

The lists for each section of Cannes have been released one after another, and the complete shortlist for the main competition has also been sent back to China.

With 22 films nominated for the main competition, the Cannes Film Festival has been hailed by the media as having the most masters and the most intense competition in the past five years.

Some media outlets have even called this year a "super year" for Cannes, claiming that "this year's Cannes can truly be called the benchmark for world art films!"

Before departing for Cannes, Li Qiutang also gave a brief interview on Weibo. When talking about his nomination, Li Qiutang appeared very modest: "I'm already very satisfied with being nominated." Truly modest, he is a newcomer to art-house films and never dared to imagine that he could win any awards on his first nomination.

Li Qiutang smiled and said, "I don't have any expectations. This is my first time making an art film and also my first time being nominated for Cannes. Being nominated is very meaningful to me."

He described it as relaxing and about soaking up the atmosphere, but in reality, Li Qiutang's interviews for the first five days in Cannes were all arranged, with more than 10 domestic and international media outlets every day. As a director, he also had to take photos, keeping him incredibly busy. This doesn't even include the work that was temporarily added after he arrived in Cannes.

Director Li is very popular.

On the evening of the 7th local time, the crew of "Marriage Story," including director Li Qiutang, screenwriter Li Qiang, and three actors, arrived in Cannes and checked into the Ritz Hotel.

That evening, the crew of "Marriage Story" ate dinner together with Fan Bingbing, who had arrived at the same time.

"Huh? Why isn't Yifei here?" Fan Bingbing didn't see Liu Yifei. Those who weren't shortlisted tried their best to come, but she was shortlisted and still didn't come!
"How can she come? The 'Mulan' crew won't let her go. If she takes leave for more than ten days at a time, which crew can stand it?" That makes sense. "She should clear out her work on the set first, and then fly over in a few days."

Fan Bingbing felt sorry for Liu Yifei: "She'll miss the opening ceremony red carpet, what a pity. Why are you looking at me?" Fan Bingbing noticed Li Qiutang staring at her. "Is there something on my face?"

Li Qiutang said, "I was thinking, aren't you also going to start filming? How come you still have time to come to Cannes?" Li Qiutang thought of "Cellphone 2".

Fan Bingbing said, "Hey, the opening ceremony has already been held, and since I don't have any scenes to film, I ran away. You were staring at me, and I thought you wanted to act in a movie." Fan Bingbing laughed at the end. Li Qiutang followed up with her words, "You know what, I actually did think about it."

Fan Bingbing was just joking, but Li Qiutang actually took it seriously. She said, "Then tell me, what story do you have for me? I won't act in a bad script."

But Li Qiutang had no stories to tell Fan Bingbing, so she started making things up: "I'd like you to play a female star who is going through a career slump and makes a comeback. Would you do it?"

Damn, that's utter nonsense. Fan Bingbing wasn't fooled and laughed, "I'm famous enough, I can't act like that."

Everyone laughed.

Li Qiutang continued, "Then I'd like you to play a female reporter or editor-in-chief. Faced with social ills, you use your pen as a sword to fight to the end. I've already thought of the news cases: black-hearted factories, black-hearted canteens. No one else dares to report on them, but you dare to. You withstand pressure from all sides, risk your entire fortune, and still report on this matter. In the end, you win. A Chinese version of 'Spotlight'."

These two simple sentences convey dramatic conflict, character portrayal, and realistic value; even if Li Qiutang had improvised them, the listeners would still believe them.

Fan Bingbing said, "Okay, you write the script and I'll adjust the schedule for you." Although she knew that the story was made up by Li Qiutang on the spot, who knows what the director's ideas are? Maybe he'll go back and think the idea is good and actually write it into a script.

But Li Qiutang said, "Tsk, no way, Yifei won't give you this notebook."

Fan Bingbing laughed and said, "That's enough. All the good stories are reserved for your Yifei. It's no wonder that we actors can't get any roles with you."

Li Qiutang said it perfectly naturally: "That's my own wife! The woman who eats with me and sleeps with me!"

Everyone laughed.

Li Qiutang then went on to talk about his wife: "Regarding the script for 'Marriage Story,' I initially didn't intend to give it to her. But goodness, after she saw it, she insisted on acting in it. If I didn't give it to her, she would throw a tantrum, crying and making a scene..."

"Three hangings?"

“She complained three times. When we didn’t let her act, she complained to my parents and even said she would complain to my grandfather. He’s over 80 years old and his hearing isn’t very good. He can’t stand her nagging.”

Finally, Li Qiutang concluded about his wife: "She's a complete scoundrel."

The sight of Li Qiutang's wife playing with crickets behind him made everyone laugh.

Fan Bingbing had also tried to get the role in "Marriage Story," and she knew that Li Qiutang's first choice was not her wife.

The next day, although the opening ceremony was in the evening, Li Qiutang had been giving interviews to the media ever since she got up.

He refuted claims that his art-house films were opportunistic.

"What kind of speculation am I talking about? A very important premise of speculation is that you have to know there is an opportunity before you will take the risk to speculate. That's basic. Before filming 'Marriage Story,' none of us knew that it would be nominated for Cannes. There was also a high probability that no film festival would accept it after it was finished. Saying that film speculation is a very boring and unprofessional way of putting it."

He also said, "Marriage Story and The Wandering Earth were filmed one after the other. If I wanted to speculate, why would I make myself so tired?"

However, she also admitted that being shortlisted for the Cannes main competition was "a dream come true." When asked why, Li Qiutang said, "No one would not want to be shortlisted, right?"

(End of this chapter)