Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 711: Crowned Queen!

The awards ceremony host, Eduard Beyer, gave his opening remarks on stage, but Li Qiutang couldn't understand a word of them.

The cast and crew of "Marriage Story" were seated on the right side of the main stage, while the cast and crew of "Shoplifters," led by Hirokazu Kore-eda, were seated in front of Li Qiutang.

Li Qiutang glanced at Hirokazu Kore-eda and realized that he didn't seem to understand French either.

He claps when others clap, and laughs when others laugh; surely that can't be wrong?

Soon, the host finished the opening remarks, and the awards ceremony began.

The first event was the short film competition. Bertrand Bonillo, the chairman of the short film competition, took the stage and first presented a special honorary award to the short film "Yanbian Boy" by Chinese director Wei Shujun.

Chinese films have gotten off to a flying start!

The Special Honor Award has no certificate or trophy, and no one goes on stage to receive it. Bertrand Bonillo mentions it verbally, and Wei Shujun stands up to express his gratitude, and that's it.

Even so, it is still a very good commendation.

The crew of "Marriage Story" naturally deserved a warm round of applause.

The value of the Changchun Film Festival's Golden Deer Venture Capital Project has been further enhanced! It's no exaggeration to say that it has incubated two award-winning films and a newcomer film that grossed over 100 million yuan in just one year.

The Palme d'Or for short films was awarded to the Australian film "All These Lives".

Next, we entered the main competition segment.

As is customary, the first award is the Camera d'Or, which recognizes feature film debuts.

Awarded to Belgian director Lucas Döröter for his film "Girl".

Li Qiutang has seen this movie and thinks it's very well made, deserving of the Best First Feature award, not to mention that the film also caters to the current LGBT trend in the West.

Damn it, international film festivals have been pushing this evil trend for the past two years. The films are very well made, but there are just too many of them. After watching so many, Li Qiutang feels that it's gone too far, and even doubts whether there are any directors still making films about normal, ordinary people.

After presenting the Golden Camera Award, Eduard Beye introduced the chairman of the main competition jury.

Cate Blanchett emerged from behind the scenes, dressed in a red and black gown, exuding an incredibly powerful aura.

Kate took the microphone from the host and began her presidential address.

It's nothing more than praising the past 11 days and 22 films in the main competition, and then talking about how well the jury he leads has worked.

After her speech, Kate introduced the other judges.

When Zhang Zhen came on stage, he quickly scanned the entire audience as if looking for something, but found nothing. He then bowed slightly and sat down on the judges' panel.

After the other eight judges were introduced, Kate returned to her seat, and the main competition awards ceremony officially began.

The first award, Best Actress.

The award presenters were Italian actress Elsa Argento and Zhang Zhen, a judge for the main competition.

After Zhang Zhen came over from the judges' panel, Aisha Argento began to speak: "I have something to say."

It means I'm about to cause trouble.

In front of more than 3000 film industry elites at the Palais des Festivals, she recounted a painful memory: "In 1997, right here in Cannes, I was raped by Harvey Weinstein. I was 21 years old. This film festival used to be his hunting ground. I hope that Harvey Weinstein will forever be unwelcome here. He will live in shame, scorned by the film industry that once embraced him and covered up his crimes. Even tonight, some of you here still have to take responsibility for behavior that should not be tolerated by this industry."

Last October, Harvey's sexual assault scandal broke out, and his supporters scattered like leaves in the wind.

The cinema was so quiet you could hear a pin drop. All the guests and media present looked solemn, their eyes fixed on Elsa Argento, listening intently to her accusations.

“You know who I’m talking about, and most importantly, we know who you are—we will no longer allow you to get away with this,” Elsa Argento said menacingly.

She spoke in English, which Li Qiutang understood, and she joined the entire audience in giving her a warm round of applause!

Hindsight is 20/20. Why did they have to say it now that Harvey has fallen from grace?

It takes immense courage to say this now, especially on such a grand stage as Cannes, and we should applaud her for that courage.

Poor Zhang Zhen, all he's said since stepping down from the jury has been "hello." After Elsa Argento finished speaking, Zhang Zhen patted her on the shoulder in comfort. The Metoo movement is also a particularly important theme at Cannes this year.

Elsa Argento then began the awards ceremony, turning to Cate Blanchett: "Madam Chair, it's your turn now. Please announce the winner of Best Actress."

Cate Blanchett stood up, smiled, and said first, "It is complicated as a woman to stand."

Then, looking down at the list of winners in his hand, he announced, "The Best Actress award goes to Liu Yifei for Marriage Story. I think I pronounced your name correctly."

Liu Yifei heard her name called, but she felt completely numb.

She stood up expressionlessly, and Li Qiutang also stood up and patted her arm.

She didn't even know how she got onto the stage, received the Best Actress trophy from Zhang Zhen, and heard him say to her, "Congratulations."

Only then did she truly believe she had won the award.

Holding the trophy, Liu Yifei was on the verge of tears. Standing in front of the microphone, she couldn't speak for a long time.

Applause was given to Liu Yifei again.

Liu Yifei then forced herself to speak, "Thank you, judges, thank you, Chairwoman Kate." Her hands were trembling as she held the trophy.

“This award doesn’t just belong to me, it belongs to the entire ‘Marriage Story’ crew.”

“When I saw the script for ‘Marriage Story,’ I told the director that I must act in this movie. Please give me this role, and I will definitely not let you down. I think I should keep my promise.”

"Thank you, director, for your encouragement and guidance. Um... he's my husband," she said, laughing as she spoke. The audience applauded her again, and the live broadcast camera focused on Li Qiutang. "He's my dearest person."

"Thank you to screenwriter Li Qiang, and thank you to all the cast and crew of 'Marriage Story.' Without your work, I wouldn't be standing here."

"Finally, I want to say that I have been acting for sixteen years. My acting skills have been questioned and ridiculed by countless people, but today I stand on the stage of Cannes and receive this trophy that represents the highest honor for actors. I don't want to say how great I am. I want to say that acting is the happiest profession in the world. As long as you want to act, you should try and you should keep acting."

"Thank you again to my crew, thank you to my dear husband, and thank you to my mom who is watching the live stream right now. Mom, I won an award."

bow.

The audience erupted in enthusiastic applause once again.

Liu Yifei and the two award presenters went to the side of the stage for a group photo before leaving the stage.

When Kate Middleton's name, Liu Yifei, was mentioned at the beginning of the year, the reporters at the Cannes backstage media center went crazy.

The Chinese-language media, in particular, were overjoyed!
"Post this on Weibo right away!"

"Liu Yifei has won Best Actress!"

"Second in Chinese-speaking countries, first in mainland China! Post it now!"

"Damn it, the net in Cannes is terrible! I'm stuck!"

It's 1:30 AM in China now, and the hashtag #CannesFilmFestival# on Weibo is being refreshed.

The first real-time Weibo post had only seven characters and came from a netizen:
Liu Yifei won the Best Actress award at Cannes.

Refreshing the page, the same Weibo post appeared again.

"Yi Fei won Best Actress!"

Liu Yifei won the Best Actress award at Cannes!

"#CannesFilmFestival#LiuYifei wins Best Actress!"

"#CannesFilmFestival# Liu Yifei becomes the second Chinese actress and the first mainland Chinese actress to win the Cannes Film Festival Best Actress award. #MarriageStory#"

It's 1:30 AM China time!

(End of this chapter)