Huayu Entertainment: Tianxian really wants to improve

Chapter 346 Capturing the Golden Lion Again
Gu Bei gave an awkward smile.

He didn't expect to be proven wrong so quickly.
He had barely finished speaking when the Venice organizing committee called, as if they were waiting to sabotage him.

"Hum~"

Liu Yifei's face was full of smiles, and she was about to press her advantage.

Gu Bei revealed a wicked smile, then warned Liu Yifei, "Don't say another word, or I'll arrange for you to go on a show with Zhang Ziyi!"

You're absolutely inhuman!
Liu Yifei's eyes widened instantly as she glared angrily at Gu Bei.

It's already early September.

There's only one month left until the release of The Message.
After the closing ceremony in Venice, they had to rush back home to participate in the publicity campaign for The Message.

And Zhang Ziyi's treacherous betrayal, which occurred less than three months ago, means that when the two of them appear together, reporters and the media will not miss this opportunity to generate buzz.

Furious, Liu Yifei turned away, determined to ignore Gu Bei for the entire day!

"Are you angry?"

Gu Bei wandered around her.

Liu Yifei turned away, trying to avoid seeing or being bothered.

then,

She felt something poking her shoulder, and when she turned around, she saw it was Gu Bei's finger.

She grabbed Gu Bei's arm, ready to teach him a lesson.

"No, no, no!"

Gu Bei quickly called a halt.

Liu Yifei maintained a stern face, continuing to cultivate her aloof image.

Gu Bei looked at the aloof Qian, whom he had never seen before, and found her to have a unique charm.

Under Liu Yifei's cold gaze, Gu Bei slowly withdrew his arm and then revealed the arrangements he had prepared long ago: "I have already made arrangements. After the Venice Film Festival, you and Zhang Ziyi will be divided into two groups for a TV interview."

I'll go to Lugu Lake first to film the final landing scene of gravity. After you finish the show, come directly to Lugu Lake to film the outdoor scenes first, so you can avoid going to the offline roadshow with them.

The only time you two appeared together was at the premiere.

"Then why didn't they appear together when the media asked?"

Liu Yifei looked at Gu Bei and asked.

"Let's take a picture!"

Gu Bei shrugged. "This is the last season for fickle women."

By early October, most of the water hyacinths around Lugu Lake had died, making it impossible to capture the scenes I envisioned.

"That's pretty much it!"

Liu Yifei nodded.

The entire premiere was under the strict control of the film crew.
As long as it's not held at the Beijing Film Academy like last time, then she won't encounter an embarrassing situation.

"Are you happy now?"

Gu Bei smiled as he looked at Liu Yifei.

Liu Yifei smiled at him.

Then... they pushed Gu Bei out: "Let's maintain the Cold War until the closing ceremony!"

Gu Bei looked at the tightly closed door in front of him.

When was the last time I encountered this situation?

It seems to have been at the hot spring resort in California!
at this time,

The door was opened,

Gu Bei had just raised his head when
Liu Yifei placed the phone in his hand.

"Snapped!"

The door was closed again.

Gu Bei shook his head helplessly and said, "Let's book another room."

Fortunately, it's already the eve of the closing ceremony, and there aren't many competitors and moviegoers left in Venice today, so hotel prices have dropped significantly compared to when they were booked.

the next day.

The cinema palace once again welcomed its closing ceremony.

Compared to last year's closing ceremony, this year's closing ceremony was significantly more grand and popular, demonstrating that Venice under Marco Müller's leadership continues its steady progress.

When Gu Bei and Liu Yifei stepped into the cinema, they immediately attracted a lot of attention.

Last year, Miyazaki Hayao made a blunder; he had already returned to Japan, only to be called back by the organizing committee and not even received an award.

But such cases are rare.

Since Gu Bei is here, it means he's sure to win an award today.

La La Land was a hot contender from the moment it opened until the very end.

"Bruce is back again. Winning the award in Venice for two years in a row, that should be considered a Venice record, right?"

"It's possible, but I really like La La Land. I feel he still has a chance to win the Golden Lion this year. After all, La La Land is worse than artists, and this year's films are generally not as good as last year's!"

"You can't calculate it that way. The artists are essentially tied up while filming, while La La Land has it much easier."

"I think the winner this year might be the female lead in La La Land; Ms. Stone's performance was truly moving!"

"Emma Stone is still too young. I feel that the Silver Lion for Best Director is more likely. After all, in terms of filmmaking skills, Bruce is already so skilled that he doesn't seem like a young man at all!"

"Indeed, Whiplash was a bit rough around the edges, and The Artist still had its flaws, but La La Land is flawless as a whole!"

Everyone is speculating what awards La La Land will win today.

Golden Lion, Silver Lion for Best Director, or Volpi Cup?
At this time,
A live stream has also been set up on Weibo.
Venice time is six hours behind China time.
It's almost midnight in China now, but the crowd on the live stream is still incredibly enthusiastic.

"Weibo is so smooth. Last year, Sina's live broadcast interface was so laggy that I almost missed Gu Bei receiving the award."

"Haha, after all, it's a film festival our own boss is attending. If Weibo can't play it smoothly, Gu Bei will have to fire the person in charge when he gets back to China!"

"In other companies, employees earn money and the boss spends it; at Weibo, the boss earns money and the employees spend it!"

"Tears welling up in my eyes. Gu Bei works himself to the bone overseas to earn money, and he gives us free access to Weibo!"

"Hilarious! Everyone's up so late at night, I thought they were interested in the film festival, but nobody's talking about it!"

"Just came in, who won an award?"

Amidst everyone's anticipation,

Marco Müller took the stage to begin his speech, announcing the start of the Venice closing ceremony.

First is the Horizons section, which, as a competition section parallel to the main competition section, is the best option for those who cannot qualify for the main competition section at Venice.

The Best Documentary Award for Horizon went to Du Haibin's 1428.

This documentary, which records the devastating earthquake in Sichuan, is named after the time of the earthquake. It uses a descriptive style to film the changes 10 days and 210 days after the earthquake, recording a part of this disaster.

The Best Film award went to Malaysian director Pepe Diokno, while Wong Bo's "Cow Fighting" missed out on the prize.

Following that, the short film competition section, the Italian Contro Campo section...

Awards from other categories took up most of the closing ceremony time.

"Are you nervous?" Liu Yifei asked from the side.

"A little."

Gu Bei was quite honest this time.
After all, they had just experienced being instantly proven wrong last night.

On stage, the first award in the main competition was announced: "The winner of the Marcello Mastroianni Award is... La La Land, Emma Stone!"

Emma Stone, who was not far away, covered her mouth in surprise and stood up.

Andrew Garfield, standing to the side, looked up at her, his expression one of gratification and joy for her.

"Didn't you say there was something going on between those two?" Liu Yifei asked gossipyly.

"Look at Andrew's eyes, who do you think didn't agree?"

Gu Bei watched Emma Stone walk onto the stage with a look of surprise, "Emma would probably prefer men who are stronger than her."

Liu Yifei felt it was a bit of a pity, as she really shipped the couple: "La La Land was originally more outstanding because of the female lead, and she won an award, so her career is definitely going to be better and better than Andrew's!"

"Don't worry!"

Gu Bei smiled faintly.

He then looked up at the stage, where Emma Stone had won the Best Newcomer Award, which was also good news for him.

This means Emma is out of contention for the Volpi Cup, and La La Land is basically locked into the Golden Lion or Silver Lion categories, both of which are acceptable to him.

The closing ceremony continued.
With the two Volpi Cups decided,

The awards ceremony was also drawing to a close.
This was also the climax of the entire awards ceremony.

Only three major awards remained to be decided, and only three film crews remained without an award, one for each of the three film crews.

"The Special Jury Prize goes to... Soul Kitchen, Fatih Akin!"

Upon hearing this option, Gu Bei glanced in the direction of the Lebanese film crew with slight surprise, and his eyes met those of the Lebanese director, Samuel Maoz.

Gu Bei nodded to him.

Samuel paused for a moment, then nodded to Gu Bei in a friendly manner.

Gu Bei watched as Samuel turned away.
He felt that this final showdown in Venice was somewhat dramatic.
Lebanon is a movie very similar to The Hurt Locker.
Both are anti-war themed.

Both view war from a unique perspective.
Whether it's a bomb disposal expert or a tank crewman, their perspectives are completely different from those of ordinary soldiers, allowing people to see war from a different angle.

However, this also brings a side effect.

That is, some people will think this is an anti-war movie.
However, some people felt that this was a movie similar to Top Gun, a film that served as a call to action.

And at this moment,
The winner of the Silver Lion Award has been announced on stage: "...Lebanon, Samuel Mauze!"

An uproar erupted inside the movie theater.

Sure enough, the scene everyone had anticipated happened.

With his two-part series on the golden age of artists and the city of La La Land, Gu Bei is poised to win the Venice Golden Lion for two consecutive years, setting a major record in Venice's history.

It's likely that no one will be able to break Gu Bei's record for many, many years to come!

"Gu Bei!"

Liu Yifei had already grabbed Gu Bei's hand, her voice low but filled with barely suppressed excitement.

"Don't worry, don't worry!"

Gu Bei gently patted Liu Yifei's hand.

Given the precedent set by Miyazaki Hayao last year, Gu Bei wasn't planning on popping champagne at halftime.

However, he didn't open the champagne.

Meanwhile, people in China are already celebrating with champagne.

Weibo.

"Congratulations! Gu Bei has won the Golden Lion Award for two consecutive years, and Hua Ren has won it for five consecutive years. Chinese cinema is finally on the rise!"

"What's there to be happy about? Director Gu's two films were both in English, and Li An also has one in English. There are only two Chinese-language films, namely 'Still Life' and 'Lust, Caution.' What's the point?"

"Since you've brought it up, I have to remind you that Gu Bei's first Chinese-language film, The Message, with an all-star cast including Liu Yifei, Zhang Ziyi, Jiang Wen, and Huang Xiaoming, is about to be released!"

"Director Gu has brought glory to our country. Everyone should go see 'The Message' during the National Day holiday. We must let Director Gu see the potential of our Chinese film market!"

"No problem. During the seven-day National Day holiday, I'll first watch Director Gu's 'The Message,' then Director Feng's 'Back to 1942'!"

The chat area on the right side of the live stream scrolls by like fast forward, and often you don't even have time to see it before it's already at the top.

In the enthusiastic atmosphere,

The live stream first froze, then went completely black.

Only the right-hand comment section remains, all alone on the page.

"???"

"what's the situation?"

"Weibo, you can't resist praise!"

Everyone is anxiously waiting for the live stream to be fixed.
However, in Venice, jury president Lee An stepped into the limelight: "This year's Venice Film Festival showed me many amazing films, including anti-war films that had been suppressed for 27 years, and films that used magical realism to reflect social realities."
But I think what everyone needs most right now is a story about dreams.

The Golden Lion Award goes to… Gu Bei from La La Land!

"call!"

Gu Bei breathed a sigh of relief.

Unexpectedly, despite the debuffs of failing to capture the lion at the opening and the inevitable defeat of the favorite,

La La Land still won the Golden Lion, and was even luckier than the original film, as it had Lee An, who doesn't particularly like grand narratives, as the jury chairman.

Gu Bei accepted the Golden Lion trophy from Li An.

He raised the trophy high and said to the crowd, "The color of this trophy reminds me of the golden age of cinema!"

"Clap clap clap!"

A burst of applause erupted from the audience.

The era before cable TV, home entertainment, and mobile phones and computers was the peak of film's influence, arguably the era every filmmaker longed for.

Gu Bei continued, holding the microphone: "I love that era so much that I made two movies about it, but I also know that times are rolling forward."

This year's Venice was a wonderful surprise for me.
Venice established the first-ever 3D award in the festival's history.

The cinema palace built the first 4K-3D cinema of all film festivals.
I believe that the 10s will bring new developments to the entire film industry, and I am very much looking forward to it!

My Golden Age biography is dedicated to the past of the film industry, and also to all those working in the film industry!

thank you all! "

After Gu Bei put down the microphone,

He raised the trophy again for the photographers to take pictures.
Although the "Golden Age" bi-series was a claim he made to Michael, with the successful capture of the Golden Lion again, this series will likely be remembered in film history alongside Venice!

The grand closing ceremony came to a close.

But for Gu Bei, his work had only just begun.
He then attended a press conference, where he joined other award winners for an hour-long interview with reporters.

And after Gu Bei and the other award winners,
Then the judging panel was interviewed by reporters.
What's different this year is that, in previous years all seven members of the judging panel were interviewed together, but this year only the chairman of the judging panel, Lee An, was interviewed.

The first question, and the one everyone is most concerned about, is: "Chairman Li An, what were your considerations in choosing to award the Golden Lion Award to last year's winner, Gu Bei's City of Music?"

(End of this chapter)