Entertainment: Who still wants to fall in love when there are cheats?

Chapter 259 Golden Lion Award

September 16th was the closing ceremony of the Venice International Film Festival, which was also the day the awards were presented.

Before the awards ceremony began, a closing ceremony video was played. This video was the movie "Mr. Six," directed by Guan Hu and starring Feng Gangpao.

Li Boda watched the movie, and then—

To put it simply, it tells the story of an old hoodlum in Beijing who can't keep up with the times, and the conflicts between him and the younger hoodlums.

Overall, Li Boda found the movie rather uninteresting and uninspiring.

This kind of theme is actually quite common in Hong Kong: older or retired gangsters have conflicts with the new generation of gangsters, and eventually have to return to the underworld.

This kind of subject matter and story has been filmed in Hong Kong in both artistic and commercial ways; it's not exactly anything new.

If there really is a difference, it's probably in the setting of the story; one is in Hong Kong, and the other is in Beijing.

Boring, tedious, and awkward!

This was Li Boda's impression of the film after watching it.

"Just make do with it," Li Boda thought to himself, and couldn't help but yawn out of boredom.

The movie finally ended, and the awards ceremony officially began. Only then did Li Boda regain his spirits.

As the awards ceremony began, the film festival's jury president and jury members appeared, and each time one member was called out, there was a round of applause.

Then, a little something extra was served before announcing the winners of the Horizons category.

Awards like Best Short Film, Best Film, Best Director, Best Actor, etc.

Every now and then, people would go up on stage to receive awards. Most of these award recipients had joy on their faces and would loudly declare their acceptance speech.

However, among the many awards in this Horizons category, the name of "Dying to Survive" did not appear.

Upon not hearing the name "Dying to Survive," Hwang Jung-min and the others couldn't help but smile. Since "Dying to Survive" wasn't in the Horizons section, it must have made it into the main section.

Huang Zhengmin and the others were also extremely nervous and expectant at this moment.

Just like Hwang Jung-min, he even wondered if he could win the Best Actor award at the Venice Film Festival this time.

If he can win the Venice Film Festival Best Actor award, his status in the South Korean entertainment industry will be elevated significantly, making him a top-tier actor in the film industry!
However, when Hwang Jung-min heard the host loudly announce that the winner of Best Actor was Fabrice Luchini for his role in the film "Mink," Hwang Jung-min immediately deflated, and a look of disappointment appeared on his face.

However, none of the awards mentioned earlier were for "Dying to Survive," but Son Ye-jin and others looked visibly excited at this moment.

Because all that remains to be announced are the three final awards of the Venice International Film Festival.

The three awards are the Silver Lion for Best Director, the Silver Lion for the Jury Grand Prix, and the Golden Lion for Best Film.

These three awards are the three most prestigious awards at the entire Venice International Film Festival.

If it had just succeeded in one of these areas, "Dying to Survive" would have been a remarkably successful film.

So, almost everyone in the "Dying to Survive" crew held their breath, anxiously awaiting the announcement of the three major awards.

"The Silver Lion for Best Director goes to Pablo Chabiro for *The Crime Family*!"

"Let's congratulate Pablo Chabiro on winning the Silver Lion for Best Director!"

Applause erupted, and a middle-aged man in his forties, with a robust physique, stood up. At that moment, his face blossomed with a smile as bright as a chrysanthemum.

When Pablo Chabiro took the stage to give his acceptance speech, he seemed a little flustered and his words were somewhat incoherent. However, no one paid attention or laughed at him; instead, he received applause and blessings.

The main thing is that he's already won the Silver Lion for Best Director, one of the three most prestigious awards at the Venice International Film Festival. With that achievement, who can afford to laugh at him?

In fact, this is not Pablo Chabiro's first time participating in the Venice International Film Festival. Many of his previous works have been selected for the main section of the Venice International Film Festival, but he has never won an award. This time, he has finally achieved his wish, which is why he is so excited.

"The winner of the Silver Lion Jury Prize is Lorenzo Vegas, for 'From Afar'."

To be honest, Li Boda wasn't surprised at all by the title of this movie, because he already knew a little about it. To put it simply, the movie is about a middle-aged man who likes to pay young men in the red-light district, and his... well, you know... relationship with a young, handsome man.

With this kind of subject matter, winning awards was not unexpected at all. In fact, the fact that this film only won a Silver Lion instead of a Gold Lion was already somewhat unexpected.

The moment the winner was announced, the hearts of everyone in the "Dying to Survive" crew skipped a beat. Their eyes turned red, and their faces were filled with excitement and disbelief.

Because now, there is only one award that has not yet been announced, and the movie "Dying to Survive" has not won any awards yet.

As mentioned before, the Venice International Film Festival officials called to inform the winners of their films that they had won awards, whether major or minor.

Now that the smaller prizes have been announced, there's only one grand prize left. It's obvious who the grand prize winner will be.

While Son Ye-jin, Hwang Jung-min, and Lee Baek-dae were getting excited, the winner of the Grand Jury Prize, the Silver Lion, had already finished his acceptance speech and stepped down from the stage.

"The winner of the Golden Lion Award for Best Film – Boda Lee, 'Dying to Survive'!"

"Congratulations, Berda Lee! Please come up to the stage to accept your award!"

Lee Bo-da stood up and hugged Son Ye-jin next to him. Overwhelmed with emotion, Son Ye-jin couldn't help but give Lee Bo-da's butt a hard squeeze while hugging him!
At that moment, the camera was pointed directly at Lee Baek-da and his group, capturing Son Ye-jin's actions.

As a result, jeers and cheers erupted in the hall, and many people even whistled.

Son Ye-jin blushed and quickly let go of Lee Bok-da; she had acted too impulsively.

Li Boda remained unfazed, simply accepting the whistles and jeers.

Li Boda even hugged Huang Zhengmin, Wang Chuanjun and others before going on stage.

"Thank you to the Venice International Film Festival for recognizing me and giving me this award. To be honest, I am very excited... I would like to thank... and also thank..." Li Boda finished his acceptance speech in fluent Chinese.

Throughout the entire venue, whether it was the audience, the judges, or the host, no one had any objection to Li Boda delivering his acceptance speech in Chinese, and their smiles remained unchanged.

It's just that he/she gave his/her acceptance speech in his/her own country, it's not a big deal.

In fact, many award winners deliver their acceptance speeches in their respective national languages. Of course, if they use English or Italian, no one will say anything.

Because most people, even if they don't understand what you're thanking, don't care.

They only care about who won the award; who cares what the winners said about whom?
After giving his acceptance speech, Li Boda walked off the stage with a gilded, winged lion figurine.

After stepping down from the podium, everyone in the "Dying to Survive" crew was attracted by the little golden lion. Li Boda generously handed the little golden lion to Son Ye-jin. Son Ye-jin carefully took it with both hands, as if she were holding a precious treasure, looking at it over and over, as if she couldn't get enough of looking at it.

Hwang Jung-min and the others couldn't help but urge her on, and in the end, Son Ye-jin reluctantly handed the trophy to Hwang Jung-min.

Finally, after circulating among everyone in the crew, the little golden lion was returned to Li Boda's hands.

On the other side, Guan Hu, Feng Gangpao, and the others looked at Li Boda with eyes full of envy, jealousy, and hatred; their eyes were practically red with envy.

Especially Feng Gangpao, he never dreamed that Li Boda would actually win the Golden Lion Award, which is the Golden Lion Award!
It's worth noting that before this, only Zhang Yimou had won the Golden Lion Award in 92 for his film "The Story of Qiu Ju," and no one in China had won the award since. More than twenty years later, Li Boda finally brought home the trophy.

Feng Gangpao was beginning to despair. He feared that he would be forever subdued by a young man like Li Boda, and would never have a chance to rise again.

Despite being one of the top three directors in China, he has now been removed from the list of the top three directors in China.

Thinking about this, Feng Gangpao became even more frustrated. Looking at the little golden lion in Li Boda's hand, Feng Gangpao couldn't help but grit his teeth. He made up his mind: he would make art films, he would compete for awards, he would win the Golden Lion Award, he would win the Palme d'Or, he would win the Golden Bear Award. As long as he could win any one of them, he could return to the ranks of the top three directors in China. Well, at that time, he should be one of the top four directors in China.

Right after Li Boda won the Golden Lion Award for Best Film at the Venice International Film Festival, a photo of Li Boda holding a small golden lion appeared on the Chinese internet.

The headline read: 'Li Boda wins the Golden Lion Award'.

The following content tells the story of Li Boda winning the Golden Lion Award for the film "Dying to Survive". It then explains that the Venice International Film Festival is one of the three major international film festivals, how authoritative it is, and what the Golden Lion Award is and what its significance is.

After this article appeared, similar articles began to appear one after another.

After so many news reports about Li Boda winning the Golden Lion Award, people on the internet were stunned.

"What's going on? Li Boda won an award? And it's the biggest Golden Lion Award? Is it true?"

"Fake news, fake news! Spreading rumors isn't illegal now, is it? You're actually spreading rumors that Li Boda won the Golden Lion Award? There's a limit to jokes, you really think we're idiots?"

"I'm a professional photographer, and this picture is obviously photoshopped. Everyone, let's move on!"

"Is this some kind of smear campaign against Li Boda? Is this a ploy to target him? By creating this fake news, once the real Golden Lion winners at the Venice International Film Festival are announced, countless people will start attacking Li Boda, right?"

"Tsk tsk tsk, these people who spread rumors online are really despicable."

"I said, why don't you all believe that Li Boda won the Golden Lion Award? Li Boda is such a great actor and such a great director, why can't he win the Golden Lion Award?"

"Hey you up there, wake up! Li Boda is indeed very good at making movies, and his movies have high box office worldwide, that's one thing, whether they can win awards is another. Commercial films and art films are completely different concepts, okay? In the whole world, how many directors can make good art films and also good commercial films? I can't say there aren't any, but there are definitely very few. Who can believe that Li Boda can win awards for making art films?"

"No, Zhang Yimou can win awards for his art films and also make high box office returns for his commercial films. Why can't Li Boda do the same? Aren't you underestimating Li Boda?"

"There are various debates and discussions online. Generally speaking, the vast majority of people don't really believe that Li Boda could win the Golden Lion Award for making an art film. If it were a smaller award, they would believe it, but the Golden Lion Award is too big."

Online, some people are criticizing Li Boda, while others are speaking up for him; people from all sides are present. Some even firmly believe that Li Boda's film will definitely win the Golden Lion Award.

However, at first, most people did not believe that Li Boda would win the Golden Lion Award.

However, there are more and more news stories like this, some even accompanied by photos.

Even the photos of Son Ye-jin grabbing Lee Baek-dae's buttocks were posted online.

Now, more and more people are starting to believe that Li Boda's film "Dying to Survive" really did win an award, and even the Golden Lion Award.

As a result, countless people began searching for resources to watch the movie "Dying to Survive" and wondered why it was able to win the Golden Lion Award.

Unfortunately, the movie "Dying to Survive" was never released, so no one, whether in China or neighboring South Korea, could find any copies of it.

In fact, this was an arrangement that Li Boda had made long ago.

From the beginning, Li Boda set the release date of the film "Dying to Survive" for September 17, the day after the Venice International Film Festival ended.

Now that it has won the Golden Lion Award, all movie fans are looking forward to this film. The anticipation for "Dying to Survive" is extremely high, so it goes without saying that the film's release at this time is just right. With such high popularity, it's perfect.

If "Dying to Survive" doesn't win an award, it's no big deal. Just treat it as a movie that was released normally. At most, it just means we've lost one promotional angle, which isn't a big deal.

Now, with "Dying to Survive" winning the Golden Lion for Best Film, it is undoubtedly the most ideal result.

Therefore, whether in China, South Korea, or even Japan, many people are waiting for the movie "Dying to Survive".

When Li Boda and his group returned by plane, they were immediately surrounded by a group of reporters as soon as they got off the plane and exited the airport.

This group of reporters had been waiting near the airport for a long time, and as soon as they saw Li Boda appear, a huge crowd rushed over.

Besides the reporters, a group of movie fans also squeezed in at this time.

Li Boda didn't intend to say anything on this occasion.

This is an airport, after all. Blocking the road is just asking for trouble!
Fortunately, the airport security was quite effective in helping Li Boda keep the numerous reporters and fans away.

Li Boda, along with Son Ye-jin, Wang Chuanjun, and Wang Baoqiang, got into the car and prepared to leave, without saying a word to the reporters or fans.

However, before leaving, Li Boda still expressed his attitude. He did not want to be questioned in public places like airports, as this would affect public order. In the future, in similar situations, whether it is reporters or movie fans, he would never answer any questions or give any feedback.

Li Boda's attitude was firm and decisive.

This attitude left reporters and movie fans looking at each other in bewilderment.

This was the first time they'd encountered such a situation. Previously, no matter which celebrity they were, no one had ever shown such a resolute attitude when surrounded at the airport. So, gradually, they've all become accustomed to it, accustomed to waiting for people at the airport.

As for whether it would affect public order, they never considered that.

Regardless of the airport security's attempts to stop them or the curses from boarding passengers, this group of people didn't take it seriously at all.

Only when he encountered Li Boda did he directly retort.

After seeing Li Boda's attitude, the airport security guards felt much more favorably toward him, since his behavior greatly reduced their workload, no matter what.

The incident at the airport was also reported by journalists.

Some reporters directly labeled Li Boda as arrogant, disdainful, and rude, portraying him as a particularly bad-tempered jerk. They even attempted to denounce Li Boda at the end of their articles.

Similarly, some reporters spoke the truth, expressing Li Boda's dissatisfaction with their actions of blocking people at the airport and disrupting public order.

These two different types of news don't mean that the reporters who publish the first type of news are particularly bad, nor that the reporters who publish the second type of news are good.

It's simply because they have different views on the news.

Whether it's saying good things, bad things, or even negative things, it's all just for traffic. As long as there's enough traffic, anything can be said.

These two news stories sparked considerable debate online after they were reported.

Some people say Li Boda is good, while others say he is bad.

However, whatever the discussion, it actually has no impact on Li Boda himself, and even less on Li Boda's films.

People who decide to buy tickets to see Li Boda's movies won't get a refund because of bad news. Conversely, people who never intended to buy tickets won't buy tickets because of good reports.

This kind of news, aside from sparking some debate online, has absolutely no impact on reality.

(End of this chapter)