Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 722 The Throne Changes Hands!

Liu Shuaichen hung up the phone, still somewhat confused.

Ning Hao's Weibo?
With a hint of doubt, he opened Weibo.

The trending topics related to Ning Hao quickly surged.

My brother isn't qualified to be a chief expert? I heard the other day that a film festival, oh, the Berlin Film Festival, invited him to be the next jury president?
Isn't this the youngest chairman of the three major film festivals in history? Oh dear, these three major film festivals are so clueless, hiring such a young person! Why didn't they hire a seasoned expert? [This is worrying.]

At the end of the Weibo post, the verified accounts of several of the most vocal "experts" online were also tagged.

"puff……"

Liu Shuaichen couldn't help but laugh when he saw this Weibo post.

That's so damn mean!
This isn't worry; it's blatant boasting, a blatant attempt to humiliate those old guys.

"He really is a young man..."

Liu Shuaichen sighed.

If it were him, or anyone within the system, dealing with this kind of thing would always involve a lot of concerns, with the thought of being thorough and leaving no room for error.

But Wu Chen obviously didn't.

The spirit of youth is truly a rare and irreplaceable quality.

He thought about it and realized that the wording of tomorrow's official statement definitely needed to be changed. However, he still needed to see how the political climate developed tonight.

The media has gone mad.

Previously, Wu Chen's appointment as the chief expert of the 3D project only caused a stir within the industry.

The revelation that Ning Hao made was like a bombshell dropped on the entire Chinese entertainment industry.

The editorial office of the entertainment channel of a certain portal website was brightly lit.

"Quick! Go verify it! The president of the Berlin Film Festival jury! Is this true or false?!" The editor's voice was trembling with excitement.

"There's no official news yet! But Ning Hao's statement can't be baseless!"

"Holy crap! If this is true, Wu Chen will break the record! The youngest jury president in the history of the three major film festivals! Who was the youngest before that?"

"It looks like Sophia Loren from Cannes, 31 or 32! But Wu Chen is not even 30 yet!"

"Never mind all that! Get the article out first! Use Ning Hao's Weibo as the source! The headline needs to be fast! It needs to go viral!"

Almost instantly, reports from major media outlets sprang up like mushrooms after rain.

They rushed into the comment sections of those "old experts'" Weibo accounts as quickly as possible and began to mercilessly criticize them.

"Come out and walk around, you old man! He's about to become the chairperson of one of the three major judging panels, and you're still debating whether he's qualified to be an expert?"

"This is hilarious! I could practically hear the slap in the face through the screen!"

"Perspective! Do you even know what perspective means?"

Of course, some people were not convinced and resisted stubbornly online.

"Talk is cheap! The official Berlin website hasn't released any information."

"Exactly! Let's wait for the official announcement! What if it's just a judge?"

Then, Ning Hao directly tagged Wu Chen in the comments section of his Weibo post.

[@NinghaoV: @WuchenV They don't believe it, give me a definite answer.]

A few minutes later, Wu Chen, who had been silent for a long time, finally replied on Weibo.

【Yes. 】

One word.

Shocking.

If Ning Hao's actions were a warning to everyone, then...

The industry was utterly shocked.

At 10 p.m. local time, the official website of the Berlin Film Festival also officially released an announcement and updated the homepage header image.

The photo shows Wu Chen holding the Golden Bear trophy and Liu Yifei standing together in front of the Berlin Film Palace, a classic scene.

The announcement's title was concise and powerful: "Welcome Back the Golden Bear Winner – Wu Chen to Serve as President of the Jury for the Main Competition at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival."

The announcement was full of praise, calling Wu Chen "an old friend of Berlin and an innovator in film," saying that his works "combine Eastern philosophy with a universal language," and that his achievements "are worthy of being recorded in the history of world cinema."

He expressed his belief that under his leadership, the new Berlin Film Festival will surely shine with new brilliance.

This silenced all dissenting voices.

Those "experts" who were previously making sarcastic remarks online have all deleted their comments and disappeared.

young?

Even if you're young, others have already broken records.

The public opinion storm triggered by Wu Chen's appointment as "chief expert" came to an end in a way that no one expected and was swift and devastating.

Wu Chen's way of slapping others is very loud!
I received many congratulatory phone calls.
Congratulations from Zhang Yimou, Nolan, and others poured in.

Jiang Wen sounded especially excited on the phone.

"Holy crap! How did they get that?! The chairman of the jury! I want to be one too?"

It would be a lie to say I'm not envious. It's not like he's never been a judge before, but being the chairman of the jury at one of the three major film festivals is something many people would envy.

“You can do it too if you win more awards,” Wu Chen replied casually.

Jiang Wen, on the other end of the phone, fell silent.

Does he not want to win the award?
Chen Kaige, who was on another film set, remained silent for a long time upon hearing the news.

He himself knew that, over the years, apart from "Farewell My Concubine," he had no other works that had been truly recognized overseas.

We haven't accumulated enough honors yet.

Wu Chen's appointment as the Berlin Film Festival president is undoubtedly a shot in the arm for films aiming for awards.

You know, the last time Jiang Wenna made "The Sun Also Rises," it was such a mess that the jury could hardly understand it, but Zhang Yimou still helped to mention it.

Although it didn't win an award in the end, Zhang Yimou certainly wouldn't risk public condemnation by forcibly helping "The Sun Also Rises" win an award, but just being mentioned already greatly increased its chances of winning.

The next morning, Wang Quan'an rushed to the General Administration, trying to find connections and ask for favors. In the end, he also poured out his grievances to Tong Gang's secretary.

"It's really not easy for us moviemakers!"

The last time Director Zhang served as the president of the Venice Film Festival was several years ago.

This time, Director Wu is serving as the Berlin Film Festival president, which is the best opportunity for Chinese films in Berlin in recent years! Our film, *White Deer Plain*, is…”

"Don't worry, Director Wang, we understand."

As a secretary, the answer was naturally watertight.

However, he still reported the matter to Tong Gang.

“Yes, it’s certainly a good thing that Wu Chen is serving as the chairman of the judging panel.” Tong Gang pondered for a moment, “But those violations they made, those that need to be corrected, still need to be corrected.”

Of course, if the review process could be faster, it could be a little quicker.

These words can be considered a show of support for domestic films.

And at this very moment, a historic juncture finally arrived.

After final data collection and confirmation, the distribution department of China Film Group officially released the announcement.

As of December 4, 2011, the film "Interstellar," which our company co-produced and distributed, has officially surpassed RMB 13.6 billion in cumulative box office revenue in mainland China!

Taking 17 days to complete, it broke the Chinese box office record held by *Avatar* for nearly two years! Congratulations to *Interstellar*! Congratulations to director Wu Chen!

The media were already on high alert.

The moment the announcement was released, pre-prepared press releases flooded the market.

[The throne has changed hands! Interstellar tops the all-time Chinese box office with 13.6 billion yuan!]

[Seventeen days! Wu Chen sets a new record for Chinese cinema!]

A new record has been set in Chinese film history: Interstellar's 13.6 billion yuan gross is just a stepping stone, not the final result.

At this moment, Weibo, Tieba, Douban... all movie-related platforms were in an uproar.

(End of this chapter)