This director loves making friends.

On January 14, the 44th Berlin International Film Festival announced its main competition lineup. To everyone's delight, two Chinese-language films were selected: Qin Keqing's "Old Boy" and "Fire Fox".

The director of "Fire Fox" is Wu Ziniu, a graduate of the 78 directing class at Beijing Film Academy. He was classmates with Chen Kaige, Tian Zhuangzhuang, and others.

This film can be considered a co-production. The main production team in mainland China was Changchun Film Studio, while the investor was a small company established in Hong Kong in 93 called Hong Kong Senxin Entertainment Development Company, whose boss was Hong Kong director Cheung Chi-leung.

Cheung Chi-leung is quite an interesting person. He graduated from the 10th Acting Training Class of Hong Kong's TVB in 1983. After graduation, he joined Cinema City, which was already rising at the time, and worked on commercial films as a production assistant, producer, and planner.

But when he became a director, almost all of his early films were art films with humanistic and realistic themes. He was good at portraying the emotions of ordinary people and social concerns, focusing on the lives of the lower class, family ethics and women's fate.

In Hong Kong, he is known in the industry as "Cultural Zhang," in contrast to Tsui Hark's "Martial Tsui."

Speaking of which, Wu Ziniu can be considered Xie Fei's student. Although Xie Fei was not the class teacher of the 78 directing class, he was the deputy director of the directing department. Because there were not enough teachers at the time, he taught the students of the 78 directing class.

"I have some good news to share with you all."

Yu Feihong walked to the podium with a stack of newspapers in her hand. After the students below quieted down, she smiled and waved the newspapers in her hand.

"The 44th Berlin International Film Festival has announced its main competition lineup, and two Chinese-language films have been selected. One is 'Fire Fox,' directed by Wu Ziniu, a graduate of the Beijing Film Academy, and the other is..."

Xu Jinglei stared intently at Yu Feihong and the newspaper in her hand, her heart beginning to pound rapidly.

She had a premonition, but she wasn't entirely sure.

Yu Feihong glanced around at the students below and raised her voice slightly.

"The other one is 'Old Boys,' directed by Qin Keqing, a graduate student in the directing department of Beijing Film Academy. It was also selected for the main competition at the Berlin Film Festival!"

As soon as she finished speaking, it was as if a switch had been flipped, and the class erupted in a cacophony of noise.

And almost simultaneously, everyone's eyes were drawn to Xu Jinglei, whether intentionally or unintentionally.

When we were a little over a month into the semester, we weren't really sensitive to who was chosen to star in which movies or TV series, and we didn't care much about it. We probably felt deep down that we could do it too.

However, it's almost mid-January now, and in just over a week, the semester will be over.

Even the most obtuse person, after a semester at a school like the Beijing Film Academy, would know what it means for a student to be chosen by a director as the female lead in their freshman year.

Moreover, he was a very famous director.

What's more, this film has now been selected for the main competition at the Berlin Film Festival!

Many people couldn't help but think of another person, an actress who wasn't from the Beijing Film Academy, but a big star from the Central Academy of Drama: Gong Li!

Gong Li was selected by the then-newcomer director Zhang Yimou when she was a sophomore in college to star in "Red Sorghum". She became an instant star and then almost became Zhang's go-to actress.

As a result, Gong Li is now one of the most popular female celebrities in the Chinese-speaking world, and enjoys great international fame.

Is it Xu Jinglei's turn now at Beijing Film Academy?

That's some seriously amazing luck!

Even if Xu Jinglei doesn't become director Qin Keqing's go-to actress, the fact that she starred in a film selected for the main competition at the Berlin Film Festival during her freshman year already puts her ahead of 99% of the students at the Beijing Film Academy.

What if we win another award...

At this moment, both Alyssa Chia and Liu Zi, who had auditioned together, looked at Xu Jinglei with nothing but naked envy, jealousy, and hatred—they wished they could slap that woman to death and take her place!

"As you all know, Jinglei is the female lead in this movie. Let's congratulate Jinglei."

Yu Feihong took the lead in clapping, and the students, including Jia Jingwen and Liu Zi, could only force smiles and join in the clapping, no matter how unwilling they were.

"Splash splash splash..."

A thunderous applause erupted.

As the applause grew louder, the "little grass" in Xu Jinglei's heart began to take root and sprout. She once again remembered the day she knocked on director Qin Keqing's door but was beaten to it.

She appeared modest and even a little embarrassed.

But in her heart she thought, "Teacher Yu, you must be very happy that Director Qin's 'Old Boys' has been selected for the main competition. However, what you can do, I can do too, and I even have an advantage over you. What man doesn't care about that..."

Then she wondered if she could go to the Berlin Film Festival with director Qin Keqing. As the female lead in the film, it would be normal for her to go.

It seems I need to get my visa sorted out in advance to avoid missing the opportunity.

On January 16, production of "Old Boys" was completed.

However, Qin Keqing did not go to Berlin immediately. Before going to Berlin, he planned to return to Hong Kong and stay there for about a week.

He planned to use this week to leverage his connections and go all out, trying to get as many cameo roles as possible in movies to boost his points.

Currently, "Old Boys" has been nominated for the main competition at the Berlin Film Festival, gaining 3 more points. Combined with the 42 points he had previously accumulated, he now has 45 points.

I'll spend another week grinding for points to build up my confidence.

"I've already contacted Chairman Moritz and told him about your trip in a week. Once you arrive in Berlin, you can call Chairman Moritz directly or go to Barko, who is one of the heads of the organizing committee for this year's Berlin Film Festival."

Before leaving for Hong Kong, Qin Keqing came to say goodbye to Xie Fei, who gave him some instructions.

"Okay, teacher."

Qin Keqing hesitated for a moment, then asked softly, "Teacher, if—and I mean if—I were to announce that I'm skipping the Berlin Film Festival and going to Cannes instead… what impact would that have on you?"

Xie Fei went to great lengths to help Qin Keqing with her film, and even made a special trip to Berlin.

Qin Keqing felt that if his trip to Berlin failed and he really had to follow Chen Kaige or Zhang Yimou's example and "switcheroo" at the last minute, he would still have to consider Xie Fei's feelings.

If it has a significant impact on Xie Fei, he might give up.

Of course, this is just a hypothetical situation, but it's always good to ask for clarification.

Xie Fei glared at Qin Keqing, about to reprimand him, but then he thought that Qin Keqing was a close associate of Cannes Film Festival. If he really announced his withdrawal from the Berlin Film Festival, Cannes might actually give him a higher honor.

After all, the three major European powers have never been a monolithic entity; sometimes they even hate each other and want to crush each other.

Back then, that bastard Chen Kaige listened to Cannes... and that's why he temporarily gave up the Berlin Film Festival and decided to go to Cannes, putting everyone in a very passive position.

If Qin Keqing continues down this path, the Beijing Film Academy... will probably be blacklisted by Berlin!

However, Qin Keqing is his youngest apprentice, and if he betrays his team at the last minute, he'll probably win the Palme d'Or...

"Get out of here! You're a grown man, don't ask me about everything. You're a world-famous director, what do you want to do? How can I stop you?"

Xie Fei waved his hand wearily. These guys are all troublesome. What am I supposed to say? Can I say I support what you're doing? Wouldn't that make me a sinner against the Beijing Film Academy?

Sigh, it's tough!

What a disobedient disciple! Do whatever you want, don't ask me!

Please remember the only URL of this novel: ".". The website owner has only this one website, and other websites may be discontinued at any time.

Before Qin Keqing left, Xie Fei said again, "Keqing, you're still young. There's no need to rush some things. There will be plenty of opportunities. Don't think about taking shortcuts..."

Qin Keqing was still confused even after boarding the plane. Xie Fei kept saying that he was an adult and didn't need to ask him about everything, but then he said that he was still young and didn't need to rush...

This statement is contradictory. What does it actually mean?