This director loves making friends.

The opening film of the Berlin Film Festival is almost always a film from the main competition section, giving it special significance.

The opening film is the world premiere film after the opening red carpet and opening ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival. It is the "face film" selected by the festival and directly sets the overall tone and theme of the festival.

As the opening film of the three major European film festivals at the beginning of each year, it is regarded by the global film industry as an important signal of the creative trends in the film industry that year, and even directly affects the subsequent transaction heat of the European film market and the direction of industry discussions.

Therefore, the opening film receives far more official publicity resources, media scheduling, and red carpet exposure than ordinary nominated films. The main creative team will appear on the opening red carpet together with the main competition jury and film festival executives.

The premiere of "Oldboy" was no exception.

As the leading actress at the film festival and the only woman in the crew today, Xu Jinglei stood next to Qin Keqing, with Ren Dahua and Lin Guobin behind her.

Xu Jinglei was very happy with this position.

Especially during the opening ceremony of the film festival today, when the "Old Boys" crew walked the red carpet, she walked the entire red carpet arm in arm with Qin Keqing, and just thinking about it made her feel very happy.

Many people came to the premiere of "Old Boys," but unfortunately, Xu Jinglei didn't know any of them, and no one introduced her. She just stood behind Qin Keqing and waited for Qin Keqing to chat with her with a smile before Qin Keqing would politely shake her hand.

Xu Jinglei didn't know what to say, so she just smiled and said "Welcome" was enough.

However, to her surprise, Ren Dahua, Lin Guobin, and the other two, even after the filming was over, still spoke Mandarin the entire time whenever Qin Keqing appeared, just like when they were on set, without saying a word of Cantonese.

Therefore, the quiet conversation between Ren Dahua and the other two allowed her to learn a lot of useful information.

For example, the old white man who was hugging and patting director Qin Keqing on the shoulder like an elder caring for a younger person was followed by several people, and this person seemed to be of high status, probably an official of the film festival.

Xu Jinglei guessed it was someone from the film festival's official staff.

She guessed correctly, but she underestimated the other person's identity.

After Lao Bai Nan led a few people over, Ren Dahua and Lin Guobin excitedly whispered among themselves.

"Was that Mr. Moritz, the chairman of the Berlin Film Festival?"

"Yes, that's Chairman Moritz."

"He really values ​​Director Qin. Did you notice a detail just now? He deliberately stood next to Director Qin, gesturing for reporters to take pictures."

"Indeed, but isn't Director Qin a protégé of Cannes? Why is Berlin paying so much attention to him?"

"I guess Berlin also wants to win over Director Qin. He's so young, and since his debut, three of his films have been selected for the main competition of the three major European film festivals. Every film festival would want to win over such a talented director."

"..."

Xu Jinglei thought the old white man was a film festival official, but she never expected him to be the highest-ranking person at the film festival, and to value Director Qin so much.

At this moment, her admiration for Qin Keqing deepened even further.

Who doesn't admire a talented man? Especially one who is so young and handsome, and who is valued by such a prominent figure as the chairman of the Berlin Film Festival, which further highlights Qin Keqing's talent!

Xu Jinglei's gaze towards Qin Keqing was almost drooling, and the thought in her heart grew even stronger.

Then, another large group of people walked down the red carpet.

Xu Jinglei knew these people; when they walked the red carpet at the film festival opening ceremony today, the host specifically introduced them as members of the jury for the main competition section of this year's film festival.

"Qin, we meet again."

Leading the way was jury chairman Jeremy Thomas, who warmly shook hands with Qin Keqing. A few days ago, Moritz had specifically arranged for Qin Keqing to meet with Jeremy Thomas privately, and Jeremy certainly knew what that meant.

"Welcome, I hope you've had a satisfactory day."

Qin Keqing said with a smile.

Although everyone knew that the judges had already seen the films in the main competition, they pretended not to know and acted as if it was their first time seeing the films.

The jury members are interviewed by reporters after watching the film, and their comments, whether written after watching it in advance or immediately after watching it, give a different impression.

This is actually a kind of gimmick, both for the film and for the judges.

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Judges also need exposure and publicity.

"Haha, I hope your film will satisfy all the judges."

The two exchanged a knowing smile and glance, then Jeremy Thomas went over to shake hands with Xu Jinglei and the others.

Today's premiere was the opening film of the film festival, so all the judges were present, including Xu Feng.

She deliberately stayed behind, being the last to shake hands with Qin Keqing.

"Congratulations to Director Qin for having his film selected as the opening film."

Xu Feng smiled and shook hands with Qin Keqing. "I didn't expect that the Cannes Film Festival was only recently over, and now you're back in Berlin with a new film. What a coincidence! I even became a jury member."

Her words sounded fine, but she emphasized Cannes and mentioned that she was a judge, clearly wanting to see Qin Keqing's reaction.

Xu Feng looked at Qin Keqing's beaming smile, but she was seething with anger inside.

To be honest, when she met Qin Keqing in Cannes as an investor and producer of "Farewell My Concubine," she quite admired the young man.

Young, handsome, and talented.

She was even thinking of collaborating with Qin Keqing at the time.

Little did anyone know that not long after, Qin Keqing's "Sweet Life" would become the biggest rival of "Farewell My Concubine" in mainland China.

Despite being called a rival, Xu Feng knew in her heart that "A Sweet Life" was actually designed to target "Farewell My Concubine"!

If the two films had similar box office results, Xu Feng would have swallowed her anger. After all, Qin Keqing had a background at the Beijing Film Academy, and Xie Fei had called her several times, trying to mediate the conflict.

But why did "A Bittersweet Life" gross over 5200 million, while "Farewell My Concubine," which won the Palme d'Or, only grossed over 2600 million?

Is this fair?

This is not fair!

There must be something fishy going on here!

Although "A Bittersweet Life" grossed more at the box office in Hong Kong and Taiwan than "Farewell My Concubine," "Farewell My Concubine" had not yet won the Palme d'Or at that time.

Even if "Farewell My Concubine" wasn't completely overshadowed by "A Bittersweet Life," its box office performance was definitely due to "A Bittersweet Life."

It would be more like the box office numbers of the two movies were swapped!

More than 20 million!

That's over 20 million!

How could such a matter be so easily quelled by someone's mediation?

No one could easily give it up, no matter who it was.

To put it bluntly, this is comparable to a blood feud.

That's over twenty million!

Xu Feng's heart bleeds whenever she thinks about it.

She had considered taking revenge on Qin Keqing in Hong Kong, but given Qin Keqing's status as a well-known director from mainland China, and the fact that he was about to turn 97, she didn't dare to go too far.

Therefore, she once thought of finding someone to sabotage Qin Keqing's filming crew, preferably by beating them up to vent her anger.

Then, after she subtly contacted a certain "big brother," her company's main entrance was splattered with excrement that very day!

Xu Feng didn't connect the two things at first.

However, for the next week, this happened every day.

Xu Feng was completely bewildered, not knowing why this had happened.

Then, she used other connections to find out that it was that "big brother" who did it!

Xu Feng was even more confused.

Qin Keqing is your father, why are you protecting him like this?

However, Xu Feng was a smart woman. After this incident, although she didn't know why things had turned out this way, it seemed that the "big brothers" didn't dare to do anything to Qin Keqing.

forget about it.

She didn't really intend to make a big deal out of it; she just wanted to vent her anger, and her biggest thought was to beat up Qin Keqing to get rid of the pent-up frustration.

Little did she know, she suddenly had a "legitimate" opportunity to manipulate Qin Keqing—she was invited to become a jury member for the main competition section of the Berlin Film Festival.

Xu Feng wanted to burst out laughing three times at that moment.

"Director Qin, we've known each other for a long time. Don't you want to say something to me?"

Xu Feng asked with a smile.

At this moment, she was having a very rich inner monologue: Beg me, beg me now, maybe you'll lick me until I'm satisfied, and if I'm happy... I'll still stop you from winning the award!

"Congratulations! Becoming a judge in the main competition is the pinnacle of your artistic career."

Qin Keqing said with a smile.

However, his words were clearly somewhat derogatory towards Xu Feng.

Xu Feng is very famous in the film and television industry in Hong Kong and Taiwan. She has won the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress several times. She was discovered, cultivated and made famous by Hu Jinquan. The core starting point and peak of her acting career are directly related to Hu Jinquan.

Of the 18 films Hu Jinquan made throughout his life, Xu Feng played the female lead in 6 of them, and she was widely recognized in the industry as Hu Jinquan's "go-to heroine".

It can be said that Xu Feng was once an absolute top actress in the field of Hong Kong and Taiwan martial arts films.

In fact, she and Qin Keqing are both from the "Cannes" faction, and both belong to the Pierre-Lissent faction.

Pierre Lissent has long been committed to discovering Asian directors through the Cannes Film Festival, which led to the participation of King Hu's "A Touch of Zen" in the festival and facilitated the appearance of works by directors such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, and Hou Xiaoxian in Cannes.

"A Touch of Zen" starred Xu Feng and won the Technical Grand Prize in the main competition section of the Cannes Film Festival.

This film is the first Hong Kong film to be officially nominated for the main competition at the Cannes Film Festival and ultimately win an award, and it is also the first Chinese-language film to win an official award at Cannes.

It was even the first Chinese-language film to win an award in one of the three major European film competition sections.

There are many reasons why "Farewell My Concubine" won the Palme d'Or.

Among these reasons are Cannes' compensation to Chen Kaige for "defecting" from Berlin to Cannes a few years ago when he temporarily withdrew "King of the Children" from the Berlin release, and the connection between Xu Feng, the female lead of "A Touch of Zen," and Cannes.

Xu Feng was very angry after hearing Qin Keqing's words.

"When I was at the peak of my artistic career, you were still breastfeeding!"

Of course, she couldn't say these words out loud. She was only a dozen years older than Qin Keqing, so there was some exaggeration in her words.

Xu Feng glared at Qin Keqing.

She thought fiercely, "All you're good for is empty words. Just you wait, even if you lick my boots right now, I'll make sure you don't win any awards!"

"Hopefully, Director Qin's trip to Berlin won't be in vain."

Xu Feng left after saying that.

"If I let you win even one of the awards in the main competition, I'll fucking change my surname to yours!"