This director loves making friends.

In theory, the jury will finalize the list of winners for the main competition section of this year's film festival the day before the awards ceremony.

However, in practice, this is not the case most of the time. Usually, the final winning film is selected several days before the awards ceremony begins.

During the film festival, the jury also has a division of labor.

The core responsibility of the jury members is to watch all the films nominated for the main competition in their entirety and to complete the award judging work, not that they must watch the films at the film premiere.

When the opening film or a film that has generated a lot of buzz premieres, the jury president and most of its members usually make a collective appearance to balance the film festival’s public image with the need for media exposure.

For the premieres of other films in the main competition, the jury chairman will decide which jury members will attend based on their schedules, work conflicts, and other factors.

The judges don't all need to be present at every premiere event.

While the jury president cannot decide which film receives an award, they can indirectly influence the award recipients by arranging for which jury members to attend screenings.

In addition, the chairman of the judging panel can also decide which awards to select first, that is, the order of the awards.

Generally, the selection process for the next award will only begin after the judging panel has reached a consensus on the award recipients.

However, this year's award selection process has not been going smoothly.

The judging plan devised by jury chairman Jeremy Thomas is to first select this year's Golden Bear winners, and then select the other awards.

Unexpectedly, even with only three days left until the film festival's closing ceremony, which was the awards ceremony, they were still stuck on the first award.

Well, in other words, the awards ceremony is in three days, and the judging panel's work is still nonexistent; they haven't selected a single award yet.

"What happened?"

Moritz frowned and asked Klopp.

Klopp was in charge of communicating with the jury, and now that this unexpected incident has occurred, Moritz is somewhat dissatisfied with Klopp.

"The problem lies with Xu Feng."

Klopp hadn't expected this to happen. He had discussed it several times with the chairman of the jury, Jeremy Thomas, and tried to come up with some solutions, but ultimately failed to achieve his goal.

He also communicated with Xu Feng several times, but she wouldn't listen to reason or pressure, insisting on following the Berlin Film Festival's rules, which made things difficult.

"Xu Feng? What's wrong with her?"

Moritz was somewhat confused. As far as he knew, Xu Feng was also from China, so he categorized Xu Feng as someone who was beneficial to the implementation of the plan.

"In the first vote of the jury, Xu Feng unexpectedly voted for 'In the Name of the Father.' Since we categorized her as 'friendly,' we were caught off guard, which almost disrupted our plans."

"If it weren't for the emergency activation of the backup plan, 'In the Name of the Father' would have won the Golden Bear by a landslide..."

Moritz frowned again. This could only be considered an accident. He didn't believe that Klopp would be foolish enough to include Xu Feng in his plan before clarifying Xu Feng's position.

"With so many members on the judging panel, what kind of trouble could she possibly cause?"

Moritz's tone was already somewhat dissatisfied. Even if Xu Feng, who was also from China, "defected," it wouldn't be a big deal, since she wasn't part of the plan at all.

Speaking of this, Klopp has a toothache.

At the last Berlin Film Festival, two Chinese-language films won the Golden Bear. Whether due to the principle of balance or other pressures, it is certain that the Golden Bear will not be awarded to Chinese-language films this year.

Qin Keqing's "Old Boys" is qualified to win the top prize. Of course, being qualified is one thing, and actually winning the award is another.

However, the Cannes Lions poached Qin Keqing.

This puts us in a very passive position.

Klopp had no idea what Moritz was thinking.

However, if Qin Keqing really takes "Old Boys" to Cannes, the key point is that this is the second "accident". At that time, the film festival's management, including Moritz and Klopp, will probably have to be replaced.

So Klopp offered a small "suggestion," giving Qin Keqing two choices: either the Best Director and Best Actor awards, or a tie for the Golden Bear.

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The only way to minimize the impact of a Chinese-language film winning the Golden Bear is to create another tie, with the other film having to be a European film.

In addition, if Qin Keqing chooses the Golden Bear, he needs to make people realize the strength of "Old Boys" and highlight some reasons why it "must" win the award.

For example, the tragic exterior of the classic European play "Oedipus Rex" is a reason to win the highest award as long as this is established.

In addition, its sharp questioning of the boundaries of human ethics is another reason why it could win the highest award.

Everything was proceeding according to Klopp's plan.

Since the release of "Old Boys", official media, festival publications, and film critics have all focused on highlighting the award-winning aspects of "Old Boys".

"Old Boys" has become the most popular film this time, even more so than "In the Name of the Father".

However, an unexpected turn of events occurred – who would have thought that a female judge, also from China, would go to such lengths to sabotage the competition?

Klopp actually felt that his ability to "control the score" had reached a superb level.

In every vote by the jury, "Old Boys" and "In the Name of the Father" received the same number of votes.

This seems somewhat impossible, because the jury is an odd number of people, but each time one jury member either chooses another film or abstains.

Based on past experience, when this situation occurs repeatedly, the answer is already obvious: the Golden Bear Award should be given to both films at the same time.

but!

but!

One of the rules of the Berlin Film Festival is that if two films receive the same number of votes and all the jury members agree, the award can be given to both films, which is known as a tie.

Xu Feng grasped this rule.

She disagrees!

No matter what I said, she wouldn't agree!

If a judge disagrees, then a new vote must be held.

As a result, "Old Boys" and "In the Name of the Father" received the same number of votes each time.

Xu Feng disagreed again!

This cycle continues, and now, with only three days left until the awards ceremony, the judging panel still hasn't selected a single award!

"What does she want?"

Moritz's anger surged. What was that woman up to?

"I've talked to her several times and even made some promises, but she just... insists on adhering to the rules and regulations of the Berlin Film Festival, leaving no room for negotiation."

Klopp spread his hands, though he was already furious inside, but what could he do?

"Is she crazy?"

Moritz slammed his hand on the table, staring at Klopp with a mixture of anger and rage, his anger finally reaching its peak.

When has this ever happened at the Berlin Film Festival?

"You crazy woman, are you trying to force me?"

On February 21, the 44th Berlin International Film Festival awards ceremony was held as scheduled. However, those familiar with Moritz could see that he looked rather unwell these past two days.