Huayu: The Big Players Behind the Scenes

"Winter break has started? So soon?"

Zhuang Huai'an suddenly realized that he had been completely oblivious to everything else lately, focusing solely on writing songs.

"Yes, I got an excellent grade on my final exam." Liu Yifei sat opposite him, smiling gently as she shook her finger.

"Okay," Zhuang Huai'an smiled as he came back to his senses, "I've prepared a gift for you to commend your attitude towards learning."

"What gift?" the little girl asked, blinking her eyes with great curiosity.

"Here," Zhuang Huai'an opened the drawer and handed over an A4 sheet of paper, "Take a look."

Liu Yifei took it and looked at it. The top of it read: "The Song of Wonderful Abilities".

"Is it a song? Why is there only lyrics?"

The little girl exclaimed in surprise after reading it, "These lyrics are so interesting! Did you write them?"

"Yeah, do you want to sing?"

To Zhuang Huai'an's surprise, Liu Yifei shook her head and said, "I can't even act well yet."

"Two-way development will not cause any delays."

"I do not want."

The young girl looked directly into Zhuang Huai'an's eyes and said resolutely, "I want to study acting hard so I can be your leading lady in the future."

Alright, then what else is there to say?

The little girl's sudden directness caught Zhuang Huai'an off guard. Seeing her staring intently at him, Zhuang Huai'an smiled gently.

"Okay, then you'd better work hard. I'm very strict, so if you don't perform well and I scold you, don't cry."

Perhaps thinking of what happened on the set of "The Story of a Noble Family," Liu Yifei blushed slightly, clenched her fist, and stubbornly declared, "I'm not afraid of you!"

"Heh, just wait until I get my hands on you."

After exchanging a few words, Liu Yifei skipped off to find Zhang Lu. Lately, this girl had been coming to the company every day to listen to Zhang Lu talk about gossip in the entertainment circle.

This amused Zhuang Huai'an; where did the aloofness go?

Since Liu Yifei doesn't want to be a singer, there's no need for me to rack my brains to write songs suitable for her to sing. I'll just let things take their course.

The era of ringback tones is just around the corner, and this wave of quick money shouldn't be missed. However, those cheesy, catchy songs should be credited with a pseudonym, otherwise it could easily become a black mark on your past.

After thinking about it, he called Yang Chen again and asked him to set up a music company, so that the copyrights of these songs would be easier to manage if they were registered with the company.

On January 18th, early that morning, a piece of news swept across the country once again.

Three Chinese-language films are among the main competition entries at this year's Berlin International Film Festival!

Zhang Yimou's "Hero" and Li Yang's "Blind Shaft"

And Zhuang Huai'an's "The Vanished Lover"!

"Good lad!"

In the China Film Group office, Han Sanping excitedly pumped his fist, realizing he had made the right bet!

Using a favor to gain a political achievement—this was arguably the most ingenious move he had made in his decades-long career!

"Sigh, it's still a bit of a pity that Shanghai Film Group got a share of this good thing!"

Han Sanping sighed. There was nothing he could do about it. China Film Group had many rules, and he wouldn't dare to spend money on public relations at foreign film festivals.

If this gets out, it won't be as simple as just losing an official's job.

The Shanghai Film Studio office on the other side,

Professor Ren was also stunned by this unexpected joy.

Family members, does anyone understand? I just got transferred here and suddenly I'm showered with achievements?

Unlike Han Sanping, who was still striving to climb the ranks, when Professor Ren received the transfer order, the organization clearly stated that he was to take over as the head of Shanghai Film Studio, and that he would only be in a deputy position for the time being.

Therefore, regardless of who negotiated this deal, it is an achievement of that person during their tenure.

If you're even a little shameless, you could simply claim that this was all part of your prior planning!

But Professor Ren is, after all, a scholar, and would not do something so shameless.

On various online forums, interested netizens are debating whether "Hero" or "Gone Girl" should win the grand prize.

Many people see this film festival as a clash between the old and the new in the Chinese film industry.

Some people support "Hero" while others support "Gone Girl," and various arguments between Zhang Yimou and Zhuang Huai'an have emerged one after another.

It's worth mentioning that the Berlin Film Festival is the only one of the three major European film festivals that doesn't require participating films to premiere during the festival; it only requires them to premiere in Europe.

A week after the list of nominees for the main competition at the film festival was released, Berlin issued another list of the jury president and members.

Zhuang Huai'an observed for a moment and saw that the chairman was Atom Egoyan, a Canadian director.

Upon further inspection of the jury member list, the name of French producer Amber Balsan was prominently featured.

That's no problem. With the MK2 involved, the trip to Berlin won't be a disappointment.

The opening ceremony of this year's Berlin International Film Festival is on February 6th, which happens to be the sixth day of the Lunar New Year. This means that Zhuang Huai'an will not be able to go back to his hometown for the New Year again.

Due to the influence of another domestic event

The news that Zhuang Huai'an and others went to the Berlin Film Festival did not attract much attention from the public.

Because of this, he even made a special call to Liu Yifei. After learning that she and her daughter had returned to the United States to visit relatives, he felt a little relieved.

Berlin was even more generous than Venice, not only waiving visa restrictions but also providing the "Gone Girl" film crew with a complete service package.

The organizers covered his airfare and hotel expenses. Even the screening venue was arranged for him without Zhuang Huai'an having to pull any strings; he was given a good spot directly. The premiere time was even scheduled for 3 pm on the second day after the opening ceremony.

This made Zhuang Huai'an very emotional. He, a big director, was more popular overseas than in Hong Kong. Who the hell could he complain to?

It was another boring opening ceremony, and another awkward... cough, collaboration with Leo from MK2.

The premiere of "Gone Girl" once again shocked the film festival.

The festival's official publication, Screen, gave it a high score of 3.4, the highest among all publications at the festival.

After communicating with Leo, Zhuang Huai'an had essentially secured a minimum award, and he no longer cared what award he would ultimately receive.

He sees himself as just a businessman, unlike his predecessors who were time travelers and had no obsession with winning the three Grand Slams to prove themselves.

This is quite interesting. A plagiarist steals other people's classic works to prove himself?

The reality is that no matter how talented or amazing you are, without making substantial contributions, the three major film studios will never give you the top prize. Just look at the Chinese-language films that have won the three major awards.

The more backward and ignorant China appears in your photos, the more white men like it.

For example, in this year's shortlisted film "Blind Shaft," Zhuang Huai'an respects director Li Yang's desire to reveal the truth, but does not agree with it.

Film cultural exchange is also a kind of united front strategy. Let alone in this era before the Internet is prevalent, even in 2026, have foreigners completely changed their impression of China after watching so many domestic videos?

You pull this stunt overseas, and people are overjoyed, so they give you a small but significant award.

Oh, so you think you've done the right thing, that the highest hall of cinematic art has recognized me? Then it must be the fault of those old men in China!

So, is this a film award?

Or is it a medal they give you in recognition of your "pursuit of truth"?