director of the millennium

"The crew is going there in person?"

"Do you need me to lend you my private plane? It's safer to go out on your own plane now!"

"It's okay. We buy airplanes to use them. It costs money to keep them parked."

"Ok, deal."

Sitting on the sofa at home, Wu Yuan was teasing his daughter who was struggling on his legs while talking on the phone with a smile on his face.

The person he was talking to was naturally Zhang Guorong who was far away in Hong Kong Island.

The movie "Glass Love" has been completed for a long time, but due to the current market downturn, it has not been scheduled for release.

However, he can still participate in the film festivals he is supposed to participate in. After all, Rongsheng Zhang made this movie just to win awards.

"Leslie, I've seen the list of nominees this year. You must be under a lot of pressure."

"Nicole Garcia, Andrei Konchalovsky, Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Kernel Mudluzzo, Gianfranco Rossi, and Amos Gitiko are all very good directors."

The directors Wu Yuan cited as examples are not only shortlisted for the main competition unit of this year's Venice Film Festival, but are also directors who have been shortlisted for the three major film festivals before. It can be said that they are well-known in the field of art films.

In comparison, Zhang Guorong, the newcomer who was shortlisted for the first time, can definitely be said to have a shallow foundation.

"Being shortlisted is already a recognition for me." On the other end of the phone, Zhang Guorong was calm and said with a smile in his voice.

Wu Yuan curled his lips and didn't believe such words. We are all directors, so who doesn't know who?
Perhaps Zhang Guorong did think so before he was shortlisted, but after he was sure that he had successfully entered the main competition unit, he naturally expected to win the award and would not be satisfied with it.

Human desires are endless!
"I'm still very optimistic about you. The story of 'Glass of Love' fits in very well with the international environment in recent years. Plus, you're a really good director, so you still have a good chance of winning an award." Wu Yuan encouraged in a seductive voice.

However, he added: "But it is still a bit difficult to win the Golden Lion for Best Picture."

There was still half a sentence that Wu Yuan held in his mouth and didn't say it out loud.

Apart from him, probably few people in the world know that the winner of this year's Venice Film Festival is actually a new director who is similar to Zhang Guorong.

This year's Venice Film Festival Best Film Award was given to "Nomadland" in its original time and space.

There's actually not much to say about this movie. It's an adaptation of the novel of the same name by American writer Jessica Bruder. It tells the story of Fern, who lost her job and home during the Great Depression and started living in an RV, working and traveling, and met all kinds of people.

There is nothing wrong with the story itself, and the artistic quality is also good, so it is reasonable for it to win the award.

It’s just the director of this movie. It’s hard to comment on it.

Zhao Ting is a mainland female director, screenwriter and producer. Her works have won international awards. In 2014, she wrote and directed her first film, Songs My Brothers Taught Me, which was shortlisted for the 68th Cannes Film Festival's Caméra d'Or. She won the Best Actress Director Award at the 24th Gotham Independent Film Awards for the film.

On March 2018, 3, he won the Best Film Award at the 5th Cannes International Film Festival Directors' Fortnight and the Bonnie Award at the 70rd Independent Spirit Awards for his feature film The Rider. He is a rare director in the world for his success right from his debut, and he can be said to be a genius.

However, after Zhao Ting won the Best Picture at the Venice Film Festival and the Best Picture and Best Director at the Oscars for "Nomadland", she initially received positive coverage from international media and Chinese official media, and won praise from Chinese netizens.

So the mainland netizens who have calmed down naturally stopped paying too much attention to her, praising her, and worshipping and admiring her as the so-called pride of Chinese female directors.

Domestic media almost stopped reporting any news about her and gave her the cold shoulder.

But the work "Nomadland" did win a series of major awards including the Venice Film Festival Best Picture, the Oscar for Best Picture, Best Director, and the Golden Globe Award for Best Director.

For Zhang Guorong, who will also attend the Venice Film Festival this year, this movie is his biggest threat and opponent.

Moreover, Wu Yuan also felt that Zhang Guorong's hope of finally defeating "Nomadland" and winning the grand prize was very low.

After all, the double best film awards at the Oscars and Venice Film Festival are still very valuable, just like "Parasite".
Even Wu Yuan himself might not be able to pull off this kind of movie, let alone Zhang Guorong who does not have much experience in the field of art films.

All I can say is that the two brothers are in the same boat. One encountered "Parasite" and the other encountered "Nomadland", both of which were tough nuts to crack.

"Leslie, if you can win either the Grand Jury Prize or Best Director, your trip to Venice will be complete."

Wu Yuan encouraged him over the phone: "After all, this is your first time participating in the three major European awards as a director. It would be a victory if you could return with something. It would be even more remarkable if you could win such a prestigious award."

"When I first participated in the three major European film festivals, I only won the Best Director award. I remember it was the Berlin Film Festival."

"You still remember, you won the Berlin Film Festival Best Actor Award, and we went on stage together to receive the award."

On the other end of the phone, Zhang Guorong, who heard Wu Yuan's reminiscences of the past, said with some emotion: "Yes, more than ten years have passed in a flash. You have become an internationally renowned director, and my career as a director has just begun."

"That's true." Wu Yuan rolled his eyes. "Those commercial films you made don't count as movies, right? The movies you directed have grossed over 2 billion, right? There are many directors whose total box office revenue from movies they made throughout their lives is not even half of yours."

“Is this what you call just starting out?”

"Hahaha." Zhang Guorong laughed, "Indeed, it's a bit greedy."

“But I really hope to win a prize!”

"Don't worry, the chances are still great. Even if it doesn't work out this time, there's always next time. It's not like you won't continue making movies in the future."

Wu Yuan bewitchingly said: "Even if you are 70 or 80 years old, as long as you can still hold the baton, you can continue to shoot!"

"I'm counting on you to continue making blockbusters for Light and Shadow Times."

"Haha!" (End of chapter)