Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

A few days later, the 49th Venice International Film Festival awards ceremony officially began.

The cruise ship carrying movie stars departed from the main island of Venice to Lido Island, where the Venice Film Festival Palace is located.

Countless star-chasing and onlooker boats of all sizes emerged from all directions, chasing the stars' cruise ships, turning the Grand Canal into a floating red carpet.

Soon, the fleet left the main island and sailed on the Adriatic Sea in a magnificent manner. The scene was spectacular.

Unlike the Cannes Film Festival which is only open to professionals, the Venice Film Festival is open to the public. You don't need a pass or a ticket to go to Lido Island to chase stars, so there is such a spectacular scene.

Lido Island is a narrow island 18 kilometers long. There are motorway and buses on the island. After the stars arrive at the dock, they are picked up by luxury cars and taken to the Palais des Festivals.

In front of the Festival Palace, Yang Ye led the judges to appear on stage first and was immediately cheered by thousands of fans. He is probably the most popular jury chairman in the history of the Venice Film Festival.

Yang Ye's arrival not only made Venice soar in popularity, but also made the film trading market very hot. Many fierce commercial blockbusters set up booths in Venice, making the organizers earn a lot of money.

After entering the main venue, Yang Ye went on stage to give a speech and then returned to his seat. He didn't need to worry about the award ceremony procedure afterwards.

Yang Ye had nothing to do, so he chatted with Marco Mueller, the chairman of the Venice Film Festival, who was sitting next to him.

Yang Ye said: "Old Ma, your place is quite interesting. The night before yesterday I went to eat the cuttlefish noodles, oh my god, it was delicious."

After Marco Muller found out where Yang Ye had eaten, he said disdainfully, “Things from tourist areas are always a rip-off. Next time you come to my house, I’ll make you a Venetian stew, which is authentic. Invite all your friends along.”

Yang Ye was looking forward to it and said, "It's bright and spacious!"

"necessary!"

Marco Muller is an Italian who graduated from Liaoning University. He speaks fluent Northeastern dialect, can read "Wenxin Diaolong", and can sing model operas.

Marco Mueller is an outstanding film producer. During his career, he has served as chairman of many international film festivals, including the Venice International Film Festival.

He recommended Chinese films to these international film festivals and successfully promoted the works of many Chinese directors such as Xie Jin, Tian Zhuangzhuang, Kaizi Ge, Zhang Yimou, Hou Hsiao-hsien, Jia Kechang, and Zhang Yuan to the international stage.

He is known as "the first person to bring Chinese films to the world" and has made outstanding contributions to Chinese films. Many Chinese filmmakers respectfully call him Mr. Muller, while Yang Ye affectionately calls him Lao Ma.

The first Chinese mainland film to win an international award, "Yellow Earth", was recommended by Lao Ma to the Locarno Film Festival. It won the Silver Leopard Award at the time, and Lao Ma accepted the trophy on his behalf.

The first Chinese film to win the Golden Lion Award, "A City of Sadness", was also recommended by Lao Ma, and Xie Jin was among the judges that year.

Many judges at the time thought that "A City of Sadness" was good, but they didn't understand what the movie was about specifically. So Xie Jin used his eloquence to slowly convince the judges.

This time, Yang Ye also played this role, responsible for telling the judges the background story of "Qiu Ju Goes to Court".

"Qiu Ju Goes to Court" is a very good movie. It uses documentary-style shots to capture the different appearances of cities, counties, and villages in the northwest region at that time. The ending is even more intriguing.

The awards were being presented on the stage, while Yang Ye and Lao Ma were discussing in the audience whether Northeastern hotpot or Italian hotpot was more delicious.

Suddenly, an announcement was made on stage: "The winner of the Best Actress at the 49th Venice International Film Festival is... Gong Li, from "Qiu Ju Goes to Court". Congratulations!"

Gong Li, wearing a dress made of large floral cloth from Northeast China, walked onto the stage happily, stretched out her arms and greeted the audience.

Then he received the huge Volpi Cup from the presenter.

The Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival is so small that you can hold it in your hand.

But the trophy for the best actor and actress is a large cup with a thick base underneath, called the Volpi Cup.

Gong Li held the big trophy high up, and after the reporters took pictures, she held it in her arms and began to give her acceptance speech.

Lao Ma said, "Aren't you afraid that people will accuse you of partiality?"

Yang Ye shook his head: "She deserves this trophy!" The biggest highlight of "Qiu Ju Goes to Court" is Gong Li's performance. She played a stubborn and single-minded rural woman. Her performance was progressive, detailed, and realistic, and she portrayed Qiu Ju herself.

So much so that after watching this movie, many people formed a stereotype of Gong Li, thinking that she could only play the role of a rustic rural woman.

If he didn't win an award after performing like this, wouldn't it be a waste for him to sleep with Yang Ye?

Not long after, the final award was announced. Without a doubt, "Qiu Ju Goes to Court" won this year's Golden Lion.

Zhang Yimou thought of what Yang Ye had said to him before. He didn't expect that he would do what he said. Not only did he not avoid suspicion, but he also gave him a big prize.

Watching Zhang Yimou go up on stage to receive the award, Yang Ye asked Lao Ma, "In recent years, you have vigorously recommended Chinese films to major film festivals, causing these films to win awards one after another. Aren't you afraid that people will accuse you of favoritism?"

Lao Ma said: "It is true that many people have questioned it, but these are all very good movies and should be shown to the world, right?"

Yang Ye sighed: "Seven hundred years ago, an Italian named Marco Polo went to China. Later, he used a book called "The Travels of Marco Polo" to introduce China's products and scenery to the West, which opened the prelude to the exchange between the East and the West.

Seven hundred years later, there was also an Italian who went to China. That was you, Marco Muller. You systematically introduced Chinese films to the West. You are the contemporary Marco Polo. "

……

"Qiu Ju Goes to Court" became the biggest winner of this year's Venice Film Festival with a Golden Lion and a Volpi Cup. It was immediately sought after by film producers and a large number of copyrights were sold.

However, Yang Ye, as the chairman of the jury, did not shy away from suspicion, which also aroused doubts from many people.

Yang Ye didn't care about this at all. I am the chairman and I have the final say.

So far, Gong Li has won two Best Actress awards in Berlin and Venice, becoming the first Chinese actress to receive international honors.

In addition, half a year ago, Manyu Cheung also won the Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award for her role in "Ruan Lingyu".

Both international film queens are under Yang Ye's command.

You have to know that male actors and female actors are different. For male actors, it only needs box office appeal, and awards are just a bonus.

Actresses generally don’t have much box office appeal, so they rely on awards.

Since the establishment of Baiyang Pictures, its commercial achievements are beyond doubt.

At international film festivals, it has also won an impressive achievement of one Palme d'Or, one Golden Bear, and three Golden Lions.

Even compared with the big Hollywood studios, it is not inferior and is well-deserved to be among the top nine film companies in the world.

Hong Kong's "Film Biweekly" was so excited that it did a special feature, reporting in detail the road to Chinese-language films winning awards at the three major European film festivals.

At the beginning, Yang Ye stood out and won the Golden Leaf and Golden Lion successively.

Next, Baiyang Pictures began to invest in films in both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong, and made a big splash at the three major European film festivals.

Yang Ye's vision in investing in movies has become a legend.

But Shenhua was trying to tell Gong Li that she won the award not because of sleeping with him.

"You deserve the award. Sleeping with me is just a joke."

Yang Ye said this because he didn't want to hurt Gong Li's self-confidence. But Gong Li asked, "You mean, sleeping with me is just a joke?"

Damn, women’s train of thought is really amazing.

"Of course not, I really want to sleep with you!" (End of this chapter)