China Entertainment: I have been a director since 05

Chapter 506: No matter how strong a horse is, once you ride it once, you can ride it forever!
"Berlin Film Festival news: Directors Guan Ling and Wang Quanan were both invited to participate in the closing ceremony. Will Chinese films win the grand prize again?!"

"Berlin predicts that Prey and The Wind Rises are the favorites to win the Best Picture, and the competition for the Best Picture is particularly fierce!"

"The probability of Asian films winning the Golden Bear Award has greatly increased. The industry predicts that Indonesian and Chinese films may win the award!"

"'When the Wind Rises' cleverly fits the theme of this year's Berlin Film Festival and deeply touches on the topic of right-wing radicalism. It may receive extra treatment from the judges!"

More and more news was transmitted back to China from Berlin, Germany, which made people feel hopeful!
In fact, Chinese audiences are somewhat uninterested in the Golden Bear Awards.

The main reason is that they have won too many awards before. Some people say that Berlin and Venice are paradise for Chinese-language film directors, which is true.

People like Lou Ye, Wang Quanan, and Jia Zhangke are all wanderers from these two film festivals.

To be honest, Guan Ling can certainly be considered as Cannes' adopted son.

So logically speaking, whether Guan Ling takes it or not, it will only have a greater impact on himself.

But this year is different. "Even if the Wind Rises" is an animated film, and it is an animated film that involves that period of Chinese history. It is also praised by domestic animation practitioners as a film that marks the beginning of the development of Chinese animation. Its significance is far-reaching and even more profound.

It has played a role in boosting confidence in both Chinese animation and the Chinese film industry!
Especially for those fans who have watched the movie, not to mention how exciting the plot is, at least it makes everyone fall into emotions and be deeply moved.

Animation, this level is enough!

People are hoping that if Director Guan can make this animation win again at the three major film festivals, that would be perfect!

Someone also checked it out.

Until 2012, there were many animated films shortlisted for the three major European film festivals.

But mainly films from forty or fifty years ago.

In the past twenty years, only at the 54th Cannes Film Festival, "Shrek the Monsters" was nominated for the Palme d'Or, at the 57th Cannes, "Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence" and "Shrek 2: The Monsters" were nominated, and then at the 60th and 61st Cannes, there were only five films, "Growing Up in Iran" and "Waltz with Bashir".

Among them, only "Growing Up in Iran" won an award, and it won the second-ranked Jury Award.

As the name of the movie suggests, this film is more inclined towards the emotions brought about by social unrest and changes in war.

The whole movie uses simple form and plain emotions to describe the deep feelings of Iranians abroad, that is, Iran is their homeland where they can never return.

Because that group of people are in turmoil and are confused about where to go.

It was not until 2001 that the Venice Film Festival intentionally selected animated films again after a gap of fifty years. However, whether it was "Midnight Blues", "Howl's Moving Castle", "Paprika", "Ponyo" or "Sky", they only won a few technical awards after being shortlisted, which can only be said to be better than nothing.

There are even fewer films at the Berlin Film Festival. Since the turn of the century, only two were shortlisted for the main competition, Spirited Away in 2002 and the French animation Night Tales in 2011. Relatively speaking, this is still too few.

Looking at the three major film festivals, the only animated film that has ever won the Best Picture award is Hayao Miyazaki's "Spirited Away".

Under such circumstances, people’s expectations for "Even If the Wind Rises" are of course very high!
Because everyone knows what it means to win the award!
……

"Director Guan, hello, I'm Duan Yihong."

After being busy for a few days, Duan Yihong finally came to Guan Ling's side and stretched out his hands to Guan Ling. He was very respectful and stretched out both hands for the handshake.

"Hello."

Guan Ling glanced at the other person and asked, "Are you still in Huayi now?"

Duan Yihong was stunned by these words, fearing that if he said something wrong, Director Guan would ban him.

After all, everyone in the circle knows the relationship between Guan Ling and Huayi.

Moreover, given Guan Ling's current status, if they were forced to choose a side, most people would not make the wrong choice.

But fortunately, he was not signed with Huayi, and quickly approached Guan Ling to respond, "Director Guan, I didn't dare to contact you before because I have a private cooperation agreement with Huayi, but I didn't sign with Huayi, I signed with the National Theatre."

Duan Yihong replied quickly.

Guan Ling had never investigated this point in detail. Since he had not intended to ask Duan Yihong to make a movie, he naturally did not get overly involved in these details.

At this moment, my heart moved slightly.

Duan Yihong's image is still very special among domestic actors. Since he is an actor of the National Theatre, the cooperation is quite good.

The main reason was that Guan Ling suddenly thought of the young director he had signed before. The other party is now working diligently and contributing to the company's scripts. He has long had no time to write "The Sun Also Rises".

"Okay, then we can work together if we have the chance." Guan Ling said, "You performed well in White Deer Plain. The director of the film festival and I went to see it a few days ago. You put in a lot of challenges for this play.

Also, I've seen the dramas you've acted in before, and you're very good at portraying characters."

"Oh, Director Guan, you're too kind!" Duan Yihong smiled, with a hint of shyness on his face!
Of course he understood what Guan Ling was saying. In the movie, the character he played, Heiwa, had a passionate scene with Tian Xiao'e, for which he had to show his butt to the audience.

For this tough guy, this kind of scene is really a little exciting.

But the main thing is to stop at the right time, he doesn't mind. He also missed some when filming "Summer Palace" that year.

"Leave me your contact information later." Guan Ling said, "When I said there is a chance for cooperation, it was not just a cliché. There is a real chance."

Duan Yihong was just about to leave when he heard Guan Ling talking, and his breathing suddenly became heavy.

"Okay, okay! Director Guan, I'll add you right away."

Duan Yihong has worked with many great directors, but in this environment, he was suddenly moved. He turned around and saw that everyone around him was looking at him.

Among them was Zhang Yuqi, whose look showed confusion and envy.

In fact, he had originally planned to take an eight-month break after this drama, but now it seems that if Director Guan contacts him for something, he is ready to take over at any time.

This is indeed a pleasant surprise!
"Then I also wish Director Guan to win the award!"

"Whether an animated film can win this award depends entirely on their mood. There are many animated films at other film festivals, but they are just nominated and have never been awarded a grand prize. If Berlin International Film Festival gathers these animated films and gives out two Golden Bear Awards, won't all the films it attracts in the future be animated films?"

"But now that Berlin is obviously de-Hollywoodizing, this is also a possible idea." Tsui Hark stood next to Guan Ling at some point.

Duan Yihong quickly greeted him.

But even Guan Ling could only curl his lips. It wasn't that he was nervous about "Even If the Wind Rises", but he was mainly unsure whether he would win the award or not.

To be honest, there are no absolutely powerful movies at this year's Berlin Film Festival.

In the main competition unit, "White Deer Plain" only achieved 40% of the power of the original work, otherwise Guan Ling would have awarded it to Wang Quanan without hesitation.

But now, it wouldn’t be surprising if anyone got it.

It’s just that the animation genre is both a highlight and a hesitation.

In any case, the criticism is bound to be considerable.

"In any case, the fact that this film was nominated for the Golden Bear is worthy of more Chinese animation directors to carefully polish their works in the future," said Guan Ling.

Tsui Hark laughed and joked,

"That's right, Director Guan. People should be content with what they have. If you win the first time, you will win the second time. If you win the Golden Bear with your animation, you will always have the chance to win it in the future. It's like training a horse. No matter how strong the horse is, once you ride it once, you can always ride it."

Duan Yihong was horrified. Even though the other party was talking about bears and horses, Duan Yihong felt that there was some special charm in these words.

Before leaving, Guan Ling asked Duan Yihong to tell Wu Gang, who played Lu Zilin, "Just give him my contact information as well."

Duan Yihong repeatedly said he was relieved.

But I can't help but feel a little pressure in my heart.
So I'm not the only one Director Guan likes? Old Wu is also here?!

……

As the award ceremony approaches.

The atmosphere on the entire scene gradually became tense and thick.

Predictions are predictions, but these results don’t mean anything after all.

In particular, the relationship between Mike Lee and Guan Ling has also sparked a lot of public opinion.

Some people think that this incident may make Mike Leigh's evaluation unfair. After all, Guan Ling stole half of his Palme d'Or, which was also the only half of his Palme d'Or in his life.

Some people also think that the win-win cooperation and personally awarding the bear at different film festivals is a story worth passing on forever.

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Perhaps from the perspective of age and status, it can be considered a heritage of art that knows no national boundaries.

But all this was just people's imagination before the promulgation ceremony.

Time flies and it is already February 2th.

In the morning, in the hotel, after Zhang Ziyi and Fan Bingbing stretched together, Guan Ling took them to have a hot meal.

Then comes the makeup, hair and beauty treatments at noon, which are in full swing.

At 8 o'clock in the evening, the closing red carpet officially began.
Countless media have already set up their cameras and cannons in front of the red carpet.

In China, Guo Yi also once again carried out live broadcasts on CCTV Channel 6.

The first one to come out was a German actress. Guan Ling had no idea what she was doing. Her two northern hemispheres were exposed, and she had a low-cut top with tattoos all over it. It looked like she was wearing clothes. Guan Ling was a little horrified just looking at her.

It was eye-catching. Guan Ling also took a look at it, but it was so beautiful that he couldn't understand it.

Afterwards, the jury chairman Koslik walked onto the red carpet and was interviewed.

After that, the crew of "Postcards from the Zoo" directed by an Indonesian director came on stage. It's a pity to say that this year's Berlin Film Festival has only a few Chinese-language films participating in the entire East Asian region, and then there are "Prey" and "Postcard" from Southeast Asia, both from Indonesia.

This made Guan Ling lose the opportunity to directly contact Japanese movies.

Anyway, the closing red carpet was quite abstract, with a pregnant actress appearing on stage. Also worth mentioning was the crew of "A Royal Affair". The heroine Alicia wore a fresh white dress and looked really good.

When Guan Ling and others came on stage, it caused a frenzy among domestic and foreign media. Surprisingly, it was not known whether Wang Quan'an was drunk and missed the red carpet. When someone asked, Wang Quan'an said drunkenly that he was still on his way.

By the time the foreign media had left and the award ceremony had officially begun, this guy still hadn't arrived.

Anyway, the excuse was pretty good, saying it was due to traffic reasons, and in the end she didn't walk the red carpet.

After about 20 minutes of presenting a lot of short film and technical awards, Mike Leigh finally came on stage and began presenting the awards.
As he opened the show, the camera began to frequently look for Guan Ling, obviously wanting to use the fact that the two of them had won the Palme d'Or together as a publicity point.

The first award given out was the Special Honor Award for Best Film Debut, which was not very interesting.

Ten minutes later, A Royal Affair won the Silver Bear for Best Screenplay. To be honest, Guan Ling felt a chill when he saw it.

During his stay in Berlin, he went to see this movie. He originally went there because of the title of the movie, and the heroine Alicia is also pretty, but it seems that is not the case at all.

Spoiler alert: the king's personal doctor had sex with the queen, but the king was not angry because he loved his good friend, the doctor.

Guan Ling said it was difficult to comment on this thing.

"White Deer Plain" won the first award for a Chinese-language film, the Silver Bear Award for Best Cinematography.

Guan Ling, Zhang Yimou and others applauded.

Wang Quanan's record in Berlin has so far been one gold and two silver medals.

When the award for Best Actor was presented, it was obvious that many actors in the audience were in a state of flux, and the host also deliberately kept the award in suspense. In the end, the award was also won by the actor in "Best Romance".

The Silver Bear for Best Actress was awarded to the black female lead in "Defiance".

Guan Ling didn't know these people at all.

The Best Director award was given to the German film "Barbara". Before the jury announced the Silver Bear Award, Guan Ling herself did not realize that her breathing had become heavy.

"The Silver Bear Award will be presented soon."

Zhang Ziyi couldn't help but clench his fists. In fact, everyone already had their expectations for the award. The Silver Bear Award from the Jury was perhaps the most promising award.

But if this is not obtained, Guan Ling believes that there is a high probability that nothing will be gained.

Someone has won the Golden Bear Award with an animated film, but after all, only one person has won it. Even if Hayao Miyazaki only won a double yolk egg, he will still be an eternal legend in the animation industry!

That year, this film and "Bloody Sunday" jointly won the Best Film Award at the 52nd Berlin Film Festival.

That was ten years ago.

At that time, Feng Xiaogang and Zhang Yimou also participated in the Berlin exhibition.

The Lunar New Year film "Big Shot" received mediocre response, which seemed to be in sharp contrast to the domestic box office success.

Zhang Yimou's "Happy Times" also appeared at this year's film festival, but it was just "exhibited".

They watched helplessly as the news of "Berlin Golden Bear Awards announced, Japanese and British films took the lead" appeared frequently in domestic media reports. Now, the memories are still fresh in Zhang Yimou's mind.

In a flash, ten years have passed.

Zhang Yimou also raised his head, waiting for the announcement of the award.

They understand it too well. There were too many gimmicks before, and it is difficult to give the Golden Bear award. The Silver Bear from the jury is the best chance, because this can be regarded as the audience's favorite movie and can be explained in any way.

But the person on the stage didn’t say the name of “Even if the Wind Rises”…

"The winner is "The Wind is Bleak"

As the name was called out, Guan Ling's heart skipped a beat.

Zhang Yimou shook his head slightly. This is how things have come to be.

Perhaps Guan Ling can only swallow the regret of getting nothing in her first participation in the Berlin Film Festival.

But directors are always like this. No one can guarantee that their movies will always win awards. This is unscientific.

Judges always have their own tastes. Movies are like literature, there is no best in literature. This film has been recognized by many people in terms of word of mouth and box office, and was even nominated for the Golden Bear Award as an animated film, which is already very impressive.

(End of this chapter)