Full-time actor

Chapter 533 [98] Changes to the Golden Rooster Awards, four new awards added!

"Chen Yu, it's great that you can come to the directing department!"

Ding Ruru, director of the Directing Department of the Central Academy of Drama, held Chen Yu's hand and was reluctant to let go; Chang Li had just called him in the morning, and he couldn't wait to come to the Acting Department in the afternoon to see this student who was about to join the Directing Department.

Although there is still a year left, Ding Ruru already regards the other party as a student of the directing department.

"Director Ding, can I go to the directing department to attend classes when I'm free?"

Chen Yu took this opportunity to quickly put forward conditions.

Ding Ruru said without any hesitation: "Come on, the directing department is always open to you!"

"Okay, then I'll come and sit in when I'm free!"

"Well, go directly, I've informed the teachers in the directing department!"

Ding Ruru certainly knew Chen Yu’s purpose. For an actor to achieve this, he must have some aspirations as a director.

Everyone can understand this.

After the two chatted for a while and exchanged contact information, Ding Ruru left with a satisfied look on her face.

Chen Yu also had to rush to the Imperial Capital International Airport. He had to fly to Shanghai to shoot the remaining Chinese parts of "Mission Impossible 3". Two of them were very important, especially the car racing and fighting scenes.

***
At 1 p.m., in the backyard of the China Film Association at the north entrance of Heping Street in Chaoyang District, the imperial capital.

A closed van is loaded with 4-6 kg blue hexagonal iron cylinders with name tags written in black on white paper attached to the outside of the cylinders.

All the copies of the films nominated for the 25th China Film Golden Rooster Awards are here.

There were many supervisors, staff members and notaries counting and watching carefully.

Many people in later generations said that there were all kinds of shady dealings in the China Golden Rooster Awards. In fact, every selection process seemed to be very formal. The "problems" were actually with the judges, just like the judges of the three major film festivals and the Oscars, rather than the so-called selection rules.

The entire process of selecting the China Golden Rooster Awards may be more complicated than that of the Oscars.

The Oscars require public relations, connections, political inclinations, and popularity; China's Golden Rooster Awards are actually similar.

A popular movie will definitely attract more attention; the judges know more and will definitely be more inclined towards this movie.

As for public relations, that's another matter.

"How's that, right?"

A director of a film association asked.

This association is a government department. Its full name is China Film Association, or China Film Association for short. It is a subsidiary of China Federation of Literary and Art Circles.

Mainly responsible for some film awards, such as the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards, and of course magazines, cinemas, etc.

In the hearts of many filmmakers, it is a very sacred association.

"Correct, 86 movies!"

“These are all films that have passed the association’s preliminary review!”

Since the establishment of the Golden Rooster Awards in 1981, the Organization and Liaison Department of the China Film Association has been specifically responsible for award judging affairs.

Every May, they would call the Film Bureau to inquire about the film creation situation of that year. After communicating with all parties, they would focus on contacting various film studios and private film companies to notify them of registration.

July 7 is the registration deadline. In principle, any film shot within one year before this day and approved by the Film Bureau of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and obtained a "Film Distribution and Public Screening License" from the Film Bureau can register for the selection.

But in fact, although there are fewer movies released in China at present, there are still hundreds of movies released before this time every year.

It is obviously unrealistic to ask some of the Golden Rooster Awards judges to watch so many films. Therefore, after the copies and materials of these films are sent to the Film Association, they must first pass the preliminary selection before they can meet with professional judges. After going through the preliminary and final reviews, the final lucky winners can be selected.

The entire review process takes about two months, which is an extremely long time.

The preliminary selection was the most time-consuming, lasting more than 40 days. The Film Association randomly selected hundreds of members of the association, including screenwriters, directors, actors, etc., to conduct the final cross-examination.

Today is the day when the preliminary trial ends.

The 86 films that have been successfully delivered to each professional judge are these films.

"Ok!"

"Confirm again, and then seal it impartially!"

"No problem, drive away!"

As the person in charge was speaking, everyone immediately became busy again.

Ten minutes later, after everyone had confirmed everything, the van started up, drove off the Third Ring Road, got on the Beijing-Chengde Expressway, and headed north.

Finally, the car arrived at a completely enclosed area.

Shiluotuo, also known as the Imperial City Party Committee Training Center, is located on a commanding height on an island in the middle of the Miyun Reservoir.

The iconic object here is a white camel sculpture standing upright at the gate, and the most famous is the villa where the two leaders stayed when they inspected the Miyun Reservoir in the 50s. Both are simple and elegant Soviet-style buildings.

It's not easy to find such a place.

Every year, the professional judges of the Golden Rooster Awards have to watch films in a closed environment in one place for nearly a month.

Well, watch the movie seriously.

Only then can the review work be carried out.

There are not many places in the suburbs of the entire imperial capital that are both closed and can officially show film films. Although Shiluotuo is a bit far from the city, it meets the other conditions.

The summer season has just passed and there are not many guests here.

The 25-year-old Golden Rooster Awards, known as the "Chinese Oscars", kicked off quietly.

At this moment, the closed truck was parked in front of the white corridor of the villa.

The driver went around to the back and opened the door, revealing the boxes of master tapes inside.

A middle-aged man had been waiting at the door. He was the current vice president of the Film Association - Kang Jianmin. He graduated from the Department of Drama and Literature of the Central Academy of Drama. He had served as the director of Hunan Television Center and the director of Xiaoxiang Film Studio. He is currently the second in command of the Film Association!
He had a list of movies in his hand, which were of course the names of the 86 films that were shortlisted.

The film was moved into the villa only after the reporter, notary, inspector and he proofread it one by one.

"Finally...it's about to begin!"

Kang Jianming smiled slightly, and a female reporter who had just been in charge of the review came over to greet him.

Accompanying her was another girl, an award supervisor sent by the Awards Office of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles!

The reporter is the special correspondent of Film Art magazine responsible for reporting the preliminary reviews!

"Teacher Kang, I heard that this year's Golden Rooster Awards will be held in a grand manner, and there will be major reforms?"

The female reporter asked.

“It’s not that grand!”

“It’s mainly reform!”

Kang Jianming smiled at her and said, "Chinese films have gone through a century, and this year is exactly the 100th year. The Golden Rooster Awards used to only target mainland filmmakers, but this time it has been completely opened up to include filmmakers and films from Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan!"

"In fact, Hong Kong filmmakers have been calling for this in recent years, and the relationship between filmmakers on both sides of the Taiwan Strait is also very friendly. In April this year, our China Film Association held a special meeting to discuss and put forward an application, and finally it was successfully approved by the superiors!"

"Oh?"

The female reporter's eyes lit up: "Does that mean that this year's Golden Rooster Awards will include films from Hong Kong, Macau, and Taiwan?"

"Yes, in principle!"

“That’s something to look forward to!”

"Yeah, I'm looking forward to it too!"

Kang Jianming smiled slightly and said, "By then, guests from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong will definitely be there!"

"Come on, let's go in and see the work of the professional judges!"

Kang Jianming called out, and the two girls immediately followed him and walked towards Villa No. 6 of Shiluotuo; these were all routine interviews and procedures before the Golden Rooster Awards ceremony.

At around 2 o'clock, staff were distributing items in the narrow corridor covered with red carpet in Building 6 of Shiluotuo.

This morning they just held a short meeting to announce the rules, including that staff members during the selection period cannot casually participate in the discussions and express opinions of professional judges, etc. Of course, this has been the rule for many years.

23 bags of snacks, 23 copies of information, and scores were delivered to the rooms where 23 professional judges lived.

The materials include: a thick brown paper bag of film application materials, a preliminary review schedule, a plastic folder and a most ordinary notebook.

Tuk-tuk-tuk!
The staff held the judges' accommodation allocation list in their hands and checked each room one by one.

This list is still secret to the outside world at the moment, but there is nothing mysterious about its creation.

The China Film Association has a database of nearly 300 names of judges, which are classified according to creative functions such as screenwriter, director, actor, photography, art, recording, and other fields, as well as creation, theory, and criticism.

Every year, the members of the Golden Rooster Awards Jury Presidium are randomly selected from the list and asked one by one whether they are available during the award period. If not, another name will be drawn until the quota is filled.

The composition will be determined after being submitted to the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles for approval.

As with all formal awards, there will be an odd number of judges to prevent a tie in the voting.

Different from the film events that ordinary people are concerned about, this list contains no scandals or gossips, but it determines in black and white the direction of domestic film academic and artistic trends in the year. People in the film industry pay more attention to it. Who decides which are the best films of the year?

"Have you all been notified?"

Kang Jianming asked the assistant beside him, who nodded: "Everyone has been notified, come over immediately!"

"Ok!"

Kang Jianming was sorting out the materials.

Just yesterday, the bureau actually issued him an urgent notice; he attended the meeting because of this notice.

After a while, the professional reviewers arrived one by one.

These judges are usually busy people, but now they are sitting in the hall, waiting for the meeting to begin.

"Okay, we're all here!"

"Then I won't talk nonsense!"

"Time is running out, let me introduce the judges first!"

Kang Jianming looked at the crowd, and after introducing them one by one, he introduced the staff to everyone.

Most of the judges were also serving in this position for the first time. They listened to the speeches carefully and all focused their eyes on the wall behind Kang Jianming.

There were thirty-two large gold characters on a blue background written on the wall.

I don’t recognize any relatives, I only recognize the work!
Winds come from all directions, take the helm yourself!
Be open-minded and be receptive to good advice!
Consult fully and take the overall situation into consideration!

This 32-word guideline was proposed by Yu Min, a judge of the first Golden Rooster Awards, and other older generation filmmakers, and it contains the original intention of establishing this award.

After continuous improvement by successive judges, it has finally become what it is today.

Consider the overall situation. This has always been the biggest rule for the Golden Rooster Awards.

"Do you all know each other?"

"Well, before the meeting, let me tell you about the two notices issued by the General Administration yesterday!"

Kang Jianming picked up a red-headed document and started reading it.

Many judges can understand the changes that occur in each Golden Rooster Awards, even if it is their first time participating.

Just like last year, the "Best Co-production Award" was cancelled and co-productions became eligible to compete for "Best Feature Film".

In the same year, the "Golden Rooster Lifetime Achievement Award" was added.

It is normal to have one more or one less award every year.

"First notice, starting from this year, the Golden Rooster Awards will be held every other year, that is, the selection will be held in odd-numbered years, and the Hundred Flowers Awards will be presented in even-numbered years!"

"The Golden Rooster Awards and the Hundred Flowers Awards are awarded alternately every other year; in principle, the awards are equal!"

"At the same time, filmmakers and films from Hong Kong, Macau and Formosa will be included in the Golden Rooster Awards selection!"

In fact, many reviewers had already received this notice.

The Film Association had actually leaked the news a few months ago.

"Secondly, this year's Golden Rooster Awards will add four new awards, two of which are fixed awards that will be given every year in the future!"

"4?"

"There are two more fixed prizes?"

All the judges looked up.

Obviously, this notice surprised them very much; adding 1-2 awards a year is already a rare thing, but they didn’t expect that this year, 4 awards were added directly?
Is this going to be a grand celebration? There aren't enough prizes to go around, so they're specially bringing out new prizes to share?
Kang Jianming could also guess the judges' reactions, so he paused after he said this.

It was not until all the professional judges looked at him curiously that he smiled and said, "This was specially added based on some awards from foreign countries and the Golden Horse Awards and Hong Kong Film Awards!"

“But there are a few that are the first in the industry!”

When all the judges heard this, they suddenly became curious.

Surprisingly, there is an award that is the first of its kind in the industry?

"First, we will establish a Best Newcomer Award. We also did this in 03, but we cancelled it last year because there were not enough participants!"

"This year, not only in China, but also in Taiwan, Mainland China and Hong Kong, many new actors have emerged, so after unanimous discussion, we specially set up this award!"

"This is acceptable!"

Many judges suddenly understood.

The Newcomer Award is normal; the Golden Rooster Award was established in 03.

So they didn't have many surprises.

"Second, the annual outstanding filmmaker. This can be an actor, director, behind-the-scenes worker, or even an extra or staff member, provided that they are outstanding enough!"

"Something like the Professional Spirit Award at the Academy Awards?"

"The Golden Horse Awards also have something similar, a special award, Taiwan's Outstanding Filmmaker of the Year!"

"..."

The judges were discussing among themselves, and no one had any objection to the second award.

"The top two are fixed awards; the next two are special additions for the centenary celebration!"

Kang Jianming smiled and said, "There are 100 outstanding actors and directors in a hundred years. I think everyone has heard of this before, right?"

After saying this, Kang Jianming looked at everyone, and it was obvious that some understanding appeared in the eyes of the judges.

The centenary selection was indeed spread a few months ago.

Many people have heard of it.

Even other associations have done this once.

But Golden Rooster is definitely more professional.

This award is actually a bit like the 4-year award of the Hong Kong Film Awards at the end of April, but it is better to give awards to actors and directors than to the films. After all, how can a film be as "effective" as giving awards to individuals alone?
What about the last one?

Many people have begun to look forward to it.

"The last one is for the most outstanding directors, actors, photographers, and behind-the-scenes workers of the century. In principle, there is no limit on the number of candidates, but there can't be too many!"

"Take a span of 10 years, for example, from 1905 to 1915, which outstanding filmmakers emerged?"

Wow!
When this last award was announced, all the judges were stunned.

This award is undoubtedly more valuable than the 100-year award.

And in terms of the number of places, there will definitely be fewer winners!

There are only a few people in an era who can achieve this. If he gets this, it will definitely be the greatest praise and affirmation for his personal film career!
(End of this chapter)