Full-time actor

Chapter 684 [110] The youngest judge in the history of the three major film festivals!
The 63rd Venice International Film Festival Main Competition Finalists:

Jia Zhangke: The Good Man of Three Gorges

Cai Mingliang: Dark Circles

Johnnie To: Exiled

……

Chen Yu was sitting on the plane, looking through the nominations for this year's Venice Film Festival. Even though he had forgotten many of the award-winning films at the festival, he could still remember "Still Life" very clearly.

There is actually no suspense at this year's Venice.

Chief Jia became a legend in one battle, and joined the ranks of domestic award-winning masters with "The Good Man of Three Gorges", and won the final Venice Golden Lion.

This is also China's sixth Golden Lion, the fourth Chinese director to win the Golden Lion, and the second person from mainland China.

Zhang Yimou has won two Golden Lion Awards, and Chen Yu won one last year, but he is not a director, so Jia Zhangke is the second one.

The other two were won by directors from Taiwan.

Hou Hsiao-hsien and Tsai Ming-liang who was nominated again.

Strictly speaking, China should have won the most Venice Golden Lions, all thanks to Lao Ma.

There are currently five Golden Bears in Berlin, including two won by Zhang Yimou, Xie Fei and Li An. This year, Wang Quanan's "Tuya's Marriage" won another one before the New Year.

The least is Cannes.

In the entire Chinese community, including Hong Kong, only the poet Kai Ge won the award.

It is precisely because of its scarce gold content that no matter how the poet builds it, its status is there. In fact, this golden palm is worth a fortune.

With the development of the global film industry in recent years, the status of the three major international film festivals has gradually changed from being on par to being dominated by Cannes, gradually surpassing Berlin and Venice.

Cannes is undoubtedly the world's most recognized number one film festival.

Of course, in fact, China originally had two Palme d'Ors, and Zhang Yimou almost completed the Grand Slam of the biggest awards at the three major film festivals.

Zhang Yimou's "No One Less" was actually nominated for the Palme d'Or, but the organizers felt that the scenes of the national flag and the national anthem were too political and suspected it of political propaganda.

Cannes asked Zhang Yimou to delete this shot in order to win the award.

But Zhang Yimou was still quite tough. He simply withdrew from the competition, sent "Not One Less" to Venice for review, and wrote a letter of angrily denouncing the Cannes organizers.

After that, Zhang Yimou never went to Cannes again, and "Not One Less" eventually won the Venice Golden Lion.

At that Cannes Film Festival, Zhang Yimou originally had two films submitted for review.

It was originally a double insurance, as there was also a movie called "My Father and Mother", so it was basically a sure win for the big prize.

This film was finally sent to Berlin and won the Jury Prize!

It has to be said that although the National Master has been criticized for many things, at least he can stand his ground on major issues; this is why his status and reputation have always been higher than those of Chen Kaige and others.

Although he has made many bad films, his film-making philosophy has always been quite innovative.

Many directors will be living off their past successes in the future, and some may even no longer have a market.

For example, Feng Xiaogang.

Feng Xiaogang also came to Venice this time. "Night Banquet" was not shortlisted for the main competition, but Huayi obviously spent a lot of money on the non-competitive exhibition in Venice.

While chatting with Mark Muller on the plane, Chen Yu also took the time to read his book "The Shadow of Electricity"!
I have to say that Lao Ma really has a deep love for Chinese films.

The appendix of this book is "Chinese Film 1905-2005", which is a book compiled to celebrate the -year history of Chinese films with its exquisite decoration design and rich content!
This time, Lao Ma brought a lot of them to Venice. While giving them away, he also placed them in prominent locations for reporters and professionals from all over the world to browse and take.

This book is definitely not something a foreigner wrote to fool people. In addition to detailed introductions and expert film reviews of China's outstanding film works over the past century, it also contains many rare color posters and stills illustrations of early Chinese films.

It provides rare materials for foreigners to understand the development history of Chinese films.

"In the past, the covers of books about Chinese films published in Europe were not very good-looking, so I designed this cover that can attract many people's attention and show the relationship between art and film!"

"This book really covers 100 years of Chinese cinema, from silent films to the latest ones. More than 5000 copies have been printed, which is a lot in Italy, where film books are usually printed in or copies!"

"I hope that all European filmmakers will take a look at Chinese films. They are indeed fundamentally different from those of other countries!"

Before getting off the plane, Lao Ma chatted with Chen Yu about his book.

After more than twenty hours of transfers and circling, they finally arrived in Venice. The journey was very bumpy.

Fortunately, we finally arrived.

"Let's go to the hotel first. After you adjust to the jet lag, I'll take you to meet the chairman and members of the jury this time!"

"Did Catherine Deneuve know?"

Lao Ma said a rather unfamiliar name, but Liu Yifei beside him nodded: "I know, a famous French actress, the first lady of European film industry, I heard my dad talk about her!"

"Yes, it's her, this year's jury chairwoman!"

"Venice Film Queen!"

Of course, it was the first time that Chen Yu heard this name. Lao Ma had actually told him all the members of this year's jury.

In addition to Catherine Deneuve and him, there were five other judges.

Park Chan-wook is a famous South Korean director. His revenge trilogy, including "Oldboy", is very well-known and made him famous in Europe.

Cameron Crowe, a famous American director, is famous for his work "Jack Maguire" starring Tom Cruise. It was also thanks to him that Tom Cruise got nominated for the only Oscar for Best Actor in his life.

There are three others whose fame is relatively average, and they are all European actors and directors.

“Phew… We’re finally here!”

Liu Yifei stretched out her hands and lay on the bed, feeling exhausted.

"I don't even want to take a bath!"

Chen Yu ignored Liu Yifei's disgust and wanted to go to bed, but Liu Yifei pushed him directly into the bedroom.

In the next few days, Chen Yu finally understood the pain of being a judge.

Cocktail parties, banquets and gatherings are the themes of his days.

Mark Muller introduced many important figures in the European film industry to Chen Yu; before, even before Chen Yu won the Best Actor Award at the Venice Film Festival, these people would at most just give him a compliment and be just an acquaintance.

But now, with Chen Yu's status, his ability as the Grand Slam winner of the three major film festivals, and his identity as a judge, these celebrities treat him completely differently.

In Lao Ma's words, Chen Yu has already gained access to the inside and is considered one of us.

Chen Yu also got to know quite a few people in Venice official circles, including European and North American film selectors, art directors... With Lao Ma, an expert on China, around, Chen Yu had basically gotten to know all the European circles in the past few days.

There is also a gathering of some world-renowned directors and producers. What they have in common is that they have won the three major European awards, which is considered the threshold for attending this gathering.

These people are actually very important.

The above European film circles and Venice officials are the recommendations of the awards. That is, if you participate in the awards, after you know these people, as long as there are no major problems with the film, it will basically not be a problem to be nominated.

But if you want to win an award, you have to know the directors, producers, etc. who are present at the banquet, because the jury of each session is composed of these people.

So many times, for people like Director Jia, why are their films always nominated for the main competition?

Obviously, the movie is also very ordinary, and many newcomers have made better movies than him, but he was nominated. Connections!

Such are his connections at the three major European film festivals.

Now Chen Yu has obviously seen it all, so when the time comes, just give a simple greeting, and if that doesn't work, do some public relations. As long as it's not the final grand prize, other prizes can be negotiated.

The entertainment industry is a circle. Europe, America, etc. are actually the same. It’s all about interests and connections.

This is the way of the world. In fact, the Chinese are the ancestors in this regard.

However, there was one thing that Chen Yu felt was very strange.

He did not meet Feng Xiaogang and others at this party. It's not that they don't have the qualifications. Of course, they do have the qualifications. Feng Xiaogang didn't win any awards at the three major film festivals.

In fact, it is a chain of contempt.

These celebrities and upper classes look down upon commercial film directors. Even truck driver Cameron is probably not qualified in their eyes.

This is exactly the same as what many of the stubborn judges of the China Golden Rooster are doing.

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They also look down on commercial films, comedies, and science fiction films. Art films are what they value. Even if the film has no box office and is not released, it can still win awards.

The face is gone.

But I learned it from these old guys in Europe.

What's even more outrageous is that there are many actresses and female models attending these parties and banquets. It is not known whether they want to attend voluntarily or are forced to do so, but they are extremely enthusiastic in front of each director. Chen Yu is quite familiar with some of them.

He is a second or third-tier actor in Europe and North America. I had seen him on the news when I was filming in Hollywood.

"The world is declining!"

"This corroded circle..."

Chen Yu couldn't help but complain to Liu Yifei. Liu Yifei joked with him at first, asking if he regretted bringing her here.

After being spanked hard by Chen Yu a few times at night, he became completely obedient.

"This is the so-called upper class society. Compared with the domestic entertainment industry, it's nothing!"

"No one is doing any better..."

Chen Yu was still complaining when he returned to the hotel. In fact, he was not used to it, but when in Rome, do as the Romans do. Even if you don't like it, you can't say anything.

Fortunately, he brought Liu Yifei with him, otherwise if you didn’t bring a model or actress with you, people would think you didn’t want to hang out with them.

This circle is corroding so quickly.

Chen Yu, on the contrary, seems to be an outsider.

Fortunately, he found time to celebrate Liu Yifei's 19th birthday, and the two couldn't help but recall the first time in Venice, which was also spent with her by Chen Yu.

It has been four years since we joined hands.

The feelings are still solid and strong, and have not deteriorated at all with the passage of time.

On the contrary, the interests are now inextricably bound together.

So from this point of view, these two people are rare in this circle all over the world.

"Fortunately, the opening ceremony is tomorrow!"

Chen Yu's horizons were indeed broadened this week. For the first time, he understood what the European literary and artistic circles were.

Silent all night.

The next day, the 63rd Venice International Film Festival officially kicked off.

All reporters have been in place in advance, and the list of the jury has already been announced on the official website. Not only in China, but anyone around the world who pays attention to the Venice Film Festival knows that Chen Yu is one of this year's judges.

He is also the youngest judge in the history of the three major film festivals, at only 22 years old.

Just as the red carpet was rolled out and the host of the party was about to step forward to announce the opening, a person in work clothes suddenly rushed out holding a banner.

It scared everyone present.

There was a line of big words written on it in English: Give me back my job, I don’t want to be unemployed.

Chen Yu, sitting in the Bugatti Veyron, looked at the worker who should be Italian and shook his head slightly.

He thought of the extremely extravagant celebrity banquet a few days ago.

While the rich wine and meat smell, the road with frozen bone!
The sense of déjà vu is very vivid.

The worker was protesting loudly. He was not targeting the film festival, but wanted to use this platform to express his wish not to lose his job and to accuse the local government of Venice.

Soon he was pulled away, and the Ferrari family member who presided over the opening ceremony, the famous Italian host Isabella Ferrari, hurriedly began to take control of the situation.

This little incident did not affect the normal progress of the film festival.

She was wearing a brown fishtail skirt, standing in front of the door of the Film Palace, and introduced the jury members of this Venice Film Festival.

The first one is of course the 63-year-old President Ms. Catherine Deneuve, and the second person is Chen Yu.

Click! Click!
Seeing Chen Yu, wearing a high-end luxury suit, walking out of the Bugatti luxury car, and Liu Yifei, who was sitting in the passenger seat wearing a simple evening gown, reporters from all over the world immediately started taking pictures crazily.

"We should have been ruthless and captured Brother Yu back then!"

Zhang Ziyi, who was standing far behind in the queue, sat in an official business car. Looking at Chen Yu and Liu Yifei who were surrounded by celebrities, a hint of regret flashed in her eyes.

It has only been a few years, and the little girl whom she had never taken seriously before has reached the point where she is a threat to her international status.

"Rush Hour 2", also a film she shot with Jackie Chan, brought Zhang Ziyi to the pinnacle of her life and helped her break into the Hollywood circle.

But now, Liu Yifei seems to be following her path, relying on "Escape Plan", which has grossed more than 4 million yuan worldwide, which is even higher than her popularity back then.

Although Zhang Ziyi is also the leading female role in "Escape Plan 2", her role cannot be compared with that of Jackie Chan, or even the second male lead Chris Tucker; unlike Liu Yifei, "Escape Plan" was a script that Chen Yu wrote specifically for Liu Yifei.

Zhang Ziyi went to see this movie, and found that it really fits Liu Yifei's positioning - a vase.

Of course, she would not admit that Liu Yifei's current fame and status could catch up with hers.

After all, when it comes to awards, she completely beat Liu Yifei.

However, Zhang Ziyi actually has her own difficulties; all of China calls her the International Zhang, but she has actually not won any international awards.

So this is the most urgent thing for her right now!

Watching Chen Yu walk hand in hand with Liu Yifei on the red carpet, it was impossible for Zhang Ziyi to say that she was not jealous.

Now she was helpless towards Chen Yu.

When he was filming "House of Flying Daggers", who could have thought that he would one day reach the status he has today?
I have to say that China's film and television industry has changed a lot in recent years.

It was so big that even Zhang Ziyi felt a little unfamiliar with it.

That's why she came back dejectedly to film "The Banquet", Huayi's masterpiece this year!

(End of this chapter)