The literary era since 1979

France, Cannes.

The film festival selection committee has been receiving numerous entries from all over the world.

Gilles Jacob, as the artistic director and selection chairman of the Cannes Film Festival, has the biggest job at the moment to lead the teams in each unit of the selection committee to screen out works worthy of being shortlisted for this year's Cannes Film Festival and eliminate films that have not yet met the standards.

Of course, he himself has absolute power of life and death over the preliminary selection, and has a decisive influence on whether each participating film is shortlisted or not.

At this moment, I am flipping through lists of film works divided by country or region, and checking the films I want to watch today.

"Dong dong dong."

There was a gentle knock on the door, which brought him back to his senses.

"Please come in."

"Click."

Thierry Frémaux opened the door and walked in. "The organizing committee has just finalized the list of members of the jury. I think you would like to see it right away?"

"Of course!"

Giles Jacob took the document and looked at it carefully.

Ettore Scola, Robbie Muller, William Goldman, etc. are basically the descendants of those who have won the Cannes Grand Prix once or even multiple times.

The chairman is even more of a heavyweight, Claude Berry, who can be regarded as the number one producer in the French film industry. He is often called the "Godfather of French Cinema" and the "Last Prince" by the French literary and art circles. As a leading figure in French cinema, his representative works have also become the symbol of the French seventh art.

Together with Nastassja Kinski, who was known as the most beautiful woman in European film in the 80s, the entire jury lineup is simply star-studded.

"By the way, according to the staff, when he informed Kinski that she was selected as a judge, he learned a shocking news from her."

There was a hint of mystery in Thierry Frémaux's tone.

"what?"

Giles Jacob was curious.

"You'll never guess what it will be."

The corners of Thierry Frémaux's mouth rose more and more.

"Could it be that Kinski is preparing to divorce, return to the film industry, and impact Hollywood again?"

Giles Jacob made a joke. Natasha Kinski stunned the European film industry with "Tess". After that, she tried Hollywood several times, but she failed to gain a foothold. So she got married in frustration and announced her retirement from the film industry this year to run a restaurant.

"No, it's even more exciting and surprising than this!"

Thierry Frémaux still said nothing.

"I can't guess. If you don't tell me, I'll just call the organizing committee."

Giles Jacob was obviously very intrigued and couldn't help but laugh and curse.

"No need to bother."

Thierry Frémaux said, “Kinski said Coppola would come to the festival.”

Giles Jacob's head was buzzing, and he didn't react for a moment, "Which Coppola?"

“Who else could it be? Francis Coppola, of course!”

Thierry Frémaux uttered the classic line from The Godfather, "I'll make him an offer he can't refuse."

"Oh, God!"

Giles Jacob was stunned at first, then he was so surprised and delighted that he couldn't help but slap the table.

Neither of them doubted that the news about Nastassja Kinski was wrong. After all, after filming "Tess" that year, her first Hollywood movie was Francis Coppola's "The Sweetheart". She thought it would be a stepping stone to enter Hollywood, but "The Sweetheart" was Francis Coppola's least popular movie in his life, so Nastassja Kinski's good start did not succeed.

"Ha ha!"

Thierry Frémaux laughed out loud. It would be a great honor for the film festival to have a world-class director like Francis Coppola come to Cannes!
"What a pity that the list of judges was released too early. Otherwise, we could have tried to invite Coppola to serve as the chairman of the jury." Giles Jacob sighed.

“I have to say this is indeed a pity.”

Thierry Frémaux agrees.

The Cannes Film Festival has always been trying to expand its influence from France to Europe, and then from Europe to the world.

However, North America has the Oscars and many Oscar-leading awards like the Golden Globe Awards, and Europe has the Berlin Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival, two major film festivals of the same level competing with each other, so that the Cannes Film Festival's pace of moving towards the world has been greatly slowed down.

Especially at the beginning of this year, the Berlin Film Festival awarded the Golden Bear Award to "Red Sorghum", bringing influence and popularity to China.

"But there is one thing I still don't understand."

Giles Jacob wondered, "Coppola has never had any interest in the Cannes Film Festival before. We have sent him invitations before, but he has politely declined every time. Why is it that he suddenly wants to come to the Cannes Film Festival this year?"

"This……"

Thierry Frémaux was speechless for a moment.

"There must be something about this festival that attracted him to Cannes, but what is it?"

Giles Jacob frowned. "Did Kinski reveal why Coppola came?"

Thierry Frémaux suggested: "No, but maybe we should give her a call and ask?"

"You come and fight, and I'll ask."

Gilles Jacob's proposal was immediately agreed by Thierry Frémaux.

With a series of "beep" sounds, the call was finally connected, and Natasha Kinski's lazy voice came from the receiver.

After a few pleasantries, Gilles Jacob got straight to the point and asked Francis Coppola about the purpose of his visit to the Cannes Film Festival.

Nastassja Kinski said: "He didn't go into detail, he just said he was here for a movie."

"what movie?"

Giles Jacob said faster.

Nastassja Kinski replied: "I didn't say the name of the movie, I just said it was a movie from China."

"Huaxia?!"

Thierry Frémaux, who was eavesdropping nearby, couldn't help but shout out.

Giles Jacob covered the receiver and asked anxiously, "As of now, are there any Chinese films registered for the Cannes Film Festival?"

"I'll go find it right away!"

Thierry Frémaux ran to the office of the Asian group of the selection committee.

A little later, Giles Jacob finished his phone call with Natasha Kinski and hurried to the selection committee.

After all, this is the movie that made Francis Coppola fly to France and make an exception to participate in the Cannes Film Festival.

More importantly, it is a Chinese film. Through Red Sorghum, the Berlin Film Festival spread its influence and fame to China. Naturally, the Cannes Film Festival did not want to miss this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, so everyone turned all the entries from Asia upside down.

The result was disappointing. I didn't see any Chinese films, but I saw one or two films from Japan and South Korea.

Just when everyone was puzzled, three days later, the film selection committee received a package from China.

Gilles Jacob opened the package excitedly. In addition to all the registration materials, it also contained a letter written in French.

Although he knew nothing about the author of the letter, "Gong Xing", the film she was preparing to participate in the competition was very famous in Europe.

“It’s Farewell My Concubine!”

Thierry Frémaux and others stared at the copy in the package, shocked beyond words. Who on earth is this Gong Xing? (End of this chapter)