The literary era since 1979

Under the glaring lights, Gong Xing came back to his senses from his trance and realized that he was already on the podium.

It's no wonder she did that. Although she firmly believed that In the Mood for Love had the potential to win the Golden Lion Award, she didn't believe it could win it, especially since Cheung Kwok-wing won the Best Actor award and Zhu Lin won the Best New Actor award. But fate played tricks on her and the result was so unexpected.

Zhang Guorong, Zhu Lin and others had the same idea. They were excited but also had complicated feelings.

All eyes were cast towards Fangyan who was giving his acceptance speech, and he was seen to be calm and composed, speaking fluently.

"I would like to take this opportunity tonight to thank all the friends and staff who have worked with me on movies. Without them, the novels and scripts I created would not have been made into such wonderful movies for everyone to watch! Thank you all very much!"

As he spoke, he turned around and his eyes swept across the faces of Gong Xing, Zhu Lin, Zhang Guorong and others.

Zhu Lin and Gong Xing looked at each other, held hands, and took a step forward to stand shoulder to shoulder with Fang Yan in the same row. Then, amid the shouts of "three, two, one", they faced the audience in all directions below the stage and bowed slightly to greet them, bringing the entire Venice Film Festival to a successful conclusion.

But the end of the award ceremony is not the end, but a new beginning.

The organizers specially arranged a grand cocktail party afterwards, and all guests attending the award ceremony were invited to attend. It was both a farewell banquet and also for the convenience of the entertainment media, giving them an opportunity to contact and interview the winning crews of the main competition unit.

As the biggest winner of this year's "In the Mood for Love", Fang Yan, Gong Xing and others naturally cannot be absent.

Before he even reached the cocktail party, he was intercepted by reporters from The Hollywood Reporter, Cahiers du Cinema and other publications.

"This time, In the Mood for Love won the Golden Lion Award, Best Actor Award and Best New Actor Award. How do you feel about that?"

"This is one of the most wonderful moments in my life, the last time being when Farewell My Concubine won the Best Picture Oscar."

Fangyan said with a smile that, originally, when they heard that Zhang Guorong was crowned the best actor, everyone did not hold out much hope for In the Mood for Love to win the Golden Lion Award, but they never expected that the jury would give them such a big surprise, and then they started to say a lot of good things about the jury.

"The Venice Film Festival has indeed broken conventions and made history for In the Mood for Love. What do you think of this?"

Another reporter popped up to ask a question.

"As far as I know, the Venice Film Festival was founded in 1932. It is the world's first film festival and is also known as the 'Father of International Film Festivals'. Over such a long period of time, the Venice Film Festival has always been world-renowned and respected by filmmakers around the world. It is not simply because it was founded early. This practice of breaking traditions for excellent films is worthy of learning and reference by other international film festivals..."

Although the dialect did not mention anything directly, almost everyone who heard it could hear the hidden meaning, which was obviously referring to the Cannes Film Festival.

After all, the Cannes Film Festival only gave "Farewell My Concubine" the Palme d'Or. In fact, to be honest, Zhang Guorong deserves the Cannes Best Actor award!

As a result, many media attention shifted to Zhang Guorong, who had just been named the "Venice Film Emperor".

"Tonight may be the peak that I will never reach again in my life."

"Of course I want to thank Mr. Fang and Director Gong. They can be said to be the two most important benefactors in my acting career."

Zhang Guorong said sincerely that they were behind the scenes of "A Chinese Ghost Story", "A Better Tomorrow", "Ghost", and then the two works that gave him the most glorious moments in his acting career, "Farewell My Concubine" and "In the Mood for Love".

It can be said that without dialects and Gong Xing, there would be no Zhang Guorong, who is now described as the peerless beauty by the media.

No matter the reporters or the celebrity guests who were also being interviewed, they couldn't help but feel a little envious when they heard this. After a barrage of questions, everyone rushed out of the "hay of bullets" and headed straight for the cocktail party.

Xie Jin and Marco Muller had obviously been waiting for a long time. As soon as they saw them, they immediately greeted them with smiles and congratulated them repeatedly.

"Haha, Yanzi, Xiaoxiang, you have brought glory to our Chinese Film and Shanghai Film Studio again this time!"

"In the Mood for Love would not be possible without your support."

Fang Yan doesn't believe that there was no help from Biraghi, Xie Jin, Marco Muller and others behind winning three major awards.

"You are right."

Xie Jin said that the jury was very optimistic about "In the Mood for Love", but the biggest disagreement was whether to award "In the Mood for Love" the Golden Lion Award or the Best Actor Award. They could only choose one of the two. But in the end, Biraghi, the chairman of the organizing committee, stood up and said that the Venice Film Festival did not have the same convention as the Cannes Film Festival, which allowed "winning multiple awards". This made the final decision and all the judges reached a consensus.

"That's right..."

Gong Xing suddenly understood.

"Although this happened, the key still depends on you."

Marco Muller then added that In the Mood for Love simply hits the heart of Venice cinema.

Unlike the Cannes Film Festival, which seeks to combine business and art, the Venice Film Festival focuses on outstanding experimenters and pioneers in the film field of various countries, and encourages the use of new artistic techniques, technical means and creative skills to shoot novel and unique films.

It is precisely that "In the Mood for Love" has reached a new height of aesthetic art, whether in its exploration of the story of extramarital affairs or in its shooting techniques such as frame extraction, slow motion, camera movement and composition. For this reason alone, the Golden Lion Award must go to "In the Mood for Love".

"That's right. Actually, it's related to us, but it's not a big deal."

Xie Jin said: "After all, I am a judge representing Chinese films, but I also have to avoid suspicion. If I say too many good things about you and "A City of Sadness", people will inevitably think that I am biased, but fortunately, all the judges on the jury appreciate "In the Mood for Love" very much."

"And if you hadn't already won the Golden Lion Award, Best Actor and three other major awards, you should have won the Best Cinematography Award as well!"

Mark Mueller told it like it was.

"We'll be satisfied if we can get three."

Gong Xing waved his hand, and smiled at Fang Yan. Then he said, "Yes, it is enough to be famous all over the world and return home in glory."

"Haha, you kid!"

Xie Jin said that he would return to China immediately after the award ceremony, and would discuss with the people from the Film Bureau and Shanghai Film Studio how to hold a celebration party.

Fang Yan half-jokingly said that Xie Jin must be present at the celebration party, otherwise they would not dare to pick up their chopsticks. (End of this chapter)