Huayu: As a child star, I just want to be famous

Chapter 256: Lifting the Throne
September 2007, 9, closing ceremony of the Venice Film Festival.

Prior to this, the country had already learned that Li An's "Lust, Caution", Chen Linfeng's "Whiplash", and Jia Zhangke's "Useless" had received notifications to participate in the awards ceremony.

This work represents the achievements of China at this year's Venice Film Festival.

Domestic public opinion was naturally extremely delighted about this, especially for Xiao Chen, whose first feature film as a director was able to enter the final awards ceremony.

This is similar to the fact that Jiang Wen created a Venice Film Festival Best Actor for his first directorial debut.

Everyone is wondering whether another talented "Jiang Wen" has appeared.

This means that China's film industry has successors.

The sixth generation of directors has just appeared, and Xiao Chen, who is much younger than the sixth generation and it is hard to say whether he is from the sixth or seventh generation, has already officially stepped onto the stage.

In the news center, Chinese reporters occupied a large area.

In addition to the six CCTV princesses that were more common in previous years and Sina, which focuses on entertainment news, more media have come from China.

They want to receive news about Xiao Chen as soon as possible.

This kind of news has attracted a lot of attention in China, especially after the August of Crazy Star You, it can be said that it has attracted the attention of the whole nation.

Chen Linfeng entered the venue with the crew's main creators including Li Xuejian, Liu Qianqian, Zhou Jielun, and Cao Yu.

Everyone was a little excited.

No matter what award is won today, it will basically be a relatively important award for feature films entering the main competition unit.

This is different from those unknown awards that were not in the main competition units back then. The worst one was the Future Golden Lion Award.

It is commonly known as the "Best Debut Award".

The Best Newcomer and Best Screenwriter awards are considered impressive.

The only thing that Chen Linfeng was worried about was winning the "Future Golden Lion Award". After all, it was really his first time making a feature film, which could be considered a debut.

At this moment, he saw Liu Qianqian's expression and couldn't help but ask.

"Why do you look more nervous than me?"

Liu Qianqian said, "I have attended several award ceremonies with you, and we won big prizes every time. This time, I am worried that the law will not work when we are abroad."

Chen Linfeng held her hand and smiled, "It's okay, this has nothing to do with you. If I don't win an important award, it's my problem."

Liu Qianqian shook her hand back and said seriously, "No, you have done your best."

Zhou Jielun couldn't help but twitch his lips when he saw this couple still showing their affection.

He passed the scene and looked around.

In the past, he often participated in music award ceremonies, but this time was a rare occasion where he jumped onto an internationally renowned stage because of a movie role.

What a novel experience.

Cao Yu asked Li Xuejian with concern, "Teacher Li, are you okay? Are you nervous?"

Li Xuejian saw Cao Yu's hands shaking constantly and wondered who was nervous.

He laughed and said, "Young man, relax. Whether you win the prize or not has already been decided. Even if you keep shaking, it won't change the result."

After all, Li Xuejian is an old actor and his psychological qualities have been well-trained.

Cao Yu was not doing well. He nodded, but his symptoms did not improve at all.

How can I not be nervous? The Venice Film Festival has an award for Best Technical Contribution (Photography).

If he wins the award, he will become a big shot in the photography world.

Who wouldn't be excited at this moment when there is a high possibility of soaring to the sky?

Li An glanced at Chen Linfeng from a distance, feeling mixed emotions.

For some reason, he felt that among all the works present, Xiao Chen gave him the most pressure.

Maybe it’s because Xiao Chen is not only a good filmmaker, but also good at marketing and public relations. He has heard about some of Xiao Chen’s operations during the film festival.

He really made a name for himself.

To this day, the media still regards "Whiplash" as a big hit.

Although no one is optimistic about Xiao Chen winning the Golden Lion Award when he is less than 20 years old, it is often considered worthwhile for such a heavyweight award.

This alone is a historic achievement.

Cate Blanchett is firmly on the spot. She has some expectations for this year's Venice, but not much.

The loss of the Oscar for Best Actress for "Elizabeth", which was the most anticipated film of the year, is still being reported by the media.

Afterwards, as if possessed by an evil spirit, he missed out on all major international awards.

Most of the films he starred in were of very good quality, but they could only be nominated for the highest awards, including nominations for the three major film festivals, the Golden Lion, the Golden Bear, and the Palme d'Or.

As a leading actress, she could only be nominated for the best award and basically never won it. The only awards she actually won were either supporting role awards or lesser-known small awards.

So this time, she didn't dare to hold out any hope, even though "I'm Not There" received very good reviews and was a favorite this year.

……

As time passed, people gradually arrived.

The host began to warm up the audience with a speech.

The first awards to be distributed are those from other units.

Jia Zhangke won the documentary award in the Horizon unit. Last year's Golden Lion Award winner did not feel particularly surprised and just expressed his gratitude normally.

After all, I have experienced the peak, and there is nothing more than clouds in Wushan.

Later, the Golden Lion Award was won by a Mexican film.

Chen Linfeng breathed a sigh of relief. This was a good sign.

After the Best Short Film and Best Newcomer awards, came the Best Technical Contribution (Photography) award.

The presenter mentioned the name of "Whiplash" and the award recipient was Cao Yu.

Cao Yu’s hands stopped shaking instantly.

Because his foreign language proficiency was not high, he looked around doubtfully until people around him began to applaud and surprise him, and then he was sure.

Just yourself!

On the stage, Cao Yu kept thanking the director, saying that it was he who made him successful.

Chen Linfeng was smiling below, and there was no clue to be seen.

Liu Qianqian looked visibly disappointed. According to general rules, once she won this award, it was uncertain whether she would get another one in the future.

For the next Best Screenplay Award, the presenter actually read out the name of "Lust, Caution".

Chen Linfeng was cheered up. This was a completely different development direction from his previous life.

If my participation meant that "Lust, Caution" would not win the Golden Lion.

Then even if I only win a technical award, it is not unacceptable, at least the original purpose has been achieved.

In addition to Eileen Chang, the original author of "Lust, Caution", there are two other people involved in the adaptation, one is a screenwriter from Taiwan Province, and the other is a US citizen.

The two men went on stage to receive the awards, and Li An, like Chen Linfeng before him, smiled and applauded in the audience, making it hard to tell whether he was unhappy or not.

From then on, all the prizes are important awards.

At this time, Catherine Breillat on the stage, as the award presenter, slowly read out the name of the best actress, "Cate Blanchett, I'm Not There".

Kate herself covered her mouth in disbelief, tears welling up in her eyes.

The audience burst into applause.

Everyone still recognizes this actress.

After many years of long-cherished wish, it has finally come true today.

When Kate was giving her speech on stage, she even choked up for a while, and everyone understood and waited quietly for her to finish. The Best Actor award that followed was a little hard to describe, as Brad Pitt actually won the award.

There were some chaotic noises at the scene.

Obviously, his performance in the film itself is not particularly outstanding, and Brad Pitt himself is not an actor known for his acting skills.
Such a result was somewhat unexpected.

This is the attitude on the field, and it is much more direct off the field.

The news center where the news media gathered and had been broadcasting the live broadcast of the venue was immediately filled with boos.

In any case, the awards have been decided and the award ceremony is proceeding steadily.

However, the embarrassing thing was that Brad Pitt was promoting his new film in Toronto at the time and was not at the scene at all. Even the trophy was received by someone else on his behalf.

The booing in the press center was even louder.

Next, the organizing committee presented a rather strange award, the Honorary Golden Lion Award.

It was reported that because there were many excellent works this year, an additional award was created to coordinate the different opinions of the judges.

Nominally it is second only to the Golden Lion Award, which was won by "12 Angry Men" (adapted version).

There are more special events like this.

The next jury award was a rare double yolk egg.

"I'm Not There" and "Millet and Mullet" both won awards.

Chen Linfeng still holds out a glimmer of hope, but his hopes have been dashed one by one.

However, at this moment, it seems that there is more hope.

The Grand Jury Prize has been determined, which means that these two works have withdrawn from the competition for the highest award.

They were all the favorites to win the award with high evaluation in the early stage.

Chen Linfeng thought to himself that it would be great if he could win the Silver Lion Award later.

However, the Silver Lion Award was won by "Selected Works", a political film that was also predicted to be a hot favorite by the media in the early stages.

At this point, almost all popular works have been eliminated early.

The remaining Golden Lion Award...

Chen Linfeng and Li An looked at each other at the same time.

The person who came to the stage at this time was Zhang Yimou, the chairman of the jury.

He calmly opened the letter in his hand and read out the winner of the Golden Lion Award.

"Chen Linfeng, Whiplash!"

hum!
There was an uproar.

Although it was predicted, the people at the scene really did not expect that this year's jury would dare to make such a big breakthrough and actually give the Golden Lion Award to a young man who is less than 20 years old.

No, considering the average age of directors, 20 is still just a teenager.

Li An's body stiffened for a moment, and a huge disappointment came over him.

He then forced a smile to celebrate his compatriot's award.

Compared to the shock inside the venue, the feedback from the news center outside the venue was much better this time.

Most media had previously predicted that Whiplash was one of the hot candidates for this year.

Moreover, compared to the previous Best Actor award given to Brad Pitt, Chen's "Whiplash" is qualified, at least in terms of quality.

As for age, the media does not have the same sentiments as professionals. They have seen many young talents in all walks of life, so they do not care.

Liu Qianqian almost jumped up with excitement, her palms turned red from clapping but she was completely unaware.

Chen Linfeng stood up and hugged her first, and then hugged the people around him one by one to celebrate.

When he came to the stage, Zhang Yimou handed him the trophy and said, "Congratulations, you won the Golden Lion Award."

"Director Zhang, thank you." His words were particularly sincere.

I originally thought that Li Xuejian could win a Best Actor award, or I could win the Grand Jury Prize, and the Silver Lion Award at most would be good.

Chen Linfeng really didn't expect that this top person could push him to the height of the Golden Lion Award.

This was actually what Zhang Yimou had thought at first. When he made the promise, he didn't think about pushing Xiao Chen to win the Golden Lion Award.

However, this is how the situation changes, and the situation at this Venice Film Festival is indeed too complicated.

Not only is there a strong invasion from Hollywood, but excluding the Golden Lion Award, the next four major awards, including the Silver Lion, the Grand Jury Prize, and Best Actor and Actress, are all Hollywood works.

In this case, the organizing committee tacitly agreed that the Golden Lion Award must not be given to Emily Ken.

In addition, there was no one particularly outstanding work that suppressed the others, leading to serious divisions among the judges.

The power of Chairman Zhang Yimou has increased.

Agado-Gonzalez's push for Brad Pitt again caused dissatisfaction among many judges.

The tit-for-tat confrontation gave Zhang Yimou room to persuade others.

Between "Lust, Caution" and "Whiplash", Zhang Yimou chose the latter.

The main reason is that two judges have already expressed their support, so it will be much easier to promote it.

The Sun was also abandoned for this reason.

It can only be said that early public relations really played a key role at the important moment of weighing the pros and cons.

Although Chen Linfeng guessed that his public relations might have played a significant role, he was still very grateful to Zhang Yimou.

After all, this person's strong push is the key to success.

However, it is better to just keep this favor in mind. When he gave his speech, he just expressed his gratitude briefly and didn't say much.

If you talk too much, you will bring trouble to others.

Chen Linfeng was on the stage, completely unable to contain his joy.

After thanking the organizing committee and the jury, he continued.

“I originally thought that I was still too young, which would put me at a disadvantage.

But now I find that my age still has some advantages, because it will allow me to gain more honor than the award itself.

Whenever people overcome some obstacles, they will find that rewards are often waiting for them.

Once again, thank you to the Venice Film Festival for giving me the opportunity to perform. Thank you to my country, parents, school, and all the crew members, whose performance was also great.

Mr. Li deserves a Best Actor in my opinion, and Cao Yu has gotten what he deserves.

Sissi...

Well, no one would give up a beautiful girl like you for the excuse of art. You are the most beautiful."

Liu Qianqian in the audience was laughing happily, and the other audience members also smiled out of courtesy.

In "Whiplash", the protagonist gave up his beautiful girlfriend in order to play drums, which is indeed a very interesting plot.

Finally, Chen Linfeng looked at the trophy in his hand.

The Golden Lion Award looks a bit like an ancient Chinese seal, with a golden winged lion on top and a square base underneath.

He held the trophy high to express his joy after winning the award for the first time.

Later, this photo was spread all over the world, announcing the birth of a new king in the director world.

There has never been such a young and outstanding director, who has pushed the age record forward by more than ten years.

Even if all three major awards are counted, it would be at least 7 years.

All media outlets are unanimous in their stance that as long as there is no major change in the form of film and television production, it will be impossible for younger directors to emerge.

(End of this chapter)