Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 256 Awards
This year is the second year that Marco Muller is in power at the Venice Film Festival, and he still takes good care of Chinese films.

All in all, there are quite a few Chinese-language films and Chinese directors participating in the Venice Film Festival this year, a total of seven.

There are three films entering the main competition unit, including Cao Yang's "Black Swan" and Li An's "Brokeback Mountain". They have been notified to participate in the award ceremony on the evening of the 10th.

Another film by Guan Jinpeng, "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow", was not notified to stay, but received another notification that the film won the European Art Exchange Award.

This award is selected by the European Art Film Alliance, which means that "The Song of Everlasting Sorrow" has obtained the permission of the Art Film Alliance and can be released in 3000 art theaters in Europe through the Art Film Alliance.

In fact, these are all false. The most real thing is that after winning this award, the copyright of this movie can be sold for a lot more money.

Li Yu's "Beauty" entered the Horizon unit, which encourages alternative and fresh creations. Unfortunately, "Beauty" did not win the Horizon unit award.

However, she received another notice that "Beauty" won the European Art Film Award.

This award, like the European Art Exchange Award, is selected by the European Art Film Alliance. Through the art alliance, the film can be screened in 3000 art theaters in Europe. In other words, the value of "Beauty" has also doubled.

Xu Ke's "Seven Swords" did not enter any category, nor did it win any awards, but it was given the treatment of the opening film of the film festival, which also greatly increased its value and enabled it to sell a lot more copyright fees.

Another one was Wanwan’s short film “Small Station”, which was notified to stay.

In fact, if the short film was notified to stay, there would only be one award to win, and that was the Best Short Film Award.

Although the Best Short Film Award is not a main competition unit, this award has a special feature, that is, it is worth winning the Silver Lion.

The last one is "If Love" directed by Chen Kexin. This movie starring Xun Ge'er and Kaneshiro Oo was selected as the closing film of the Venice Film Festival.

Seven movies, not one of them went home empty-handed.

Think about it, two Chinese-language films that did not win awards, one became the opening film, and the other was selected as the closing film. Even if the chairman of the film festival was replaced by a Chinese, it would be difficult to achieve this level, right?
Lao Ma is very nice.

The awards ceremony was held on September 9th, Venice time. Tonight's red carpet was the same as previous Venice Film Festivals, with no major surprises.

Gwyneth Paltrow, the famous Oscar-winning "Water Queen", was originally expected to appear, but for some unknown reason, she missed the closing red carpet, which disappointed many people.

Although Gwyneth Paltrow has been criticized for winning the Oscar for Best Actress for "Shakespeare in Love", she is still an Oscar winner and a Hollywood star after all.

The red carpet show lacked much star power until George Clooney's arrival, which caused fans to scream and sparked a small peak in media filming.

Then everything returned to normal until Cao Yang took Dong Xuan, Lu Yi and Huang Xiaoming to walk on the red carpet, which finally ignited the scene and the media flash lights flashed for a long time.

In fact, it can be seen from the red carpet that Venice is really in decline, and the Berlin Film Festival is definitely not much better.

Only by actively embracing Hollywood can Cannes have more star power, which is why Cannes' influence has actually surpassed Venice and Berlin in recent years.

That's why last year, Lao Ma tried every means to ask Cao Yang for help to save the situation, and also told Cao Yang the reason why he wanted to compromise with Hollywood.

These days, Hollywood is becoming more and more powerful, and European films have long been defeated. If they continue to entertain themselves as before, these world art film halls will be finished sooner or later.

However, it is not so easy to turn around. If you embrace Hollywood too much, your prestige will surely drop and you will be criticized. But if you embrace it too slowly, the attention you get will get lower and lower, and it will just be self-entertainment.

When the film festival awards ceremony begins, the first awards given out are those insignificant awards, which are consolation in nature, but can increase the exposure of the film and increase the copyright fees.

There are many such awards in Venice, such as the European Art Exchange Award, the Outstanding Film Award, the Best Italian Film, the New Film Award, etc.

Maybe these awards were also intended to fill up the time. Otherwise, with just seven fixed awards, the award ceremony couldn't be over within an hour.

After these small prizes were awarded, one could feel the atmosphere at the scene becoming tense.

The award presenter came on stage and announced that the first award to be presented in the main competition unit was the specially added Best Newcomer Award.

As the award presenter spoke, the atmosphere became more solemn. For a movie that has made it this far, no one would want to accept this consolation award.

Unfortunately, there are always “unlucky people”.

Menosi-Serse from "Southland Lost" won the Best Newcomer Award.

It can be seen that Menosi-Sesser was very excited to go on stage. This is a Silver Lion after all. As a new actor, he must be very happy to receive this award.

Then, the camera turned to Laurent Cantet, the director of "Southland Lost". This French guy looked like he had lost Paris and his smile was rather forced.

The Best Technical Contribution Award was given to "Ordinary Lovers", which is at least a permanent award in Venice. French director Philippe Garrel can only say that he did not lose his composure.

The Best Screenplay Award was given to "Good Night, and Good Luck". George Clooney, as the director, screenwriter and one of the leading actors, happily went on stage to receive the award.

It is definitely a pleasant surprise that a Hollywood movie can win awards at the three major European film festivals, especially the famous "scam" film festival in Venice.

The next presenter came on stage and said he would present the Best Actress award, also known as the Venice Film Festival Best Actress. All those who hadn't received an award yet were cheered up. The "small awards" had finally been given out, and all that was left were the big awards.

Cao Yang touched Dong Xuan with his hand. Dong Xuan turned her head mechanically and gave Cao Yang a stiff smile. It was obvious that she was very nervous. "Don't be nervous."

Cao Yang reached out to grab Dong Xuan's hand. Dong Xuan clearly wanted to pull his hand back, but then stopped abruptly and then blushed slightly.

After a moment of silence, Cao Yang realized that it was already night and Dong Xuan's "other personality" had appeared. No wonder he was so nervous and shy.

"Don't be afraid. When you get on stage, just speak in Chinese and say whatever you want to say. If you're really nervous and don't know what to say, just thank you."

"what?"

Dong Xuan's brain was a little slow to react. The winner hasn't been announced yet. Are you so sure it's me?
"The good and evil, beauty and ugliness, right and wrong in human nature are all in the mind's eye. Her white swan is pure, peaceful, reserved and shy, while her black swan is passionate, lustful, blooming and charming..."

Cao Yang only felt his hand tighten, and Dong Xuan obviously understood what the award presenter meant.

"The winner of the Venice International Film Festival Best Actress Award is Dong Xuan, for Black Swan."

"what!"

Lü Yi, who was standing next to him, screamed, hugged Dong Xuan, and shouted excitedly: "Sister Huanhuan, it's you, you won the Venice Film Festival Best Actress Award!"

Lu Yi seemed happier than Dong Xuan.

"Thank you, thank you Yiyi."

After hugging Lu Yi, Dong Xuan hesitated for only two seconds before hugging Cao Yang and said, "Director Cao, thank you. It is my greatest luck to know you. You are really great."

I don’t know what she was thinking about, but her face turned red again.

"Remember what I said, and go."

Cao Yang patted Dong Xuan on the back and said with a smile.

"Congratulations, junior."

Huang Xiaoming is very envious of Dong Xuan, the Venice Film Festival winner. Director Cao has produced another best actress.

Dong Xuan pretended not to notice Huang Xiaoming's gesture of wanting to hug him, and said with a smile: "Thank you, Brother Xiaoming."

After arriving on the stage and receiving the Silver Lion from the award presenter, Dong Xuan thought that he had prepared himself mentally and might not be too nervous.

But in fact, she was so nervous that she forgot all the lines she had memorized beforehand.

At this time, she remembered what Cao Yang said, if she couldn't remember, she could just say thank you.

"Thank you Director Cao Yang, he is a great director, rarely gets angry on the set and has enough patience with actors, I am very grateful to him.

Thanks to all the crew members, Lü Yi, Chen Shu, Xiao Ming, Pan Hong, Venice Film Festival, Beijing Film Academy, and my parents. "

After mentioning everyone who should be thanked, Dong Xuan thought, that should be enough, right?

Then he raised the Silver Lion and said again: "Finally, thank you Director Cao Yang, you are the best."

The audience began to applaud. Lu Yi felt envious and muttered, "I wish I could win an acting award, too."

After saying that, he looked at Cao Yang next to him.

Next, the Best Actor Award was presented to David Strathairn, the leading actor in "Good Night, and Good Luck" directed by George Clooney.

It can be seen that both George Clooney and David Strathairn were very surprised. They certainly did not expect that after winning the Best Screenplay, they would also win the Venice Film Festival Best Actor award.

This is so damn unexpected. Hasn’t Venice always been a pioneer in anti-Hollywood?
Next up was the Best Director Award. The presenter opened the envelope and read, "The winner is Li An for Brokeback Mountain."

Another Hollywood film wins an award.

In fact, considering the nature of the Venice Film Festival, Brokeback Mountain's winning the award was not a surprise. After all, Europeans, especially Italians, prefer to laugh at Americans.

Obviously, "Brokeback Mountain" is such a joke. Isn't it ridiculous enough that the most stubborn conservative cowboys in the United States are having an affair with men?

Cao Yang followed suit and applauded. He knew very well that because of his appearance, Li An did not get the Golden Lion.

Li An was very happy to win the Best Director award, although the Best Director award is less valuable than the highest award and the Grand Jury Prize among the three major European awards, but...

He glanced in Cao Yang's direction. Black Swan had won a big award like the Venice Film Festival Best Actress. It shouldn't be possible for it to win another award, right?
Li An couldn't help but think that as a director, his winning of the Best Director award must be more meaningful than Cao Yang's winning of just the Best Actress award.

It’s enough to be able to surpass Cao Yang at the Venice Film Festival!

(End of this chapter)