Exciting 1979!

Chapter 479 Receiving four awards in one day, what a bombshell!

After returning from France, Zhou Huimin took a few days off, citing jet lag and feeling unwell. She then stayed at home and composed a new song, which was set to Lu You's "Chai Tou Feng · Hong Su Shou". The song included both the original text and her own newly composed lyrics.

That poem, "Red hands, yellow wine, spring colors fill the city, palace walls lined with willows. The east wind is cruel, joy is fleeting. A heart full of sorrow, years of separation. Wrong, wrong, wrong."

Spring remains the same, but I am wasted away, tears staining my red handkerchief. Peach blossoms fall, the pavilion by the idle pond stands silent. Our vows remain, but letters cannot be sent. No, no, no!

When the song was played for friends in the industry, they were all amazed by Vivian Chow's great progress in composing.

This ancient-style sad love song, which she composed independently, is in no way inferior to "The Moon Over the West Tower," which she collaborated on with Wei Ming before. It is stunning and much better than her self-composed works "Nian Nu Jiao," "The Flowers Fall Without Help," and "Sheng Sheng Man" from some time ago. It has inspired Tan Yonglin to start creating original works as well.

Only Anita Mui asked her privately, "Did you and Wei Ming have a fight? Did you break up?"

"How could that be? I'm very talented." Zhou Huimin forced a smile; she didn't want to ruin Wei Ming's reputation.

“I see,” Anita Mui thought that Ah Min’s talent had exploded because she was heartbroken. “When are you planning to release your new album? Do you want to compete with Teresa Teng?”

Teresa Teng?

"Yes, she's about to release her second Cantonese album. Oh, and they also announced the title track today. Give it a listen."

The new song is called "Walking the Road of Life," with lyrics by Zheng Guojiang and original music by Miyuki Nakajima.

After listening to the song, Vivian Chow felt much better. She felt that she should also walk her own path in life with a calm and carefree attitude, just like in the song.

Previously, she didn't dare to look at news related to Wei Ming, but now she has taken the initiative to find the recent issues of Ming Pao at home.

Because of Wei Ming's prominent role, Ming Pao created a special Cannes section, featuring articles and photos sent back from France daily by Luo Ashou, which was very popular with readers. New Wave directors such as Xu Anhua, Tan Jiaming, and Xu Ke were all following Wei Ming's trip to Cannes.

News of Vivian Chow's trip to Cannes, along with photos, was also leaked in this column, which fans considered evidence that the two were dating.

Although no photos of Zhou Huimin and Wei Ming were taken, Gong Xue was still uneasy after seeing the news that Zhou Huimin had also gone to France. He dared not think too much about it and could only frantically write letters to Zhu Lin to relieve his depressed mood.

After reading the latest Cannes feature in Ming Pao, Zhou Huimin realized that so many days had passed and that the Cannes Film Festival was closing today.

She looked out the window: "I hope you get what you want."

She also recalled that day on the beach in Cannes, when Amin said, "I made this film to let more people abroad see a hopeful China and reshape China's new image. If I have awards to my name, it will definitely be more conducive to the film's dissemination."

In fact, even before the closing ceremony, several European, American, and Latin American film companies had approached Wei Ming to purchase the film's rights after the premiere. 20th Century Fox even offered $1 million to buy out all the rights to the film outside of China.

Because he had a prior contract with the Children's Film Studio, which paid 20 yuan for the domestic copyright, and the overseas revenue belonged to Hong Kong DreamWorks, he essentially spent more than 40 yuan and equivalent foreign exchange to get 100 million US dollars, which was a huge profit.

However, Wei Ming did not budge, saying that they would talk about it after the awards ceremony.

He felt he had a good chance of winning the award, and sure enough, the day before the closing ceremony, Cannes Artistic Director Gilles Jacob personally informed Wei Ming that he and his team would stay to attend the awards ceremony the next day.

This means his work is eligible for awards, and awards mean that the copyright value of the film can reach a new level.

Deputy Director Bao immediately informed the colleagues at Xinhua News Agency's French branch of the good news. The interview team, which originally consisted of only two people, instantly grew to four, with a colleague from the French Embassy accompanying them to the awards ceremony.

Winning awards at the three major European film festivals is a first for a Chinese-language live-action film, a breakthrough that will now be seen in how it is promoted and guided domestically.

Upon learning of the award, the branch office immediately contacted the domestic office, and the publicity campaign for Wei Ming and "The Shepherd's Class" officially began, publishing several interview articles and photos from a few days prior as a warm-up.

At this time, besides the male lead Li Baotian, Bao Tongzhi, deputy director of the Film Bureau, the counselor of the Chinese Embassy in France, Melinda, the Hong Kong investor representative of "The Shepherd's Class", and Wei Lingling, who had returned from Paris, Wei Ming was accompanied by the male lead Li Baotian, Bao Tongzhi, deputy director of the Film Bureau, and the counselor of the Chinese Embassy in France.

After seeing Amin and her mother off in Paris, Wei Lingling worked for a few more days before returning to Cannes to help Wei Ming sell "The Shepherd's Class" for a good price.

At the awards ceremony, Wei Ming saw Andrei Tarkovsky, who was not in good condition, but he did not see Martin Scorsese, Ryuichi Sakamoto, or Takeshi Kitano. The competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival was still too fierce.

The awards for the main competition were not presented at the beginning; the Palme d'Or for short films was presented first.

Wei Ming watched several short films this year and found that some of them deliberately imitated the shooting and editing style of "The Witness," but they all ended up being poor imitations. The award-winning film this time was a documentary short film.

Next is the Camera d'Or, also known as the Best First Feature Film Award, which is mainly for the main competition and Un Certain Regard sections. Last year, Wei Ming won this award in Venice for his short film "The Witness," and this year in Cannes, he won it again.

Congratulations to Mr. Why from China!

Bao Tongzhi was so excited he almost stood up. Although he had already won this award at the Venice Film Festival last year, this was a feature film, not a short film. Moreover, "The Witness" was more often considered a Hong Kong film.

Even if this is the only award he receives tonight, he, as the deputy director, will have something to show for it.

Next came the FIPRESCI Prize, presented by the International Federation of Film Critics, which went to Tarkovsky's *Nostalgia* and...

Congratulations on "The Shepherd's Spring"!

Wei Ming hadn't expected to have to get up again so soon after sitting down. After returning, he said to Director Bao, "If there are any more prizes to be won, then you can go up."

The next award is called the Catholic Ecumenical Jury, and you can tell from the name that it has nothing to do with them. The winner is Andrei Tarkovsky's "Nostalgia," which was very well received at Cannes this year.

The technical award, presented later, went to the Spanish musical film "Carmen," whose dance choreography was highly visually appealing.

Finally, the awards for best artistic contribution were presented, "and the winners were the Spanish film 'Carmen' and the Chinese film 'The Shepherd's Spring'."

The dance and the music complement each other perfectly.

Director Bao was very excited, but he changed his mind after agreeing to let Wei Ming go up on stage to receive the award. Instead, he pushed Wei Ming up and told the Xinhua News Agency staff to take pictures quickly. They've already taken three pictures.

The Best Artistic Contribution Award was largely due to the music in "The Shepherd's Spring," especially the final suona horn performance, which opened the ears of foreign audiences.

When accepting the award, Wei Ming briefly introduced the suona, which everyone was curious about.

"Actually, the suona was introduced to China from Persia. Over thousands of years, it has evolved into what it is today and has become a unique Chinese musical instrument. Traditional Chinese people cannot do without it in weddings, funerals, births, aging, illnesses and deaths. If I have the opportunity to perform on stage again, I would like to play a piece for everyone."

The film premiere made Wei Ming realize that the suona music in the film was very attractive to foreigners, so he asked his aunt to buy one for him in Paris and bring it back.

Looking at the three different trophies and certificates in Wei Ming's hands, Bao Tongzhi and the consul in France couldn't hide their smiles. With these three awards, Wei Ming could be considered a god in the domestic film industry, enough for the media to praise for three days and three nights without repeating themselves. It would also be a great achievement for the Film Bureau.

The awards for the One Focus category were presented yesterday. Next, we will move on to the main competition awards ceremony, where the judges from the jury will take turns presenting the awards.

The first award presented was for Best Screenplay, which went to French director Robert Bresson for "Money".

The over 80-year-old director walked shakily onto the stage to accept the award. He was also the oldest director nominated at this year's film festival. Born in 1901, he has almost witnessed the development of film from silent to sound, from black and white to color, and from France to the United States.

French jury member and cinematographer Henri Alejandro González was eager to win a bigger award for this living legend of French cinema, as this might be his last film.

Unfortunately, the quality of the films this year was too high. The highly anticipated films, "Carmen" and "Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence," failed to make the final list of winners. In addition, the jury president, William Sterling, was not particularly fond of the film, so it only received this small award. This was a major point of contention during the judging process.

Although Henry Alejan was just a cinematographer, he was the oldest member of the jury. He was the cinematographer for films such as "Beauty and the Beast," "Roman Holiday," and "Anna Karenina," and held a very high position in the industry. Even the great Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk did not dare to go head-to-head with him.

Next up is the Jury Prize, which isn't a permanent award. It's usually a compromise made under the insistence of a particular judge, and can be considered an encouragement award.

The award went to "The Closed" by renowned Indian director Moline Sen, who was also one of the founders of the Indian New Wave movement. Because of his communist leanings, Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk insisted on securing this award for him.

However, Sergei wanted too much. He wanted India's Moline Sen to win the award, but he also wanted his own country's Andrei Tarkovsky to not win it. This was another major point of contention among the Cannes jury this year.

After the two appetizers, it was time for the acting awards. First up was the Best Actor award. Wei Ming glanced at Li Baotian.

Upon learning that there was an award to be won, Wei Ming's minimum expectation for this year's Cannes Film Festival was to win the Best Actor award for Li, and this expectation was quite reasonable.

Although he is not yet 40 years old and this is only his second film, he plays the most brilliant part of the entire film, and he is also the character with the most screen time and the most complete character arc.

However, when Wei Ming heard that it wasn't Li Baotian, he couldn't help but feel a little secretly pleased, because "The Shepherd's Class" couldn't possibly win Best Actress, so they would get a more prestigious award. The winner was Gian Maria Volonte, an Italian actor for the Swiss film "The Death of Mario Richie," who also played the second male lead in "A Fistful of Dollars."

Mariangela Mehrato, one of the judges, is also Italian, and she contributed significantly to the award.

The Best Actress award went to the Franco-Italian-German co-production "The Story of Piana," starring Isabelle Huppert, but the winner was another actress, Hannah Schigura from Germany.

There are three awards left: the Palme d'Or, the Jury Prize, and Best Director.

There were four other film crews who came to the event but didn't win any awards.

At this point, Soviet director Sergei Bondarchuk and Egyptian director Youssef Shayn went on stage to announce the winner of the Best Director award.

Surprisingly, three directors won the award: Andrei Tarkovsky for the Soviet film "Nostalgia," and Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam for the British film "Seven Life's Stories."

A weary-looking Andrei Tarkovsky calmly went on stage and accepted the trophy from Youssef Shain, while Sergei Bondarchuk handed the trophy to Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam.

Terry Jones and Terry Gilliam seemed quite pleased. Their "Seven Life" series is actually composed of seven nonsensical short films, which are very imaginative and satirical, but they never expected to share this award with the renowned master Andrei Tarkovsky.

Although Andrei Tarkovsky displayed the proper composure and gratitude towards Cannes, his brief exchange of glances with Sergei clearly revealed his dissatisfaction, suggesting that Sergei must have played a negative role in the judging process.

In fact, "Nostalgia" was indeed a strong contender for the Palme d'Or, but Sergei had received instructions from Philip Yermash, chairman of the Soviet State Film Committee, before he arrived that Andrei, that troublemaker, should not be allowed to win the Palme d'Or, and that it would be better if he didn't win any awards at all.

Although he ultimately failed to prevent Andre from winning the prize, thankfully it wasn't the top prize, the Palme d'Or.

Now there are only two films left: China's "The Shepherd's Spring" and Japan's "The Ballad of Narayama," which will win first and second prizes respectively. This will be the most glorious moment for Asian films. Including India's "The Closed," three films will win awards.

To be honest, neither Wei Ming nor the people around him had ever thought they could win the Palme d'Or. Their goal was simply to win the award, since Wei Ming was too young. How could there be a Palme d'Or winner at the age of twenty?

Moreover, having already won three small prizes, it's a win-win situation no matter what.

Having come this far, and in the final competition against Japanese films, they certainly hope to reach the pinnacle.

Now taking the stage is photography master Henri Alejandro, who will present the Jury Prize. This handsome Frenchman is 74 years old, but you wouldn't guess it.

He has forty years of experience as a photographer, has written many books on photography theory such as "Light and Shadow", and has participated in film projects in many countries. He has photographed many handsome men and beautiful women, such as Vivien Leigh, Audrey Hepburn and Alain Delon.

He was also familiar with Asia. He had worked with Japanese film star Toshiro Mifune on the Western film "Dragon Tiger Heroes" and also worked with Xie Tian of Beijing Film Studio. He had been to Beijing and served as the cinematographer for "Kite," the first co-production between the People's Republic of China and a foreign country.

In his view, the overall quality of Japanese films is significantly higher than that of Chinese films. Previously, Cannes awarded the Palme d'Or, the highest prize, to the Japanese films "Gate of Hell" and "Kagemusha".

Akira Kurosawa won the award for "Kagemusha" not long ago, and he also has many other classic masterpieces that have influenced the global film industry.

Apart from "Spring in a Small Town," Chinese films are only really good at animated films, but "Spring in a Small Town" was made forty years ago when Henri Alejandro was just starting out in the industry.

But this time, when it came to deciding who would win the Palme d'Or, he voted for a Chinese film.

"Let's congratulate the director Shohei Imamura on 'The Ballad of Narayama' from Japan."

Upon hearing that "The Ballad of Narayama" had won an award, Wei Ming was even happier than if he had won an award himself. He never expected that the Palme d'Or would actually go to his house. After all, the original "The Chorus" was not an award-winning work of art; it was a box office hit!

In fact, during the award selection process, "Nostalgia", "The Ballad of Narayama" and "The Shepherd's Spring" were all popular works and were basically locked into the top three. However, "The Shepherd's Spring" was ranked a little lower. At the beginning, it was basically determined to give the Best Director award to the all-around talent Mr. Why, who wrote, directed and composed his own music.

But when jury president William Sterlens decided to award the Palme d'Or to "Nostalgia", Sergei, along with Egyptian director Youssef Shayn and African director Suleiman Cissé, strongly objected.

At this point, Henry Alejan also stood up to disagree with Chairman William Stellen, but Sergei hoped to put "The Ballad of Narayama" in place.

Henry Alejandro González I.A.B. prefers The Shepherd’s Class, which he considers a huge breakthrough for Chinese cinema, while The Ballad of Narayama is merely another reiteration of the extreme nationalism of the Japanese.

William Sterling admires both films. If it weren't for the fact that the Palme d'Or was shared last year and the year before, and the festival president and director repeatedly emphasized that there should be no more joint awards, he would have loved to let these two arch-rivals, China and Japan, win the award together; it would have been quite amusing.

Finally, he let the seven judges vote to decide.

Sergei suffered a complete defeat, with only Youssef Shayn from Egypt supporting him, and African director Suleiman Cissé switching sides to choose "The Shepherd's Class," purely to support Mr. Why.

French actor Gilbert de Goldschmidt and Italian actress Mariangela Merato also chose "The Shepherd's Class" because they found the film very romantic.

Finally, Karel Reiz, the British director who directed the American film "The French Lieutenant's Woman," also unequivocally supported Wei Ming. He was a Cambridge graduate and had previously published a book on film, edited by Charlotte Gaskell.

At the end of the awards ceremony, renowned author William Stairon took the stage to announce the winner of the Palme d'Or at the 36th Cannes Film Festival.

At this point, there was little suspense, unless Jacob was implying that the award referred to the three smaller prizes mentioned earlier.

"Let us congratulate Mr. Why, my fellow writer from China, and his outstanding work, *The Shepherd's Spring*!"

Some of the Xinhua News Agency reporters were translating for Director Bao, while others had already picked up their cameras and were ready to take pictures.

Wei Ming took the suona from Wei Lingling behind him and calmly went on stage.

After coming on stage, he first played the climax of "Reignite" on the suona, just for a few seconds. He couldn't play any longer. These few seconds were for the purpose of winning the award. He just didn't expect the award to be so big.

His feature film debut went straight to Cannes. How can he make art films in the future? Is there no room for advancement? Is he destined to only compete for the Oscars?

The applause was already quite enthusiastic, but after a short suona performance, the applause practically pierced the ceiling. Several international students in the back rows even stood up to applaud, inspiring a large group of people to join in.

Wei Ming then put away his suona and accepted the Palme d'Or trophy from William Stellen.

Wei Ming knew that this award was of great importance to the country, so his gratitude was extremely sincere, thanking the organizing committee, the judging panel, and the French people one by one.

Then: "I once said that this was just a hobby, this is my first film as a director, and it may be my last. But the praise and recognition I have received in Cannes during this period have made me waver. Perhaps one day I will bring my work back to France, back to Cannes. Thank you."

Wei Ming kissed the golden palm leaf and returned the way he came, seeing envy in the eyes of Andrei Tarkovsky and Shohei Imamura.

But as long as Andrei lives well, and as long as Shohei Imamura continues to make films, Wei Ming believes they will definitely win the award; it's just a matter of time.

Immediately after the award ceremony, Wei Ming gave an interview and posed for photos with Xinhua News Agency's French branch.

First, there's a group photo of Wei Ming, Lao Bao, and Lao Li holding four trophies and certificates. Then there's another photo of Wei Ming holding four honors by himself.

During the interview, Wei Ming didn't say anything too outrageous. He talked about interesting things that happened during the filming of the movie, and of course, he had to say thank you to the country and the Party. Compared to Andrei, who was not recognized by his own country, Wei Ming was quite fortunate.

At this point, let alone filming "The Shepherd's Spring," even if he were to film something more outrageous, like "Ten Years," given his current level of fame, it would probably be a disaster.

Moreover, this opportunity may not come again; in a few years, this subject matter may become a high-risk one.

But Wei Ming ultimately decided not to take any more risks. His private life was already dangerous enough, so he decided to just live out these next few years honestly.

The embassy also invited Wei Ming to Paris, but before that, Wei Ming had to talk to the foreign film companies about copyright issues.

The negotiation only involved Wei Ming, Melinda, and Wei Lingling. Lao Bao wisely stayed out of it, lest he know too much and feel resentful.

Actually, the collaboration on "The Shepherd's Class" was already quite good for the official team. It's just that the Children's Film Studio only spent 20 yuan to get such a high-quality work. At this time, 20 yuan could only make a low-budget film.

Wei Ming and his aunt first decided not to sell the global distribution rights, but to sell "The Shepherd's Class" in parts. At that time, the global distribution capabilities of Hollywood giants were not that great.

The most sincere offer came from Pathé Films, a French company with a long history, often considered one of the two giants of French cinema alongside Gaumont.

Moreover, the original "The Chorus" was distributed by EMI, and it achieved a record of 850 million viewers and 3000 million euros in box office revenue in France!

(Today's guaranteed minimum~)
(End of this chapter)