Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 612 Award (33)

Uh, Shen Yan gave Shi Shi a position as the producer of "Burning"...

Shi Shi was stunned for a moment: "When did I become a producer?"

"The money you leave with me, I'll invest it for you!"

"...Oh, that works too!"

He nodded slowly…

Reba, who hadn't spoken until now, asked in surprise, "Sister Shishi, you gave the money to Brother Yan?"

Shi Shi nodded: "Yes... He has an investment team to manage his funds. I only keep about 300 million on me, and give him the rest to invest for me!"

"That…"

"I bought shares in the Nasdaq's five tech giants, and so far, these stocks are showing an upward trend... I also bought some myself!"

Wang Kai asked curiously, "The Big Five tech giants?"

"FAMGA stands for Facebook, Apple, Microsoft, Google (Alphabet), and Amazon. In addition to these five, I also bought shares in Netflix and Tesla!"

"Did you make any money?"

Shen Yan nodded: "I hold them for the long term... mainly because I don't have many investment projects in China..."

"Didn't you invest in Maoyan?"

"...It's just investing; I don't participate in the operations..."

Shen Yan waved his hand: "Let's not talk about that, Dilraba. I heard from them that you have a good chance of winning the Marcello Mastroianni Best Newcomer Award..."

"What award is that?"

"It's the Best Newcomer Award!" After a pause, Shen Yan added, "Marcelo Mastroianni is a gifted Italian actor who has won the Venice Film Festival Best Actor award twice and the Cannes Film Festival Best Actor award twice..."

"If I win the award, will I have no chance of winning the Golden Lion?"

"Correct!"

Shen Yan nodded – Venice has rules; generally, once a film wins an acting award, it is considered to have withdrawn from the competition for the Golden Lion!

The most recent film to win a Golden Lion and an acting award: 2004 Mike Leigh's "Vera Drake": Golden Lion and Best Actress.

Uh, there's also a hidden rule: under the special conditions of "approval from the festival's artistic director" and "unanimous approval from all nine jury members," the film that wins the Golden Lion for Best Film can also be jointly awarded the Volpi Cup (Best Actor and Best Actress) or the Marcello Mastroianni Award (Best Newcomer Award)...

Therefore, "The Story of Qiu Ju" is awesome, winning the Golden Lion Award and the Volpi Cup for Best Actress.

"Burning" might not be enough...

In other words, if Dilraba wins the award, Shen Yan will miss out on the Golden Lion Award...

……

In fact, in the days following the premiere of "Burning", the public opinion environment remained almost unchanged – "Burning" was still the biggest hit!

It's already a hot film praised by the media and film critics.

Yesterday, Shen Yan received a string of awards, including the Hollywood Foreign Press Award, the Pasinetti Award, the Kinsieck Award (sponsored by the Italian film magazine CIAK), the Golden Phoenix Award, the FIPRESCI Prize, the Jaeger-LeCoultre Filmmaker Award (sponsored by Jaeger-LeCoultre), and the Campari Passion Award…

These awards are unofficial and fall under the category of off-site awards.

Dilraba and Wang Kai also won awards...

These prizes all come with cash rewards, ranging from 30,000 to 80,000 euros!
Shen Yan didn't inquire about the exact amount each person received—they had both taken on the role in "Burning" at low prices, and the small bonus they received was used as compensation…

Shen Yan... initially thought he was quite relaxed!
First: The two lead actors for "La La Land" have been confirmed, and their contracts have been signed...

Whether he wins an award or not, or what kind of award he wins, it will not affect the progress of the subsequent plans!
Oh, besides the Golden Lion, there's also the Grand Prix and the Jury Prize... The Grand Prix is ​​also called the Silver Lion, or Grand Prize of the Festival, which is usually translated as the Film Festival Grand Prize. It's considered the second-highest award after the Golden Lion.
The Jury Prize, or Consolation Prize, is a kind of award awarded by the jury.

Because the awards in the main competition are mostly decided by a panel of judges through discussion and voting, it often happens that a film strongly supported by one judge fails to gain the approval of the other judges. In such cases, a jury prize is usually awarded…

Second: Regarding the movie "Burning"... Shen Yan didn't spend a single penny on public relations; it was all covered by A24 and MK2...

Yes, we invested in "The Danish Girl" and "Carola," and both of those films were quite successful at the box office!

One grossed $4300 million worldwide, while the other grossed $6700 million worldwide.

Even if it's difficult to recoup costs at the box office, with the promotion during awards season, there's still a high possibility of making a profit if it's sold directly to Netflix.

But after sitting down, Shen Yan did feel a bit anxious and uncertain!
First of all, "Burning" should be his last attempt to specifically pursue awards...

La La Land... at most it'll win Best Actress!

Secondly, in the original timeline, "Burning" didn't win an award...

Despite the efforts made this time—MK2, A24, and others—the prices and popularity of award-winning films were completely different from those of non-award-winning films…

With a little effort, it's still possible to attract a movie-going audience!
But Shen Yan wasn't sure if he could win the grand prize.

Shen Yan was lost in thought when the awards ceremony officially began.

Jury president Alexander Desplat led the eight judges on an appearance before the awards ceremony began.

The Special Jury Prize, awarded first, went to the Turkish film, *Sivas*, directed by Kaan Mudesi…

This film was highly controversial due to its brutal and realistic depiction of dogfighting, but unexpectedly it won an award…

Next, the Best New Actor award went to Romain Paul, a young actor in "The Last Hammer," who played a middle school student burdened with family responsibilities. His sincere and moving performance earned him unanimous recognition from the judges.

Shen Yan noticed that Dilraba seemed a little disappointed, so he patted her on the shoulder. She turned around, smiled, and indicated that she was fine...

Then came the screenplay award, which went to Iranian director Roxanne Banetima's "Story"...

This film, through the lens of a documentary filmmaker, weaves together several short stories to depict the various social strata and realities of life in Iran…

A very clever setup!

It has a bit of a "A Touch of Sin" feel to it...

However, the execution was poor. Composed of several stories, most lacked tension, and the overall narrative failed to establish a coherent emotional flow.

The reason she was given the award is purely because she is an Iranian director, and a female director at that!
Then there are five major awards left: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, Jury Prize, and Golden Lion!
……

To be honest, Shen Yan was somewhat coveting the acting award…

After all, he has been in the industry for five years, and apart from winning the Best Newcomer Award at the Hundred Flowers Awards in his second year, he has never won a significant acting award!

They didn't even nominate him.

But if I actually win the award... it means I'm completely cut off from the Golden Lion Award!
I feel quite conflicted!

Then, as jury member Tim Roth opened the envelope, he glanced at the audience and read, "The Best Actor award at the 71st Venice Volpi Cup goes to Shen Yan for 'Burning'!"

Shen Yan didn't know what expression to make...

Laugh it off... Winning Best Actor means you're out of the running for the Golden Lion!
Look at that long face... This guy won an award!

The audience below the stage was a bit restless—their thoughts were similar to those of "Burning": winning the acting award basically meant they had no chance of winning the Golden Lion!
But he still stood up, straightened his clothes, and quickly went on stage to give his acceptance speech: "Thank you Venice, thank you to the jury... Thank you to the film festival for giving such an important award to this film that was shot in just 16 days, and thank you to my co-stars Wang Kai and Dilraba for their great performances... Thank you to the film critics and the media for their love of this film... Thank you!"

Shen Yan bowed and then stepped off the stage…

(End of this chapter)