I am a historical film director in the entertainment industry.

Chapter 240 The Awards Ceremony Begins

Foreigners generally see all East Asians as the same, much like how Chinese people see Westerners. It's difficult to distinguish a person by their appearance unless they have very distinctive features; otherwise, it's hard to remember someone's face.

People of different races often perceive other races as looking alike; this phenomenon is known as the "other race effect."

Unlike face blindness, the "other race effect" occurs because people who are in the same environment for a long time have a high degree of recognition for people of the same race, but they are prone to "perceptual narrowing" when it comes to people of other races, making it difficult to recognize the faces of people of other races.

If a person has been in contact with or sees other races for a long time, the human brain will automatically adjust to meet the needs of social survival, causing this effect to gradually disappear.

Because we haven't seen enough, we haven't built up facial recognition patterns in our minds. It's like how we think all cats look the same except for their coat color, but in reality, every cat's eyes, nose, and face shape are different.

But Jing Tian is different. Her face is very distinctive, and her portrayal of Fan Yuan is truly outstanding. The image of the female general is deeply remembered by foreigners.

"Beautiful Asian girl, indeed very beautiful. Beauty, do you still need a boyfriend?"

This is the first reaction many foreigners have when they see Jing Tian.

This made Da Tian Tian very shy. How come foreigners are so open-minded!
The first time we met, I asked her if she had a boyfriend.

The three major European film festivals each have their own festival publications.

Cannes is no exception.

The festival program contains all the information about the film festival, as well as behind-the-scenes stories, reviews, advertisements, and most importantly, scores for all the films in competition.

If film reviews represent the opinions of film critics, then the festival's ratings represent the festival organizers' views on the film.

The highest possible score is 4, but "Three Kingdoms" only got 3.5.

This score is the highest among the entries shortlisted for the main competition.

The Cannes Film Festival lasts for 12 days, during which hundreds of films are screened simultaneously, with varying quality.

For movie lovers and tourists in attendance, watching every single film is obviously unrealistic, since it's impossible to see all the movies in 12 days.

Therefore, when choosing a movie to watch, many people will first look at the program booklet, and those with high ratings are naturally the first choice.

A week after arriving in Cannes, Liu Tianxian and Liu Xiaoli said goodbye to Cheng Sheng; they were going back to China.

Liu Yifei still has many engagements in China, so she certainly can't stay in Cannes forever without going back.

Cheng Sheng personally escorted the two to the airport.

Before leaving, Liu Tianxian made a small fist gesture at Cheng Sheng and said in a charmingly innocent way, "Brother Cheng, you promised me, so don't forget, or I'll definitely settle the score with you."

"Uh-huh."

Cheng Sheng was speechless. These days, Liu Tianxian had been with their film crew. Once, when he was drunk, Liu Tianxian said that she wanted to be the female lead for Cheng Sheng.

At the time, Cheng Sheng was a little confused and agreed without thinking.

"Hmph! I want one too."

Watching Liu Tianxian and her daughter leave, Da Tiantian said sourly.

"What do you want? If you get into the Central Academy of Drama this year, will you still have time to film?" Cheng Sheng said.

“Why not! I can take a day off,” Da Tiantian said.

"Okay, I'll definitely look for you when a suitable role comes along."

Cheng Sheng replied perfunctorily. Da Tiantian didn't realize that Cheng Sheng was just being perfunctory; on the contrary, she was secretly delighted.

Time quickly came to the day of the awards ceremony.

During the days that the film was released, many film distributors from various countries approached Cheng Sheng, wanting to buy the overseas rights to "Three Kingdoms".

Besides competing for awards and accolades, film festivals also serve as a trading platform for filmmakers and buyers from around the world.

The transaction volume during a film festival is also an important indicator of its success.

Although he had a previous experience in Venice, Cheng Sheng had no intention of immediately selling the film to them.

Because the current price is far from what he expected.

Anyway, the film has been nominated for the main competition. Once the film wins an award, the overseas rights price will definitely increase several times over.

The three major European film festivals have a tradition of sending out award-winning film crews an invitation before the festival ends.

The organizers will call the other party to invite the film crew to walk the red carpet at the closing ceremony.

This phone call indicates that all films nominated for the main competition will receive at least one award.

As the leading European film festival among the three major awards, the Cannes Film Festival's red carpet is a star-studded affair, with many famous celebrities from around the world walking the red carpet.

Aside from international superstars, the real heavyweights are the big directors. Although these directors don't have any films competing, they are invited to attend Cannes as jury members.

After the closing ceremony's red carpet event, there were no song and dance performances, nor lengthy speeches from leaders.

After a five-minute opening speech by the chairman of the jury, Wong Kar-wai, the awards ceremony began.

The award presenters went up to the stage, said a few words, called out the names of the award winners, the winners stood up, the presenters applauded, and then the winners quickly walked forward. Those who were far away had to run, because if they walked slowly, they would have less time for their acceptance speeches.

This process is indeed rough, but surprisingly, it suits Cheng Sheng's taste perfectly.

Everyone comes here to win awards and gain fame, not to be lectured.

The first awards presented were all minor, insignificant prizes.

For example, the Best Film in the 'Un Certain Regard' category.

The award goes to "Summer in Jiangcheng," directed by Wang Chao.

As a fellow countryman, Wang Chao was assigned to the row behind Cheng Sheng.

Upon seeing that the other party had won the award, Cheng Sheng stood up, turned around, and offered a few words of congratulations to Wang Chao.

Wang Chao was also very excited, after all, this was his first time attending the Cannes Film Festival, and he never expected to win an award.

After Wang Chao finished his acceptance speech and stepped down from the stage, the FIPRESCI Prize ceremony began.

The FIPRESCI Prizes, also known as the International Film Critics Awards or the FIPRESCI International Film Critics Awards, are awards presented at the three major European film festivals (Venice, Berlin, and Cannes) or other international film festivals. However, these awards are not affiliated with any film festival organization but are presented by the International Federation of Film Critics.

The association assembles its own jury at film festivals around the world each year and presents awards before the festival's official awards ceremony.

In addition to the three major European film festivals, the Toronto International Film Festival and the Warsaw International Film Festival also regularly host the "FAPICE Award" to reward the most promising films in the eyes of the association.

The three winning films are Turkey's "Climate", Paraguay's "The Paraguayan Tree Hammock", and the UK's "Bug".

(End of this chapter)