This director is so innocent.

Chapter 163 Conferring the Title of Empress

The following morning.

The sun was shining brightly, and the sky was cloudless.

Su Jin ate milk and toast while reading the Screen Daily magazine.

Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and Screen Daily are arguably the three most authoritative film magazines in the world, almost influencing the lifeline of the film industry.

It is present at the three major European film festivals every year, and many media professionals and filmmakers seek relevant information from it.

The three major film magazines all gave "The Invisible Guest" high praise, calling it the biggest surprise at Cannes this year.

Other authoritative film magazines, such as Empire, All Cinema, and Cinema Art, also gave it unanimous praise.

The discussion has been very heated.

Many people say that "The Invisible Guest" added a lot of color to this mediocre film festival.

Screen Daily gave it a high score of 3.0 out of 4.

This is the highest score so far.

The Cannes Film Festival has been running for three days, with eight of the 20 films in the main competition section being screened.

They are *Blindness*, *Raina*, *Waltz with Bashir*, *The Christmas Legend*, *Three Monkeys*, *Crossing the Line*, *Sebis*, and *The Invisible Guest*.

The opening film, "Blindness," received a very low rating of only 2.3.

"Three Monkeys" is a film by Turkish director Jerán.

Because of his background in photography, he excels in composition, color, and foreground/background relationships, and is adept at using images to create atmosphere. However, his plot development and character portrayals are rather ordinary.

In short, it has a very empty core, and gets a score of 2.7.

"Waltz with Bashir" is a film by Israeli director Ari Forman, presented as an animated documentary.

Aside from "The Invisible Guest," this movie is the most brilliant.

It is full of imaginative creativity, and its form and content are all refreshing.

The film's theme is the massacre that occurred in two refugee camps south of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, during the 1982 war between Israel and Lebanon.

Film critics were generous with their scores, giving it a high rating of 2.7.

Festival director Frémaux, who never comments on the films in competition before the festival closes, said this was one of his favorites among the competition films.

As for the other five films, they were all mediocre, so let's not talk about them.

In the afternoon, I attended the premiere of Director Jia's "Twenty-Four City".

It seems that Cannes has some reservations about Director Jia's participation in the Venice Film Festival last year and his winning of the Golden Lion.

They moved him from the Lumière Hall to the Bazin Hall, which can only accommodate 300 people.

The reason given is that "24 City" is a digital film, and the Bazin Hall is specifically used for showing digital films.

The film stars Lü Liping, Chen Cong, and Zhao Tao, who respectively portray three generations of factory beauties from the 60s, 80s, and present-day eras.

There's also Chen Jianbin, who only makes a minor role and has no connection to the third-generation factory beauty.

"Twenty-Four City" uses the formats of documentary and mockumentary, and tells the story of the historical changes of a factory in Chengdu and the people involved through interviews.

Interviewer Jia spent half the time talking to real veteran employees and the other half talking to actors playing veteran employees.

This technique is worth appreciating, but it also feels somewhat out of place.

Especially when Chen Cong said, "Everyone says I look like Xiao Hua, the one Chen Cong played," it really took me out of the story.

Section Chief Jia's cleverness backfired; compared to real people, even the most superb acting seems artificial.

However, foreigners who didn't recognize these celebrities didn't find it jarring at all and gave it unanimous praise.

The rating is also quite high, 2.7 stars.

I attended CJ's party that evening, and the following night I attended the "Red Cliff Night" party.

This party was much more upscale than the Jianmu Night event, with many big stars from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and Hong Kong in attendance.

However, Kim Sung-wu did not come; rumors circulated that he had a falling out with Wu Baige on set over script issues.

After the contract expired, he left the crew immediately, and the key scene of burning the chained ships was filmed by a stunt double.

A five-minute trailer was played on site, and in addition, a charity donation was organized, which was very stingy.

Shi Yanfei, representing the film *The Mermaid Empire*, donated 200 million yuan worth of supplies; Jia Zhangke donated 15 yuan; and Lü Yulai, representing the Fantasia Company, donated 10 yuan.

In the days that followed, Su Jin watched many films in the main competition section and was greatly disappointed, even feeling that the Palme d'Or was still out of reach.

"My Magic," "The Headless Woman," "Two Lovers," and "Sebis" can be considered the four worst films at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

If these films hadn't been selected for the Cannes Film Festival, it's hard to imagine who would buy them.

So the question is, why were they shortlisted?

Because they are all our own people, our loyal followers.

There is no such thing as fairness and impartiality in any film festival in the world; relationships play a role to some extent.

Some films are chosen as opening films by film festivals they have a good relationship with, even before they are finished filming.

While announcing record-breaking numbers of registered journalists and film distributors, this year's Cannes Film Festival also concealed a fact.

Due to the film festival's excessive issuance of passes, except for a few films by unknown filmmakers, every screening involves a long and endless queue and wait, and in the end, there is a high chance of not being able to see the film at all.

Just as Jiao Xiongping said.

"They made the world's best film critics line up and shove in the scorching sun to create a spectacular scene for the film festival."

Besides Su Jin and Section Chief Jia, there are three other Chinese nominees for other sections of the Cannes Film Festival.

The two films featured in the Un Certain Regard section are "Half Sea, Half Flame" by mainland director Liu Fendou and "Parking" by Taiwanese director Chung Mong-hong.

The Directors' Fortnight screening features Yin Lichuan's new film, "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl".

I watched all three movies. The first two were just so-so, while "The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl" was quite novel, but I doubt it has much of a chance of winning an award.

I also went to see "Kung Fu Panda" and "Indiana Jones 4".

I have to say, there were so many people at Kung Fu Panda!

The Lumière Hall, with 2300 seats, was given an additional 500 seats, and the entire corridor was packed with people.

The movie was great, better than Indiana Jones 4.

In between, I was also dragged to Paris by Sister Xia.

This was Su Jin's first time visiting the fashion capital of Greater Paris. It was fashionable, but it didn't feel that special.

Of course, this is from his perspective in his later years. After all, in terms of prosperity, Shanghai and Beijing can easily surpass any city in the world.

On May 23, Su Jin received an invitation to the closing ceremony.

When Section Chief Jia did not receive it, domestic media outlets mostly used the phrase "defeated in resentment."

However, Su Jin was showered with praise for bringing glory to the country.

May 25th, the morning of the awards ceremony.

Unfortunately, the weather turned bad, with strong winds and heavy rain. It's uncertain whether the red carpet ceremony this evening will be able to proceed as scheduled.

Rumors were already circulating that Soderbergh's "Che Guevara" had won the Palme d'Or, and everyone was snorting through gritted teeth, "Che—" like a deflated balloon.

"Che Guevara" is a two-part film that took the media reporters a full five hours to watch, plus a half-hour intermission.

The content is all descriptive, and the intersection of reality and memory does not add any interest.

Therefore, people were not very impressed with the film and questioned whether the reason for its award, besides Soderbergh himself, was simply "Soderbergh's goodwill toward Cuba and Che Guevara in the film."

As the afternoon of the awards ceremony approached 7:30, rumors grew that the French film "Inside the Walls" would win the Palme d'Or.

But no one could believe it, because everyone was still wondering which award Eastwood would receive.

There will definitely be an award, but which one it is depends on Sean Penn's guts.

As for "The Invisible Guest," which had previously received rave reviews and high expectations, the consensus among media reporters was that while the film was good, it lacked political depth and had virtually no chance of winning the Palme d'Or.

The red carpet ceremony began at 6:30 p.m.

Compared to the dim starlight at the opening ceremony, tonight's starlight is dazzling.

Milla Jovovich, Dennis Hopper, Robert De Niro, and local star Jean Reno, among other big names, took turns appearing on stage.

Cannes Film Festival President Jacob personally greeted the stars at the entrance of the Palais des Festivals.

Zhao Tao abandoned her boyfriend, Section Chief Jia, and walked the red carpet alone in a black evening gown.

Su Jin, Gong Li, Sun Honglei, and Liu Shishi made a grand appearance.

Finally, the judges' panel members gave their closing remarks.

At 7:30 p.m., the closing ceremony of the 61st Cannes Film Festival officially began.

Jury Chairman Sean Penn delivered a speech.

"I'm very happy to be here. Every year, Cannes selects many new films, and we hope to convey our love for film and our encouragement to newcomers through these films."

"I solemnly appeal to distributors to support films that did not win awards."

Next, short films paying tribute to Sean Penn from different periods of his film career were played.

Then blind singer Richard Evans performed the rock song "Freedom" for Sean Penn.

After all the excitement, French director Claude Lanzman announced the opening and gave a shout-out to Quentin Tarantino.

"The Cannes Film Festival has discovered many geniuses over the past 61 years, but it also faces many serious problems. I hope it can continue to shine in the future."

"The film festival brings together a diverse range of films from five continents. It showcases some rather extreme and unconventional films, especially those by Quentin Tarantino, such as 'Grindhouse'."

"After watching Quentin Tarantino's 'Grindhouse' last year, I felt a strange sense of kinship with him."

"I hope that film is a whole, and that the joy and strong emotions it brings us will last forever."

"I now declare the 61st Cannes Film Festival open!"

The first award presented was the Palme d'Or for short films.

The chairman of the Cinéfondation section is Hou Hsiao-hsien, the jury chairman in 06, and the short film Palme d'Or winner is "The Pipes" by Romanian director Marian Crisian.

Interestingly, the English title "Megatron" in the movie "Megatron" is derived from the name of the character in "Transformers".

Megatron —

Cristian Mungiu, the director of the previous Palme d'Or winner "4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days", is also Romanian.

In addition, the Russian-Kazakh co-production "Dupan" ultimately won the "Un Certain Regard" section.

The Camera d'Or was awarded to Steve McQueen's Hunger, while France's The Only Survivor won the Special Camera d'Or.

Then Sean Penn came out, followed by the eight members of the judging panel, who then sat on one side of the stage to supervise, a practice hailed as fair and impartial.

The first award was the "Best Screenplay Award," which was won by the Dardenne brothers, two-time Palme d'Or winners, for "Lorna's Silence."

From a purely scriptwriting perspective, "Lorna's Silence" is not as good as "Sebis".

However, this also confirms the judging creed of the committee, headed by Chairman Pan, that "simplicity is always the best approach."

After this award comes the "Best Actress" award.

Su Jin turned to look at Gong Li, only to see her expressionless, staring at the stage, seemingly lost in thought.

He wanted to say something comforting like "It's my fortune to have her, and my fate to lose her," but seeing her like this, he didn't say anything more.

The presenter, Jean Reno, rambled on on stage, then Chairman Pan stood up, glanced at the audience, and announced, "The winner of Best Actress is—Gong Li."

Oh wow————

Su Jin was shocked, Sister Xia was shocked, and even Gong Li herself was somewhat dumbfounded.

Liu Shishi's English wasn't very good, but she clearly heard the last two words, "Gong Li," and couldn't help but ask Su Jin beside her, "Brother Jin, what did I just hear? Did Sister Li win an award?"

"Yes, Sister Li won Best Actress." Su Jin clapped in response, although he was a little sad, because Gong Li's win basically meant that he won nothing.

However, he was still genuinely happy for Gong Li, as this also demonstrated his directorial talent.

They produced a Cannes Best Actress winner, isn't that amazing?

Gong Li was deeply disturbed, and her eyes were even a little moist.

She wiped her moist eyes and turned to Su Jin, saying, "Su Jin, there's nothing to say. From now on, I'll protect you back home."

After saying that, she burst into laughter through her tears, realizing that Su Jin didn't need her protection anymore: "It seems—you don't need your sister's protection either."

Su Jin, displaying her high EQ, replied, "No, Sister Li, you can't go back on your word. I'll be counting on you from now on."

Zhang Yimou is about to break ties with Zhang Weiping and wants to poach him, using his old flame Gong Li as a bargaining chip – it would definitely work.

"Okay." Gong Li was both amused and exasperated. She hugged Su Jin, Liu Shishi, and Sun Honglei.

Afterwards, amidst thunderous applause, he stepped onto the stage and accepted the trophy and certificate.

"In 1988, I was 23 years old, a naive young girl who didn't know what it meant to be an actress. With aspirations for my film dreams, I came to Cannes."

"Looking at the three radiant veterans on stage—Barbara Hirsch, Jody May, and Linda Mushi—my desire for film has only grown stronger."

"In 1993, I came to Cannes again, but unfortunately I missed out on the Best Actress award. Although I was a little disappointed, it was okay because I won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival the previous year."

As soon as he finished speaking, the audience burst into laughter. What a Versailles!

After the laughter subsided, Gong Li continued, "In 1994, I came to Cannes again, but this time I was just a runner-up."

"For the next two years, I came to Cannes. At that time, I thought, once is enough, twice is not enough. This is my fourth time in Cannes. It's my turn now."

"But the jury president at the time, Coppola, didn't give me any face at all and gave the Best Actress award to Brenda Bryce."

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