Huayu: Reborn in 97, transferring to the Central Academy of Drama's star-studded class

The crazy Berlin night is over.

Despite winning three major awards, Zhang Yimou was never truly happy.

The media expressed both dissatisfaction and approval with the selection results, but their opinions were largely political rather than focused on the films themselves.

Many media outlets even exclaimed, "It wouldn't be surprising if 'My Father and Mother' swept all the major awards!"

There are many such claims, but Zhang Yi is still conflicted about them.

At the banquet after the awards ceremony, Sister Ying found Zhang Yimou looking sullen in a corner.

"Director Zhang, whatever the reason, we won three major awards. Shouldn't you be happy? Could it be that our film is exceptionally good? You can't possibly lack confidence in your own creation."

Yingjie thought Zhang Yi was still preoccupied with her public relations, but Zhang Yi waved her hand and said, "It's not that, I'm just... a little anxious."

Ying blinked. "At your level, you should have already demystified these international awards."

Zhang Yimou didn't say anything, but he had indeed demystified the so-called "Big Three" and had already let go of his obsession with them last year.

Before filming "My Father and Mother" in 1998, he also made another film called "Not One Less," which he put even more effort into than the former.

After the post-production of both films was completed, he packed them up and sent them to Cannes for the festival. However, the Cannes chairman said that the film "Not One Less" was suspected of glorifying the government and refused to allow the film to participate in the festival.

In a fit of anger, Zhang Yimou withdrew both films and sent a letter of protest.

From that moment on, Zhang Yimou's belief that "the Three Great Cinemas are the hall of art films and the highest honor for filmmakers" began to waver.

He later sent "Not One Less" to Venice because both the president of the Venice Film Festival and the president of the jury that year were his friends and both expressed their love for the film.

As a result, the film won the Golden Lion Award for Best Film that year.

"My Father and Mother" was submitted to this year's Berlin Film Festival, and the result was equally pleasing.

Before the dinner, he chatted with Gong Li and the Berlin chairman and vaguely understood something.

During the opening ceremony, the German president and the German chancellor made a brief appearance. Both of them have clearly supported China's accession to the WTO in the past two years and have actively promoted bilateral relations. They also stated that they would sign more trade agreements this year. This country is China's largest trading partner in Europe.

After figuring it out, Zhang Yimou gave a wry smile. His film might be of high quality and outstanding, as could be seen from the attitudes of the audience and film critics, but the factors outside the film were not so pure.

He suddenly remembered what Third Master had once told him: "Yi, you must understand, anything that becomes a pure work of art is never meant for the general public to appreciate. Artistic merit is the root of film, but think about it, what is the essential attribute of film?"

Zhang Yimou stared blankly at the diverse group of people in the hall, clinking glasses and exchanging toasts.

Yes, what is it?

......

On February 21, Jiang Lai woke up in his own bed.

It was still dark outside the window, and he checked the time on his phone; it was almost seven o'clock.

He crawled out of bed naked, quickly dressed, and went to wash up.

It was still very cold in Beijing in late February, and the breath you exhaled was white. But there was no way around it now that school had started. Even though they were seniors, Teacher Chang Li still required them to do their morning exercises every day.

The "Big Boss" always says that if an actor doesn't practice for one day, they'll know it; if they don't practice for two days, their colleagues will know it; and if they don't practice for three days, the audience will know it.

Fortunately, Jiang Lai got used to it.

After entering Dongmianhua Hutong, he parked his car in the usual spot and went into the school to practice his morning exercises.

He walked along, speaking in a loud voice, but something felt off.

The students he encountered along the way were all stunned when they saw him, then huddled together and whispered among themselves, their eyes constantly glancing at him.

Jiang Lai looked down at himself; his zipper was closed and his shoelaces were still in place.

What's going on with these people?

Without giving it much thought, he continued walking forward.

When he reached the veranda, he had just stopped when he heard a series of chaotic footsteps behind him.

"Jiang'er! Jiang'er!"

Liu Ye yelled loudly, and then Dang Hao, Niu Qingfeng, Qin Hao and several others rushed over and surrounded Jiang Lai in an instant.

"Holy crap!" Jiang Lai was startled. "What are you guys doing?"

A group of people were chattering incessantly, but he couldn't hear what they were saying; he could only vaguely make out a few words.

"Berlin!"

"Best Actor!"

"Best Actress!"

"Get off me! Let me speak!" Liu Ye shoved away the people pressing down on him, unfolding the newspaper in his hand. "Jiang'er! Look at this!"

Jiang Lai took the newspaper, and the first thing that caught his eye was the front page of the Guangming Daily.

"Chinese-language film 'The Road Home' triumphs at Berlin, sweeping three awards!"

"Zhang Yimou reaches new heights! The male and female leads are crowned empress and emperor!"

Scrolling down, another newspaper's headline is even more straightforward.

"China's first Berlin Film Festival Best Actor!"

"A detailed look at the behind-the-scenes story of the third Berlin Film Festival Best Actress winner."

Flipping through the page again, the entertainment section's front page headline almost took up the entire space.

"Best Actor and Actress are a Couple! Zhang Ziyi Publicly Announces Their Love: 'The Whole World Can See Us!'"

The accompanying picture showed Zhang Ziyi beaming as she held up two Silver Bear trophies on the awards stage.

Besides that, the Berlin premiere caused a huge sensation, with the entire audience standing up and giving enthusiastic applause for more than ten minutes, blah blah blah.

In short, it was a barrage of praise. Jiang Lai's eye twitched. Seeing his close friends blushing with excitement, he said speechlessly, "Is it really necessary to make such a fuss?"

"Huh?" Liu Ye's eyes widened. "Bu'er, are you still asleep?"

Dang Hao chimed in, "Exactly! Do you know how much the news is going on outside? I heard the newspaper office was working overtime until 3 a.m., and when the news got back, they were rushing to finish the article and print it again. This morning, the newspapers sold like hotcakes!"

Niu Qingfeng pulled out another newspaper, pointed to a passage, and read aloud: "After the Berlin premiere, the entire audience burst into tears. Film critics called it the biggest surprise of this year's film festival. Tsk, look at that review!"

Jiang Lai nodded seriously, "Yes, this movie is indeed good."

Liu Ye rolled her eyes. "Is that the point? The point is you! You won Best Actor! Our class has a Berlin Film Festival Best Actor!"

"And the Best Actress," Dang Hao added quietly.

"You think you know that?!" Liu Ye elbowed the boy, then continued excitedly, "All the top actors and actresses are in our class! Who would believe that?"

Jiang Lai sighed, "It really doesn't have to be that bad. Let's hurry up and practice our morning exercises, or Teacher Chang Li will start nagging again when she gets here."

After saying that, Jiang Laizhen ran to the side to practice his monologue.

The group exchanged bewildered glances. Liu Ye muttered under his breath, "This bastard really doesn't care."

Dang Hao shrugged. "Fame and fortune, fame and fortune. People strive for fame but not for profit. Nobody needs those things."

Liu Ye bit his clothes, on the verge of tears, "I want to be a Best Actor too!"

Dang Hao smiled and put his arm around his shoulder.

Although Jiang Lai didn't care about these things, the Chinese people at that time did need these things to enhance their national self-confidence.

In this regard, we have basically gone through stages. At first, most Chinese people felt that they were inferior to foreigners in everything. Later, after the reform and opening up, they began to seek the recognition of foreigners. Then, with the economic boom, we no longer looked down on foreigners.

Sometimes we often see debates and comparisons between domestic and foreign countries, which is actually quite normal when you think about it.

Our country has only been established for over seventy years, reform and opening up for over forty years, and WTO accession for over twenty years. The widespread adoption of smartphones has only been a little over ten years. These are not even enough to complete a person's lifetime.

The times are changing too fast; we need to be patient.

Two days later, a plane landed at Beijing Airport, and Zhang Ziyi and his group returned.