Huayu 02: The Days of Extreme Pulling and Rolling with the Fairy

The Hundred Flowers Awards did not end, and the two awards were jointly held, seamlessly transitioning to the Golden Rooster Awards.

After the song and dance performance, Li Yong with the big nose returned to the scene.

If Xie Jin still thinks she has a chance with Baihua, then she can basically give up on Jinji.

I've entered a completely Zen-like state.

Logically speaking, the Golden Rooster Award is the most professional award in China and should be the most respected by those in the industry.

To be honest, the Golden Rooster Awards have been controversial ever since they were created.

The first Golden Rooster Awards saw its rankings adjusted after the initial voting results were established, revealing an unspeakable force that forcibly altered the selection process.

There was controversy every time after that.

For no other reason

The Golden Rooster Awards are voted on by directors, screenwriters, performing artists, and film theorists in the industry. Some of these people are highly respected, but most are so-called veterans from various associations and groups.

The entire voting process was closed to the public and involved multiple rounds of voting.

To put it nicely, it's highly artistic; to put it bluntly, it's just a pork-sharing frenzy.

You give me a piece, I give you a piece; in human relationships, everyone shares the benefits.

"Master, this has nothing to do with us, right?"

Wang Jinsong tilted his head slightly: "The award was decided long ago. Don't blame your master, I'm too embarrassed to ask around for you."

Xie Jin scoffed, "I don't want what you beg for, and I find it too shabby."

Since it's about dividing pork, then naturally we need to distinguish between pig's trotters, ribs, and offal. The Golden Rooster Awards have many categories to cater to all categories.

The first half featured smaller awards, while the second half featured the more high-profile awards.

As expected, the first half of the Golden Rooster Awards featured mostly films I'd never heard of before, such as "The Piano Dream" for Best Documentary and "Ma Shiqing's Divorce" for Best TV Movie (the kind that wasn't shown in theaters, but on CCTV6).

The Best Supporting Actor award went to Zhao Jun for "July of the Car Watcher," and the Best Supporting Actress award finally went to X Jinglei.

She cried on stage, and instead of giving a normal speech of a few minutes, she spent over ten minutes expressing her gratitude.

Li Yong, standing to the side, couldn't hold back any longer and subtly tapped his watch with his hand. The other man pretended not to see it, determined to maximize the exposure.

I checked the watch several times before reluctantly leaving.

As for the individual technology awards, they are awarded in batches, with seven announced at once.

Photography, art direction, sound recording, music, special effects, set design, and makeup.

Aside from members of Zhang Yimou's team, the award winners were mostly veterans from various film studios.

Anyway, if you get it this year, I'll get it next year. I haven't gotten it for several years, so it's my turn to get it this year, since I have years of service.

As for young people, they're young, they can wait a few more years.

"Your turn, your turn!" Xiao Liu held up the three trophies and gently patted Xie Jin.

Nominated for Best New Performer at the 23rd Golden Rooster Awards: Li Min (Ruoma's Seventeen), Zhang Yan (Warm Spring), and Xie Jin (When a Man Falls in Love).

  

When Xie Jin appeared on screen, Director Chen was momentarily stunned before realizing he was a newcomer who had only been in the industry for a little over a year...

There's no doubt about it. If this were given to someone else, it would be ridiculous, since no newcomer could be this good.

Xie Jin went on stage to accept the award. This time, she was already quite familiar with the process and was neither nervous nor apprehensive.

To be honest, this award isn't that prestigious; it doesn't really impress me anymore...

Little Liu's big eyes blinked: "Give it to me quickly, give it to me quickly, collect seven to summon the dragon."

During the CCTV3 live broadcast, Xiao Liu was like an oddball, holding four trophies all by himself, extremely happy.

It has a simple and beautiful feel to it, like a farmer holding a bountiful harvest of corn.

"Hold me tight"

In the second half of the awards ceremony, apart from "Hero", none of the films that did well at the box office received any nominations.

Director Chen, Xie Jin, and other commercial film directors all looked rather grim.

As for Feng Dapao, he didn't come at all this time.

The reason is simple: he wasn't even selected. The organizers directly stated that his film had vulgar content...

As for genre film directors, they are even further inferior to the Golden Rooster Award winners.

·······

Isn't this kind of play a bit disgusting?

The purpose of this trip is to boost the popularity of the senior employees in the factory.

Leaving aside the awards, they wouldn't even give up the nominations; they'd even fight tooth and nail for every single pig hair.

The Best Screenplay, Best New Director, and Special Jury Prize were all awarded to art-house films that grossed only a few hundred thousand dollars or didn't even make it to theaters.

The male lead, Xia Yu, surprisingly beat Ge You to win, and the female lead, Yu Nan, was also a surprise.

The final, most despicable award was a tie between "Warm" and "The Stormy Waves," which were awarded equally to both winners.

·······

Xie Jin felt a lump in her throat.

Xie Jin doesn't believe that she has to win the award herself for things to be fair.

The key question is, was this award selection process truly fair? Did they come here solely to generate traffic for the film festival?

Isn't this entirely due to seniority, age, connections, and complete detachment from the masses, making it a niche and unpopular approach?

Anything that the masses can understand is vulgar; we must draw a clear line between ourselves and the tastes of the masses!

If I had known it would turn out like this, I probably wouldn't have come next time. After all, I really have no way to compete with age, family background, or seniority.

········

After the awards ceremony, the guests did not leave immediately.

Xie Jin chatted with Sister Ni, You Yong, and Ge You. Fan Wei and Ge You were quite frustrated because they were supposed to compete, but the prize was awarded to Xia Yu.

In a short while, I had a lot more business cards in my hand.

Although Xie Jin was not satisfied with the Golden Rooster Awards today, objectively speaking, he was already the biggest winner, winning four awards for one film.

There are also two core awards.

You should know that Director Chen came here today simply to vent his frustration.

X Jinglei's eyes darted around, clearly wanting to get closer to Xie Jin, her gaze desperately trying to create some ambiguous eye contact.

Xie Jin felt uncomfortable, really uncomfortable... clinging tightly to the big hamster.

Xiao Liu asked in a fierce low voice, "Xie Gouzi, why are you grabbing me with your dog paw? Do you think I'm too embarrassed to hit you because there are so many people around?"

"Please help our ancestors, ward off these unwanted romantic advances."

"Beg me"

......

......

After the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Film Festival ended, the newspapers were abuzz with excitement for a week.

Films won four awards: Xie Jin and Liu Yifei won Best Actor and Best Actress at the Hundred Flowers Awards; Zhang Yimou's "Hero" missed out on the Golden Rooster Awards; and Xia Yu and Yu Nan were unexpected winners.

These few pieces of information dominated the news for two whole days. In fact, apart from the news of Xie Jin winning the award, which the audience could guess, the rest were quite unexpected.

The news of Liu Yifei's award actually spread quite widely within the industry.

A director in his early twenties not only made himself a Hundred Flowers Award-winning actor, but also helped launch the careers of a Hundred Flowers Award-winning actress and a Best Supporting Actor.

This has made many actresses of similar age envious, and what's even more unacceptable is that Xie Jinxin is casting her in his new TV series.

His cold response to the reporter while holding the giant hamster also made it into the newspaper.

..........

It's fair to say that everyone's expectations for the showdown between Huang Lei and Xie Jin's two TV series are getting higher and higher.

The green soybeans, on the contrary, became quiet...

After all, "38 Degrees" is quite awkward. It comes from a prestigious family but didn't even get a nomination. The movie was so bad that no one dared to endorse it. It's embarrassing enough.

The aftermath of the Golden Rooster Awards had only been circulating for a week when the newspaper layout changed again.

X Jinglei made some startling remarks and began to belittle her peers, frantically showcasing her "talented woman" persona, seemingly getting into a feud with Zhao Yanzi.

Their fight is quite a spectacle.

At the same time, Feng Xiaogang publicly criticized the Golden Rooster Awards.

The highbrow and opaque operations, disconnected from the public, have turned awards meant to promote the development of the cultural industry into favors bestowed privately.

This is the biggest controversy.

This is the second time since 2000 that Lao Feng has criticized the Golden Rooster Awards.

The conflict between Lao Feng and Jinji has a long history.

He came from a poor family and had no standing in the industry, so the Golden Rooster Awards, a film festival that relies on connections, would never include him.

The way Wang Shuo and Ye Jing spoke to him clearly showed their contempt.

Originally, this matter had nothing to do with Xie Jin; she could have just quietly observed the situation.

The problem lies in the evidence Feng Dapao claimed was rigged. Two of them were that "Hero" (2.5 million RMB box office) and "When a Man Falls in Love" (4000 million RMB box office) were not nominated.

This news ironically echoed the news of Xie Jin winning the Hundred Flowers Award, sparking a flurry of speculation among netizens who realized that what Feng Dapao said might not be entirely unreasonable...

Many directors in the industry have rather interesting attitudes.

It seems everyone is watching to see if Lao Feng will make a move, subtly expressing their support, while even renowned directors are not publicly commenting on the matter.

To some extent, this is also due to the rapid commercialization of the film industry at present.

Many middle-aged and younger directors lack the resources that should belong to them, and they are starting to have complaints about the old guard who are clinging to their positions and resources and refusing to relinquish them...

It just so happened that the National Film Association and the National Film Directors Association were holding their leadership transition meetings.

The newly appointed leader's main task is to address the issue of the Golden Rooster's credibility.

.......

The department called Xie Jin three times, asking her to come back, but Xie Jin really didn't want to get involved.

There was no other way; the department had given him a strict order to return to school immediately.

There's no way to avoid it....

Because of this incident, the production crew faced a standstill, and Xie Jin had to temporarily change the filming schedule. Fortunately, her senior brother had not yet started filming.

Ning Hao was tasked with all the indoor scenes where he didn't have his own role and the plot was only advanced by other actors.

However, there was also good news: Gu Renlong returned and brought four visual effects technicians with him.

An early gay Indian man, a Mexican man, and two weathered white men.

Xie Jin looked at their qualifications and realized they were all hardworking veterans in core large companies.

The funny thing is that, apart from the Indian guy, the other three were all divorced and laid off, burdened with debt and still had to pay child support.

But Xie Jin doesn't have time to deal with these four right now, because if they don't go back to school soon, Old Wang will go crazy.