Chapter 553: Unexpected, Cannes Award

“Mr. Chairman, who will you give the Best Screenplay Award to?”

“New world, Li Mingyang.”

Li Mingyang was sitting in the audience and actually didn’t understand what Italian director Nanni Moretti said.

However, the reactions of Li Meijin and others let him know that he had won the prize.

Totally unexpected!
Li Mingyang didn’t even prepare a speech.

Li Mingyang buttoned up his suit, hugged Li Michelle Reis, hugged four Korean movie stars, hugged the national mother, hugged Sun Li, and hugged Li Bingbing.

Applause! Shouts! Whistles!

Filmmakers from all over the world gathered together, and Li Mingyang walked onto the stage in disbelief, onto the stage of Europe’s highest awards ceremony.

It was Li Mingyang’s first time to go on stage to receive an award and he was a little nervous. He followed the example of the award recipients before him and bowed to express his gratitude to the presidium sitting in the corner of the stage. Then he took a certificate of honor from the award presenter.

“First of all, we are very happy to be here. Secondly, we would like to thank the judges for awarding us this award. We are very honored to receive this award.”

“Today is a beautiful day. Thank you to all the actors and behind-the-scenes workers of New World, thank you to producer Ms. Li Meijin, thank you everyone.”

Li Mingyang spoke in English for a while, the usual acceptance speech, and then his thoughts gradually opened up. He grinned, “In fact, I am still a director. I hope that next time I come, I can take away the honor that belongs to a director here. Thank you everyone!”

After Li Mingyang stepped down from the stage, the corners of his mouth were harder to suppress than AK. If he hadn’t shown up at the award ceremony, he would have been deducted points by Cannes and accused of disrespecting the Cannes Film Festival, and he wouldn’t have planned to come.

Who knew I would come and win a prize!

The Cannes Awards are judged by the Cannes Jury.

The Cannes jury is very selective in its selection.

Generally, a heavyweight filmmaker from Hollywood will be invited to ensure that the Cannes Film Festival jury has sufficient exposure and global influence.

In addition, European filmmakers are definitely the backbone of film festival judges, and filmmakers from Asia, Africa or South America often join the jury.

As for the identities of these judges, in addition to traditional directors and actors, writers, film critics, musicians, and producers also have the opportunity to join the jury.

During the twelve days of the Cannes Film Festival, the judges watch every shortlisted film.

They then gather in a separate villa to discuss the merits of each film. The festival decides which films will be selected for the competition, but they cannot influence the final decision of the jury.

This is very interesting. The judges come from different countries, different cultural backgrounds, and even use different languages. Usually everyone communicates in English, but if your spoken English is not good enough and your ability to express yourself is not strong, it will naturally affect your voice in the judging panel.

It is impossible to say that the jury of the Cannes Film Festival can be impartial and selfless.

During the selection period, a strong juror may have a direct impact on the selection of the awards, and even overshadow the influence of the jury chairman, such as the most famous Cannes “loser”, French Rose Isabelle Adjani.

Adjani served as the president of the 1997th Cannes Jury in 50. During the selection process, she was completely sidelined by Italian director Nanni Moretti through tricks and lost control of the jury.

This Nanni Moretti is the chairman of this year’s jury.

Adjani originally hoped that her favorite film “Unexpected Spring” would win the Palme d’Or, but Moretti liked the two films “Taste of Cherry” and “The Eel”.

The strong Moretti first emphasized how excellent “Flavor of Cherry” was and encouraged everyone to vote for the film. After getting the votes, he said that other films were also excellent. So he persuaded Anjani to set up a double yolk, making her think that this would ensure that “Unexpected Spring” won the grand prize.

But after Adjani agreed, Moretti turned his back and expressed his support for Imamura Shohei. In the end, “The Eel” and “The Taste of Cherry”, two movies Moretti liked, won the Palme d’Or, and Ajani Jiani’s “Unexpected Spring” only won the Grand Jury Prize.

There are many more stories like this about the fierce struggles of the Cannes jury.

Like major domestic awards, the Cannes jury is capable of public relations, and it may even be easier than in China.

During the twelve days, these judges also socialize and have interpersonal relationships.

Although the final result was not opening the envelope, but the chairman speaking out loud.

But the trophy must be customized in advance.

Thinking of this, Li Mingyang glanced at the certificate of honor in his hand.

Where is my trophy?
At this time, another person came to the stage to receive an award. This person did not have a trophy either… but the people before him did!

“Is there no trophy for the best screenwriter? Where is my trophy?” Li Mingyang asked Li Meijin with his head down.

“We have everything, we have everything, but we don’t have enough trophies, so we have to wait a few days,” said Li Meijin.

“Oh.”

Li Mingyang let out a long breath and turned his attention back to the stage.

The Cannes Film Festival awards ceremony was quite fast. At around ten o’clock in the evening, the chairman of the jury announced the most important Palme d’Or award of this year’s Cannes Film Festival!
The film “Love”, directed by the famous Austrian director Michael Haneke and co-produced by France, Germany and Austria, won this award.

After the award ceremony, all the winners came on stage to take a group photo.

They then left one after another and went to the Mouton Cadet Bar on the rooftop of the Cannes Film Festival Palace to attend the official party.

There were a large number of media people standing on both sides of the red carpet outside the theater, more than during the day.

Like other winners, Li Mingyang was guided by staff to walk along the middle red carpet avenue.

He walked very slowly, first standing in the best shooting position arranged by the officials, showing the certificate of honor in his hand, and accepting the baptism of the flash.

Then walk forward and accept the media interview, or just skip it…

Li Mingyang originally wanted to be interviewed, but he didn’t understand what the host was saying, so he left very casually.

Both sides of the red carpet were filled with people and it was extremely noisy. In the crowd, Li Mingyang vaguely heard someone shouting “Famous throughout the world!”

Is this considered world-famous?

How could it not count!

I am the second Tokyo University student to win the Palme d’Or for Best Screenplay.

This is just the beginning! I want more!
At the award ceremony, Li Mingyang was just plain happy.

And on the crowded Cannes red carpet, Li Mingyang’s inner desire was ignited!
He is determined to win the Palme d’Or at Cannes!

……

On the evening of May 5th local time, the 27th Cannes International Film Festival closed and held an awards ceremony in the small coastal town of Cannes in southern France.

Austrian director Michael Haneke once again won the Palme d’Or for his film “Amour”.

However, “Floating City”, the only Chinese-language film shortlisted for the “Un Certain Regard” unit, did not win the favor of the judges and returned home empty-handed.

When talking about the current situation of Chinese-language films being coldly received at international film festivals, domestic directors are collectively speechless.

Although they have no chance of winning any awards, it does not stop domestic filmmakers from treating Cannes as their “home court”, walking the red carpet, promoting their new films, and traveling around Europe.

Zhang Baizhi also held a birthday party and expressed her views on love.

Fan Binbin was on the red carpet, showing off her fashion sense. She didn’t talk about movies but about feminine charm. “The more slander I can withstand, the more praise I can bear.”

During the ten-day screening period, seven of the days were wasted on the red carpet of someone else’s premiere…it’s really something.

In addition to putting on a “red carpet show” in Cannes, filmmakers from the University of Tokyo also treat Cannes as a sales floor.

Movies such as “Painted Skin 2”, “Chinese Zodiac”, and “Dwelling in the Fuchun Mountains” all took advantage of the film festival to promote themselves in Cannes, under the euphemism of “selling movies”.

At the Cannes Film Festival, advertisements for Dongda Films were posted everywhere, but according to feedback, many films were not at all accepted by the film producers.

They don’t want commercial films, they only want tragic art films, the more miserable the better, especially those about the suffering of ethnic minorities.

Unsatisfactory film sales, no awards, various red carpet appearances…this year in Cannes, there were no movies for Chinese-language films, only gossip.

The saddest thing is that even at this year’s Cannes, domestic filmmakers made a fool of themselves and there were endless gossips.

But there was no splash abroad, the media didn’t know them at all, and only domestic netizens were discussing them enthusiastically.

Chinese-language films have not been shortlisted for the main competition unit for two consecutive years.

It has become the norm for domestic stars to dance wildly in Cannes.

Domestic audiences have become accustomed to reading gossip and ignoring the essence of Cannes.

until……

At the closing ceremony of the Cannes Film Festival, Li Mingyang won the Best Screenplay Award.

Domestic audiences have only just realized that Cannes is one of the three major film festivals in the world!
Li Mingyang, who has not won any of the three gold medals in China, won an award in Cannes!

There are no weak awards in the main competition unit of Cannes, all of them are real hard awards!
Slap in the face, slap in the face like crazy!
The filmmakers who made a fool of themselves in Cannes this time were ridiculed by the public.

After Li Mingyang won the award, he said in his seat, “Is there no trophy for the best screenwriter? Where is my trophy?”

It was captured by CCTV cameras, transmitted back to China, deciphered by netizens who knew lip reading, and spread wildly on the Internet.

Then it became ‘Where’s my trophy?’

Just five words, but they have infinite power. In just half an hour, ‘Where’s my trophy? ‘ became the number one trending search on all major online platforms.

Is Li Mingyang saying that there is no trophy for the Best Screenplay at Cannes?

But many netizens dug up the past and directed their criticism at the three domestic golds.

“They got zero in China, but won the Best Screenplay Award at Cannes. The three major awards are no longer just a matter of merit. Their credibility has been eaten by dogs.”

“It’s all shady! Domestic movies are doomed!”

“The three major awards are a joke in the first place. The Hong Kong Film Awards are even worse than a joke. Jiang Wen was nominated for 13 awards but got none. This is something only our own people can do!”

“The bouquet and your name, Li Mingyang deserves the best screenwriter award!” “Fat Bing rubs shoulders with the red carpet every day, but he is not as good as Thin Bing in rubbing shoulders with people. Thin Bing has shot Hollywood blockbusters and Cannes award-winning films! Tsk tsk, what a difference!”

“Fat Bing can’t get close to anyone, is there something wrong with his character?”

“Fat Bing is so beautiful and charming, what a pity! How pitiful!”

“My eldest brother is Jackie Chan, why do you have to worry about him?”

“Hey, after all, New World is not a Chinese movie, it’s a Korean one!”

“Flowers blooming inside the wall are fragrant outside the wall, and the international stage is Director Li’s stage!”

“My fate is in my own hands! Director Li won the Palme d’Or and slapped the domestic judges in the face!”

……

There is a lot of public opinion online, all questioning the fairness of domestic awards, but the domestic black and water have been going on for a long time.

Just pretend to be dead and the netizens will stop talking about it in a couple of days.

But this time it’s different!
Where is my trophy? After the post went viral on Weibo, it was quickly re-created by major UP hosts, and various magical modified videos swept the entire Internet.

‘Where’s my trophy?’ quickly became a popular online term describing unfair treatment.

The word exploded!
The overwhelming traffic breaks down the entertainment barriers and the information cocoon.

While the whole nation is enjoying themselves, domestic filmmakers and the film environment are being criticized crazily by netizens!
For such a big country, we haven’t been able to find a single director who can make it into the main competition unit of Cannes for two consecutive years.

Finally, a domestic director made it into the main competition unit of Cannes, but he turned out to be Li Mingyang, who was making movies in Korea.

Is this a human problem or an environmental problem?

……

InterContinental Carlton Cannes.

Li Mingyang was on the balcony of the penthouse suite, stroking the Palme d’Or trophy in his hand.

This heavy trophy is made of a golden palm branch and a crystal base. It is handmade by master craftsmen in the Chopard workshop and is known as the most beautiful film trophy in the world.

The artistic aesthetics of dry jewelry is very online.

The 19 golden palm leaves seem to be suspended above the transparent waterscape, simple yet elegant.

It’s really beautiful and I can’t put it down.

“Mingyang, this is so beautiful.” Yang Mi clasped her hands together, supporting her chin, her eyes full of desire to touch, to see, and to take it home.

“It’s quite nice.” Li Mingyang ran his thumb across the year and name of the award engraved on the surface.

This is a mini version of the Palme d’Or trophy, which is smaller than the real Palme d’Or.

“Let me touch it.” Yang Mi said pitifully.

“No.” Li Mingyang hasn’t had enough fun yet, so how could he give it to others.

“mean.”

“When I win the real Palme d’Or, I’ll give this to you to play with.”

“What’s real? This is it!”

“The real Palme d’Or is a circle bigger than this one,” Li Mingyang exclaimed.

“Mingyang, you are so awesome! When will you take me to film a movie? I was laughed at by netizens for imitating Fan Binbin and walking on the red carpet this year.” Yang Mi glanced at the living room, which was full of people. She retracted her outstretched hand.

“Being black and red is still red. Look how I became famous, but now I’m blackened.”

“Sue! Why don’t you sue?”

Li Mingyang glanced at Yang Mi. Sue? Suing haters like you foolishly. The court recording was exposed and circulated wildly on the Internet. He was slapped in the face.

Originally the plaintiff, because he could not produce any evidence to refute, the judge repeatedly questioned him, and he was tacitly accused of plastic surgery, filming multiple roles, and suspected of TSL…

A bald chicken was speechless when asked by the judge.

The lawyer was too lax and I was too impulsive, so in the end I spent a lot of money to settle the matter.

“The biggest fear in the entertainment industry is that no one is criticizing them. Look at the celebrities, aren’t they criticized every day? Yet they are still popular.”

“What are you talking about? Those are all facts, okay? A three-surnamed slave, a female Lu Bu, is that wrong?”

Li Mingyang shook his head and continued to play with the Palme d’Or trophy in his hand.

“Mingyang, are they talking about the Sino-Korean co-production?” Yang Mi asked knowingly.

Li Mingyang looked up and saw that Li Meijin and Zuoshandiao were arguing with each other, their faces red and ears flushed. Even through the thick glass sliding door, he could faintly hear their quarrel.

Before the Cannes awards ceremony, both of them told him that New World would not win any awards.

Who knew, I actually got it!

Now the two of them started to compete for the credit.

Zuo Shandiao said that his Best Screenplay Award at Cannes was his own credit and he relied on many connections.

Li Meijin said don’t believe Zuo Shandiao, he didn’t do anything, it was all her credit that he won the award. She had dinner with the chairman of Cannes and took out photos to show Li Mingyang.

When Zuoshandiao heard that Li Meijin was slandering him, he took Li Mingyang to meet the person in charge of Cannes, artistic director Thierry Frémaux.

He selected all the members of the Cannes jury.

The two were eager to show off, which made Li Mingyang feel that this award had nothing to do with them.

As for why Cannes gave him the award.

The only thing Li Mingyang could think of was that his influence was great enough, and that bringing himself into the Cannes camp would increase Cannes’ influence and commercial value.

However, this explanation doesn’t make sense.

The New World is not a pure art film, it is more commercial.

This award was beyond everyone’s expectations. Among the media reporters and film critics who watched the premiere of New World, almost no one thought that New World could win the award.

However, after winning the award, Li Mei Jin’s attitude changed. Her original firm stance was gone, and she was willing to cooperate with China Film Group to produce co-productions.

However, Li Meijin has her own ideas on how to do it.

Wow…

The argument seemed to have come to an end, and Zuoshandiao’s secretary asked Li Mingyang to come in.

Li Mingyang put the Palme d’Or trophy he had just received today into a gift box, then carried the gift box into the living room.

Yang Mi rolled her eyes silently and muttered, “Stingy!”

Li Mingyang sat on the only empty sofa, put the gift box on the coffee table, glanced at Zuo Shandiao and Li Meijin, “So, you guys have reached an agreement?”

Zuo Shandiao smiled and said, “There is one thing I want to tell you. Even if New World wins the Cannes Film Festival, it won’t be approved in China, and it can’t be edited. Blood and violence are not a problem. The core values ​​of the film are too subversive. Do you understand this?”

“I understand. It was never planned to be released domestically.” Li Mingyang nodded.

“Director Li, besides City of Thorns, do you have any other ideas for winning awards?” Li Meijin asked with a smile.

Li Mingyang could see that these two wanted both fame and profit.

Globally speaking, the box office ceiling for movies above 18 is low. There is censorship in China and classification abroad.

Without exception, all high-grossing movies are suitable for all ages.

“If you guys are pursuing box office success, we will make a commercial film next time.”

“The definitions of commercial films and art films are just those of film festivals. In the box office market, audiences don’t have a clear concept of them. As long as the films are good, it’s fine,” said Zuoshandiao.

“What to shoot… You should have an idea, right? If not, let’s go for the Golden Bear. China has a lot of experience in this area. Let’s try to win the award for the first film!”

“The next Cannes jury chairman is inviting my good friend Spielberg.” Li Mei Jin said with a smile.

“Add some domestic elements! Learn from Jiang Wen’s The Devil is Coming, learn from the one reciting poetry in Farewell My Concubine, and don’t learn from Tian Zhuangzhuang… This is a zz mission, you will definitely be banned from conducting, but at most for two years. It won’t have any impact on you anyway.” Zuoshandiao smiled brightly.

I go!

This Sino-Korean co-production is very powerful!

If the chairman is Spielberg, damn, that would be exactly what he wants!
Adding domestic elements, wow! These European and American filmmakers love it!

In order to win the top three European awards, Zuoshandiao allowed the sixth generation of domestic filmmakers to take shortcuts to win awards. He knows everything about this!

The Palme d’Or was already vaguely beckoning to him.

If it turns out there is only a 10% chance.

At least half now!
If you get rid of the parasites, you will get at least 80% of the Palme d’Or!

But he is planning to win an Oscar for this movie!
A family of thieves?

clown?

Neither of them is good to shoot…

(End of this chapter)