Chapter 167 Chapter 177 [He conquered me and the jury, the Palme d’Or is his.]

The Cannes Film Palace was built in 1982 and is the only venue for the Cannes International Film Festival awards ceremony.

The interior is very large, especially the main venue, which can accommodate more than 2000 people.

After Li Yishu brought Gong Li, Zhang Guorong and others into the main venue, they also came to the location arranged by the organizer for the “Farewell My Concubine” crew under the arrangement of the staff.

The view from these positions is very good. Not only can you see the podium in the distance, but most importantly, the distance is not far, so you can clearly see the next performance on the podium.

After everyone sat down and began to wait silently for the award ceremony to begin, Zhang Guorong suddenly asked again: “Director Li, do you think I can get the award?”

“There is hope.”

Li Yishu analyzed: “I have watched several movies nominated for the Best Actor Award this year. Your acting skills are definitely fine, but it still depends on the preferences of the jury.”

Suddenly he remembered something and asked, “Sister Xu, what did you say?”

Xu Lu followed up by saying, “The PR company revealed that Guo Rong has a high chance of winning the Best Actor award, but David Thewlis, the lead actor in the movie Naked, also has a high chance of winning.”

The Cannes Film Festival prefers to discuss human nature. “Farewell My Concubine” does discuss human nature, but not much. On the contrary, the movie “Naked” hit the G-spot of the jury.

The protagonist in the film is a homeless man. After losing his job, he went to London to find his girlfriend, and then got together with his girlfriend’s roommate…

The scale is not very large, but not small either. Li Yishu has seen it and it should be the complete version. Apart from these large-scale shots, the core of this movie happens to be the most frequent thing happening in Europe nowadays, that is, contemporary Europeans enjoy sexual freedom on the one hand, but feel spiritual emptiness on the other.

In fact, most European countries are still relatively conservative. However, after the end of World War II, the influx of American culture began to influence generations of Europeans, especially the hippie culture that emerged in North America in the 60s, which greatly increased Europe’s openness.

The overall quality of the film is quite average, but the acting of the lead actor David Thewlis is still very good. It will be quite difficult for Zhang Guorong to win the Best Actor award.

And this David Thewlis was also active in Hollywood in the future. He played the god of war Ares in “Wonder Woman”.

“Well, it looks like we can only leave it to fate.”

Zhang Guorong sighed inwardly. He felt that it would be difficult for him to play a complex role like Cheng Dieyi again in his lifetime.

“There is still a chance.”

In fact, Li Yishu is not very optimistic about Zhang Guorong. It’s not a problem of acting skills, but a problem of distribution.

He had looked up information and found that it was very rare for a film to win multiple awards at the Cannes International Film Festival. This was not a simple awards ceremony, nor was it an Oscar where a single film could take home seven or eight awards.

In essence, the three major European film festivals are still mainly focused on dividing the pie.

“Brother Yishu, can you take the Palme d’Or this time?” Jiang Qinqin deliberately emphasized the word “palm”.

“There is hope.”

Li Yishu smiled and said, “Anyway, there will definitely be a prize that belongs to us.”

The Cannes organizers called him last night and invited him to attend today’s closing awards ceremony, and it is basically certain that he will win at least one award.

Hou Xiaoxian also received a call. As for Brother Chen Kai, Li Yishu did not ask and was not sure whether he called or not.

“Yes, Yishu is right. At least one of the awards will be ours, but I’m afraid it’s hard to say for Director Chen.”

Gong Li showed a playful expression: “When I went downstairs to the restaurant this morning, I ran into Ni Ping and talked about the organizer’s call. Seeing her hesitant look, I’m afraid she didn’t answer the call.”

“No way?”

Xu Su was surprised and said, “I think Director Chen’s film “Tree” is very well shot. It won’t be without any awards, right?”

Brother Chen Kai’s film “Tree” is still very good. From the perspective of a person with many years of experience in the industry, the probability of winning an award is very high. Even if it doesn’t win the Palme d’Or, at least it will get a Special Jury Award.

“It was a very good shot, but unfortunately there were some problems with the timing.”

Li Yishu also agreed with Xu Suo’s words. This movie, which had never appeared in the previous life, was indeed shot very well by Brother Chen Kai.

But unfortunately I didn’t catch up with the good time.

Chinese films already have “Farewell My Concubine” and “A Peach Blossom Fantasy”, which are certain to win awards. As such, it is unlikely that these awards in the main competition unit will be given to Brother Chen Kai.

There are eight awards in the main competition unit: Palme d’Or, Grand Jury Prize, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Special Jury Prize, and Best Cinematography.

There is also an Honorary Palme d’Or, which is a lifetime achievement award, but it is not included in the main competition.

Other unit awards include the Golden Camera Award, the Catholic Humanitarian Award, etc.

Not counting awards in other categories, there are eight awards in total, with more than twenty films competing.

The pie must be divided, rather than having one movie take it all.

As the group chatted, time quietly came to 7.30: in the evening.

As the live music started, Li Yishu and others began to look at the stage intently.

The first person to take the stage was this year’s jury president, Louis Malle, one of France’s national treasure directors who has been directing films for 40 years.

“Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the awards ceremony of the 46th Cannes International Film Festival. Today we will present…”

After Louis Malle finished his passionate speech, there was applause from the audience, and then two hosts came on stage.

A man and a woman started chatting, livening up the atmosphere, and then announced the official start of the award ceremony. Soon, a local French female singer came on stage and sang a French song with a melody that sounded very much like bel canto.

After the female singer finished singing, the host came on stage again, followed by the award presenter and the formal award ceremony began, but it started with awards from other categories.

The Best Short Film Award went to the American film “Coffee and Cigarettes”, and the Technical Committee Award went to the French film “Mazepa”…

When the Golden Camera Award was presented to a man named Chen Yingxiong, Li Yishu looked at Xu Su beside him in surprise: “Is there another Chinese director nominated?”

Xu Lu shook his head and said, “No, it’s a Vietnamese director. At first I thought it was a Chinese director, but later I asked someone and found out it was a Vietnamese director.”

“I didn’t expect that there would be directors from Vietnam participating in the competition.”

Li Yishu’s eyes flickered. The Battle of Laoshan only ended in April this year. At that time, the People’s Daily published relevant data. After the recovery of Laoshan, the whole country was jubilant.

The battle to recapture Laoshan, which lasted for nearly 10 years, has finally come to an end.

Of course, although they said they had been fighting for 10 years, it was actually a disguised form of actual combat training. Several major military regions had sent troops to the Laoshan battlefield for rotational battles. If they really wanted to recapture Laoshan, they could easily take it in less than a month.

“The winner of the Best Actor Award is…”

After the Best Actress and Best Photography awards, it was soon the turn of the Best Actor award. Looking at the award presenters on the stage, Zhang Guorong was extremely nervous. Even Zhang Fengyi, who was holding his baby and came to Cannes to have fun, felt a little nervous.

“David Thewlis!”

When the award presenter finished speaking, Zhang Guorong immediately felt deflated.

Li Yishu comforted him, “It’s okay, Guorong, there will definitely be opportunities in the future.”

Zhang Guorong was mentally prepared not to win the award, so the disappointment came and went quickly.

“That depends on whether Director Li gives me this opportunity.”

Hearing what Li Yishu said, he smiled and said, “As long as Director Li gives me a chance, I will definitely have a chance of winning the award.”

“Haha, there is a chance, there must be.”

Li Yishu smiled and said that Zhang Guorong was a good actor, but he himself didn’t know when he could work with him again.

As the Best Actor Award was presented, Zhang Guorong was relieved. He looked at David Thewlis who came on stage and said, “Director Li, now are the only awards left for Best Director and the Palme d’Or?”

“There are also the Special Jury Award and the Grand Jury Award…”

Li Yishu said with mixed feelings, “I just hope that my name will be called later.”

Jiang Qinqin said quickly: “Don’t worry, Brother Yishu, you will definitely be the dark horse to the end.”

Gong Li nodded in agreement: “I am wearing a cheongsam today, and Qinqin is also wearing a cheongsam. We will definitely win the grand prize.”

“Yes, with you two, the black and white devils, by my side, the jury will have no choice but to give this award.”

Li Yishu laughed, then looked up at the stage. Next up was the Special Jury Award.

Hou Xiaoxian hasn’t won the award yet, so it’s probably either this award or the Grand Jury Prize.

Anyway, Li Yishu remembered that Hou Xiaoxian won a jury award, but he had forgotten whether it was a special award or a grand prize.

“Congratulations to Hou Hsiao-hsien and his film “A Puppet Show”!”

After the award presenter finished speaking, Hou Xiaoxian immediately stood up from his seat excitedly and walked towards the stage excitedly.

Li Yishu was a little far away from him, so she couldn’t congratulate him.

Xu Suo was also excited at this moment: “There are still three prizes now, the chances are getting bigger and bigger.”

“Yes!”

Li Yishu nodded. Although “Farewell My Concubine” had won the Palme d’Or in history, now with him as the little butterfly, no one could guarantee whether it would flap its wings.

Soon, the Grand Jury Prize was awarded to the German film “A World Away”.

When the Best Director Award was announced and the winner was British director Mike Leigh, Li Yishu’s heart suddenly fell.

“Is it true, are we going to win a prize?”

Jiang Qinqin realized it later.

Gong Li said excitedly: “Yes, the Palme d’Or is definitely ours! Unless… there is no unless, it must be ours!”

Jury President Louis Malle took the stage again, and he walked on the stage together with John Cerf from the Cannes Film Critics’ Week section.

“The change of times and the turning point of people’s fate, the close connection between sociality and nationality, the echo of faith and reality…”

Louis Malle looked at the guests in the audience with a smile:

“This film shows with great tension the multifaceted and rich character of people when they are dislocated and faced with disasters. The power of humanity and the wonderful performances of the actors have conquered me and everyone on the jury. The Palme d’Or is the best choice for him!”

(End of this chapter)