Chapter 240 Chapter 250 [Film Festival Opens, Filters Shattered to the Ground]

the following few days.

Lee Yi-su has been busy planning for herself to win the Golden Bear Award.

Qiu Fusheng brought his company’s people to start contacting the Berlin Film Festival, rented an exhibition hall and began to set up the exhibition.

Today, Li Yishu is no longer the newcomer who participated in the Venice Film Festival. Now he has become a double-Award-winning director in Europe, so naturally the exhibition hall he rents must be the largest, best, and most conspicuous.

Time passed by little by little, and in the blink of an eye it was February 2th, the last night before the opening ceremony.

The suite in a star-rated hotel in Berlin was filled with the lingering smell of hormones.

“Yishu, you’ve been so busy lately, is the chance of winning an award high?”

Gong Li lay on the bed tiredly but enjoying herself, feeling the strange sensation brought by Li Yishu’s fingers gently stroking her back.

“If you are not busy, there is no probability. If you are busy, there is probability.”

Li Yishu’s eyes sparkled as she said, “Sister Gong Li, you should understand that the three European awards are very prestigious. Over the years, only three directors have won the three European awards. Once I win, I will not only be the first Asian director to win the three awards, but also the youngest director in history to win the three awards.”

“It will probably be hard for anyone to surpass me in the future, so I have to get busy, break the concerns of the Berlin Film Festival organizers, and plan for this only chance to win the Golden Bear Award.”

The reason why Li Yishu took so much effort to plan was that she wanted to win the Golden Bear Award and fulfill her dream of becoming a triple-award winning director.

Because he missed this year, his chances of winning three gold medals in the future will become fewer and fewer.

Unless Lee Yi-su can make a rare, groundbreaking, world-shaking good movie that transcends race and country, she can forget about winning the Golden Bear Award.

But it’s simply impossible to make a movie like this.

Starting from the end of the year when the mainland begins importing and promoting ten imported blockbusters, the domestic film market will gradually shift from following the European art film route to following the Hollywood commercial film route.

By that time, the probability of winning the Golden Bear Award and making up the three gold medals is basically zero.

Otherwise, if the two great directors Zhang Yimou and Li An could have won the three major awards, they would have won them long ago.

Both of them tried to win the three major awards, but the result is obvious: neither of them succeeded in becoming the director who won the three major awards in Europe.

So winning an award cannot depend solely on the quality of the movie, timing is also crucial.

“What’s the only chance?”

Gong Li looked at him sideways in astonishment: “Are you not going to make art films anymore?”

“I will definitely shoot it, but this is my only chance to win the Golden Bear.”

Looking at the big white rabbit covered with kiss marks in front of her, Li Yishu couldn’t help but play with it: “Haven’t you noticed that in recent years, the probability of Chinese directors winning the three major awards is much higher than in previous years?”

“Don’t make trouble!”

Gong Li patted the other person’s hand and asked, “What does this have to do with you winning the Golden Bear Award?”

“Of course it is related. The probability of Chinese directors winning awards has increased because the European film industry hopes to attract Chinese filmmakers and the Chinese market. In fact, it is doing very successfully now. The domestic enthusiasm for the three European awards is much higher than that for other film festivals.”

Li Yishu said as he continued to play with it with a playful smile.

Gong Li rolled her eyes, knowing that she couldn’t win over the other party, so she let him play with the White Rabbit: “Then do you want me to do something?”

“You don’t need to do anything. I will arrange for a reporter to interview you after the opening ceremony. You just need to truthfully express your feelings about the old Jinan Railway Station and your curiosity about and playtime with the railway station during your childhood.”

Li Yishu smiled. He had prepared everything he needed to, whether it was secretly canvassing for Morgan Freeman’s vote or the subsequent public opinion offensive, everything had been arranged.

If she fails to win the Golden Bear Award again, Lee Yi-su will basically give up her plans to continue participating in the Berlin Film Festival in the future.

Go all out and devote yourself to commercial films.

In a blink of an eye, it is February 2th, the first day of the Chinese New Year.

Gong Li got up early and began to arrange her opening ceremony costume while putting on makeup. She was not wearing a cheongsam today, as this killer outfit would naturally be saved for the closing ceremony and awards ceremony.

The time came to around four o’clock in the afternoon.

In front of the Berlin Film Palace, the filmmakers made a brilliant appearance, and reporters from all over the world recorded this scene with their cameras.

Li Yishu also began to look forward to the upcoming Berlin public opinion war. He did not know the original winner of the Golden Bear Award at this year’s Berlin Film Festival, but from the nominated films he has seen so far, the only one that can compete for the Golden Bear Award is “Philadelphia” starring Tom Hanks.

Because Li Yishu has only seen this movie so far, and has never seen other award-winning films, including “Firefox” directed by mainland director Wu Ziniu, he can only blindly guess that “Philadelphia Story” is competitive.

The opening ceremonies of the three major European film festivals all have their own unique processes, including the red carpet show in Cannes, the water walk in Venice, and this time the light show in Berlin.

The Berlin Film Palace is very luxurious and its overall shape is very different from the film palaces in Cannes and Venice. The latter two are mostly one-piece buildings, with red carpets at the gate and the outer square, but the overall shape of the Berlin Film Palace is surrounded on three sides, and a huge awning connects these three irregular buildings together.

The surroundings are filled with various lights, and spotlights shine light on the audience, passing through festive curtains or through colorful, organ-like glass devices, giving it a kaleidoscope feel.

This was Lee Yi-su’s first time attending the Berlin Film Festival and she was curious about everything around her.

Gong Li seemed much calmer. As early as 1987, she came to Berlin with the movie “Red Sorghum”, and it was also here that she shined and moved step by step towards the path of becoming Queen Gong.

This was not only Xiao Yejin’s first time in Berlin, but also his first time going out. Facing the flashing cameras and reporters around him, he was a little shy in his small suit. Fortunately, he debuted as a child star, so he was not so nervous that he had difficulty walking.

The opening film of Berlin this year is Tom Hanks’ “Philadelphia”. Li Yishu had seen this movie in her previous life, and when she watched it again this time, she thought it was very well made, especially Tom Hanks’ acting was really good.

However, what really made him a god was this year’s “Forrest Gump”. This movie made Tom Hanks completely become a symbol of American film actors all over the world, until the appearance of that big ship made Leo famous.

It can be said that in 1998, Leonardo Dicaprio was definitely the most familiar Hollywood male star in the world, and the global value of 18 billion US dollars is no joke.

However, compared to Forrest Gump, Li Yishu prefers The Shawshank Redemption, which competed with it at the same time.

It’s a pity that this movie didn’t do very well at the box office, but in terms of classic status, it definitely crushes Forrest Gump.

“Tom Hanks’ acting is very good. It seems that this movie is your biggest competitor.”

When the movie was over, Gong Li poked Li Yishu’s arm with her finger.

“But it’s definitely not this film that won the Golden Bear.”

Li Yishu is not sure who won the Golden Bear Award this year, but it was most likely not Philadelphia Story.

Although this movie has a lot of buffs, the male protagonist is a homosexual and has AIDS, and was fired by his boss because of the disease, which aroused the sympathy of the lower-class workers.

It’s just that now is not an era of political correctness, and the white saints in Europe are far from being as crazy as they will be twenty years later.

Although West Germany legalized homosexuality as early as 1969 due to the influence of the United States, what made Jonathan Demme, the director of “The Philadelphia Story”, feel desperate was that on January 1 this year, the fourth year after the reunification of East and West Germany, Germany officially abolished this bill and deleted the legalization of homosexuality from the code.

All I can say is that this movie came at the wrong time!
If he had participated last year, he might have had a good chance of winning the Golden Bear Award because of the accumulation of BUFFs. I guess Jonathan Demme, the director of “Philadelphia”, came to participate in the Berlin Film Festival in the first place because Germany has this law.

Who would have thought that more than ten days before the opening ceremony of the film festival, Germany officially announced the abolition of the legality of homosexuality.

It’s really a futile effort.

“How do you know so much?”

Gong Li was extremely surprised. She really didn’t know that Germany, a country that is known for its seriousness and uprightness, had legalized homosexuality more than 20 years ago, even though it was only West Germany at that time.

“Since I am competing for the Golden Bear Award, I must have all the information about the competing films.”

Li Yishu smiled and said, “Anyway, Philadelphia Story won’t win the Golden Bear Award because it was just abolished this year. If the Berlin Film Festival does this, people might think it’s a slap in the face to their government.”

No matter how the European Film Festival claims to be fair and just, they all have their own set of logical thinking and selection thinking. In the absence of any external factors, they can be fair and just, but once they encounter external factors, it is hard to say.

Wasn’t this the case at the Paris Olympics before Lee Ye-su’s rebirth?
So he doesn’t think that Philadelphia Story can break this shackles. After all, the organizer of the Berlin International Film Festival is Berlin, Germany, and Berlin is the capital of Germany. How could it be a blatant provocation?
Using it as the opening film is considered to be worthy of this movie. Maybe the organizers did it on purpose to commemorate the past when homosexuality was legalized?

“After your analysis, I feel that there is no fairness or justice in this European Film Festival.”

Gong Li was also completely shocked by Li Yishu’s ideas and words. She thought that the film festival was a noble one, but it turned out that there were all kinds of business tricks behind it.

“Sister Gong Li, your filter is too thick. You don’t understand the nature of those Westerners in Europe and North America.”

Li Yishu laughed.

It is normal for Gong Li not to see clearly. Before Big Brother falls, these Westerners have to pretend to be liberal, even if it is just for show.

But with the fall of Big Brother, the world situation has undergone earth-shaking changes, so these people naturally don’t need to start pretending anymore.

If Li Yishu had not been reborn from thirty years later, but was living in this era, he would probably have been fooled by those pretentious people in the United States and the West.

To put it simply, Americans don’t need to raise dogs these days, as countless loyal dogs will run to the Western United States. But thirty years later, they must deliver dog food to designated locations to attract dogs, otherwise the dogs will turn their backs on them.

Although Gong Li didn’t quite understand what “too thick a filter” meant at first, she roughly guessed it after hearing the following sentence. She couldn’t help but frowned: “Well, it seems that I don’t have much hope of winning the Best Actress Award at the three major film festivals?”

“It’s difficult, but there’s still a chance to get two, or even to win it repeatedly.”

Li Yishu nodded. He remembered that Gong Li was not able to win all three major European Film Actress awards until thirty years later, but he guessed that she was not very interested at that time.

“Then what’s the point of acting!”

Gong Li said angrily, “I won’t act anymore. Yishu, please help me take on a few commercial films. I will just do commercial films in the future. I can make more money and won’t have to suffer when filming.”

(End of this chapter)