Chapter 40 Departure for Berlin
After the final exams, everyone went home to celebrate the New Year.

Although Liu Zhou and Zeng Li's relationship has grown deeper this semester, they have not yet reached the final step.

She is a slightly traditional girl who takes this very seriously, and Liu Zhou also respects her.

Liu Zhou often gets angry just because he can't eat because of his girlfriend in front of him.

It was impossible to use his hands, so Liu Zhou had to vent his anger on the sports field. After one semester, he now has six obvious abdominal muscles.

Due to regular exercise, Liu Zhou has become more handsome, and his appearance is also very good in the acting class.

After having a farewell dinner with Liu Ye and others, Liu Zhou also returned home.

I got together with my classmates again before the New Year, and this time there were obviously a lot more classmates coming.

Liu Zhou didn't realize anything at first, but when he saw many classmates surrounding him later, he realized that it was caused by his identity as a best-selling author.

This made Liu Zhou feel a little bored.

My classmate, who used to have a clear distinction between love and hate and was full of bookish spirit, has changed a lot in less than two years of college.

Liu Zhou felt that this might be his last time attending a class reunion, so he greeted every classmate with a smile.

New Year’s Eve arrives quickly, and on the first day the whole family gathers together to drink tea, and on the second day they start visiting relatives.

However, this year Liu Zhou returned to the capital on the third day of the Lunar New Year.

It’s not that there was anything happening at school, but on the fourth day of the New Year, Liu Zhou was going to Berlin with Jia Zhangke and others.

Fortunately, this year's Berlin Film Festival opened after the New Year, otherwise Liu Zhou would not have time to go.

For Liu Zhou, spending the New Year with his family is more important, and his parents are unlikely to agree with him going.

Of course, if it was Liu Zhou’s own work that entered the competition, that would be a different matter.

Originally Liu Zhou wanted to invite Zeng Li to go together, but she felt it was not appropriate for an outsider to go alone, so she refused.

The next day, Liu Zhou, Jia Zhangke and Yu Liwei boarded a plane to Berlin.

After more than ten hours of flying, Liu Zhou felt his coccyx aching so much that his buttocks were about to be split in two, but he finally arrived in Berlin.

In his previous life, Liu Zhou also came to Berlin for tourism. This city cannot compare with international cities such as Milan, Paris, Tokyo, and New York. Each city has its own publicity. It is very, very low-key.

Of the three major European film festivals, the Berlin Film Festival is the most low-key and has the least influence, but it is also the most stubborn and always sticks to its own philosophy.

These three major film festivals have different tastes. Venice favors those art films that are obscure and impossible to understand, while Cannes is more inclusive and combines commercial and artistry better.

Berlin has always preferred political films, but around the new century, Berlin and Venice began to take the niche artistic film route.

They also have a preference for Chinese films, and have produced many famous directors and movie actors, such as Jia Zhangke, Wang Xiaoshuai, Li An, Liao Fan, Yu Nan, etc.

But the center of world cinema is still Hollywood. This move of completely abandoning Hollywood films has also made the exposure and commerciality of these two major film festivals increasingly lower, and their influence is also much less than before.

In contrast, Cannes welcomes all Hollywood filmmakers. Every year, a group of stars come to support the festival, making it a huge event and the No. 1 film festival in Europe.

Although Berlin was bombed by the Allies during World War II, it was not severely damaged.

Therefore, century-old buildings can be seen everywhere, which makes Jia Zhangke marvel again and again.

Such an inexperienced look made Liu Zhou and Yu Liwei turn their heads away, indicating that they were not familiar with this person.

In the afternoon, the three arrived at the hotel where they were staying. Due to limited budget, they did not go out for a walk, but stayed in the hotel and slept soundly.

The next day, the three of them felt much more energetic after a good rest.

Yu Liwei briefly introduced the film festival process to Liu Zhou and Jia Zhangke.

The sources of films participating in the film festival are divided into two parts, one is self-registration, and the other is invitation from the organizer.

And "Xiao Wu" was registered to participate in the exhibition.

The opening ceremony is usually very brief, after which there is about ten days of free screening time for journalists, audiences and filmmakers to watch films.

The last part is the closing ceremony, which is also the award ceremony.

Just like many film festivals, if your film has a chance to win an award, the organizers will try to keep you before the awards ceremony. If no one pays attention to you, then go back early.

In the next few days, the three of them were very busy. Under the leadership of Yu Liwei, they visited various connections and promoted their own movies.

Among the three, Yu Liwei had studied abroad in Belgium and had some understanding of European film festivals, so he was the main one who took the two of them to the event.

Liu Zhou knows some English and can chat a little, but Jia Zhangke is like a tool, following behind and can only say "hello" and "thank you".

After running around for a few days, the three of them have done their best.

On February 2, the opening day, freezing rain fell in Berlin, making this already gray city look even colder.

Because Liu Zhou heard from Yu Liwei that the opening ceremony would be simple, he did not go because of the bad weather.

However, today is also the day when the list of shortlisted films for the film festival is announced, and Liu Zhou is also waiting for them to return in the hotel lobby.

Until the afternoon, Jia Zhangke and Yu Liwei had not returned, which made Liu Zhou a little anxious while waiting in the hall.

At this moment, a car suddenly stopped in front of the hotel, and then several people got out and hurriedly walked into the gate.

When he got closer, he saw that they were several Asian faces, which surprised Liu Zhou a little.

I took a closer look at the leader, who was wearing a black coat and looked tired.

I go!

It turned out to be my brother Zhang Guorong! Liu Zhou completely forgot about Jia Zhangke and Yu Liwei, and immediately ran forward and said:
"Hello, brother. I am your fan!"

Zhang Guorong had just returned from the opening ceremony when he was suddenly stopped by a yellow-skinned, black-eyed man. He heard the Mandarin spoken, which made him stop in his tracks.

It is always a heartwarming experience to meet fellow countrymen in a foreign country, let alone when they are your fans.

Zhang Guorong shook hands with him politely and said:
"Hello, you are?"

"My name is Liu Zhou, and I'm from Guangzhou. I'm very happy to meet you here." Liu Zhou replied in Cantonese.

Seeing that Liu Zhou could speak Cantonese made him feel more at home. Although his Mandarin was not bad, he was more accustomed to speaking Cantonese.

Zhang Guorong smiled and said:

"Nice to meet you too. Are you visiting Berlin?"

"No, I'm here to attend the film festival."

Zhang Guorong was slightly surprised, then seemed to remember something and asked:

"Xiao Wu?"

The chairman of the jury of this year's Berlin Film Festival is Ben Kingsley, and he is one of the judges.

As far as he knows, the Chinese-language films participating in the exhibition include "The Happier the More Degenerate" by Guan Jinpeng, "The Sent-Down" by Chen Chong, and a film by Wanwan.

There is also Xu Anhua's "Half Life", but it was not shortlisted for the competition unit.

Apart from that, it’s a film from the mainland.

He has seen the movie and to be honest, he doesn't really like this style of movie.

But they are all Chinese-language filmmakers, and he is still very happy that Chinese-language films are participating in the exhibition.

"Yes, brother, have you seen this movie?"

"I've seen it, but I don't think you played any role in it."

"I'm not an actor. I just invested some money in this film."

"You are also a film investor?" This time Zhang Guorong was really a little surprised.

Liu Zhou waved his hand and said:

"I can't really be considered a film investor. The investment in this film is very small. The director is my friend, and I helped him out when I saw he couldn't raise funds."

"I see. Your friend is amazing. His movie has been shortlisted."

"Really? That would be great."

"I hope you gain something from this film festival. I have something else to do, so I'll be leaving first."

Looking at Zhang Guorong's departing back, Liu Zhou felt that even if this trip to Berlin was fruitless, it was well worth it.

Liu Zhou's hometown is Guangzhou. He has been exposed to Hong Kong movies and TV series since he was a child, and he knows all the Hong Kong stars like the back of his hand.

Among these many Hong Kong stars, Liu Zhou’s favorite is brother Zhang Guorong.

Not only is he a good singer and actor, he is also a good person.

He speaks Mandarin the best among all Hong Kong stars, and is the only Hong Kong star who has starred in a revolutionary movie.

It was the movie "Red Lovers" that Mei Ting collaborated with him, in which he played a high-ranking member of the underground party in Shanghai.

This movie is directed by Ye Daying, the core of the Beijing circle and has the strongest compound background. The movie should have just been completed.

In his previous life, Liu Zhou liked Zhang Guorong very much and his room was filled with his posters. However, on April Fool's Day in 03, he played a joke on all those who liked him.

After that, Liu Zhou could only find his figure in posters and movies he had starred in before.

Now that I have the opportunity to meet my idol in person, I don’t know if I will be able to stop this from happening.

While Liu Zhou was still lost in thought, Jia Zhangke and Yu Liwei rushed in.

Upon seeing Liu Zhou, Jia Zhangke immediately shouted excitedly:
"Junior brother, we are shortlisted! We are shortlisted!"

Seeing Liu Zhou's calm face, the two asked doubtfully:
"Junior brother, why don't you seem excited at all that the movie was shortlisted?"

"I already knew about this!"

"..."

The two of them suddenly felt that their happiness was gone by half.

Seeing the two of them like this, Liu Zhou couldn't help but laugh:

"Well, of course I'm also very happy that the movie was shortlisted. I just ran into Zhang Guorong and chatted with him for a while, and he told me."

"Okay, next we have to prepare for the movie screening."

The three were just about to go upstairs to their room when they saw another group of people coming in. They all had oriental faces, and the leader was a woman.

When Jia Zhangke saw him, he didn't even bother to go back to his room, but hurried over to say hello:
"Hello, Director Chen Chong."

These people are exactly the crew of "The Sent-Down Girl".

This movie is Li Xiaolu's famous work, and it also allowed her to win the Golden Horse Award for Best Actress at the age of seventeen. I heard that she made some sacrifices in this movie.

(End of this chapter)