Chapter 41 The awards ceremony begins

Chen Chong was thirty-six years old at this time, like a ripe peach, wearing a formal dress, swaying gracefully.

She was not familiar with the mainland director who greeted her at this time, but she had just met him once at the opening ceremony.

She is a Chinese American who has worked in Hollywood and has not had much contact with the mainland entertainment industry. However, out of courtesy, she still replied politely:
"Hello, Director Jia."

Liu Zhou was not familiar with Chen Chong either, but was interested in the heroine of her film.

However, looking behind her, Liu Zhou discovered that Li Xiaolu did not come to Berlin with the crew at all.

Although it was a bit of a pity that he couldn't see what Li Xiaolu looked like when he was in his youth, the short man behind Chen Chong caught Liu Zhou's attention.

His face was dark and unremarkable, just like an old farmer. Liu Zhou couldn't help but look at him a few more times.

The man also noticed that Liu Zhou was looking at him, grinned at Liu Zhou, and actually walked over to shake hands with Liu Zhou.

"Hello, my name is Lu Le, and I'm a photographer."

Hearing his self-introduction, Liu Zhou couldn't help but be a little surprised that it was this big shot.

Lui Lok is a well-known figure in the industry. He has worked with many big-name directors such as Tian Zhuangzhuang, Yan Hao, and Huang Shuqin. He has also served as the cinematographer for Zhang Yimou's "To Live" and "Raise the Red Lantern" and later served as the cinematographer for Feng Dapao's "Assembly" and "Aftershock".

Liu Zhou didn't expect to meet so many big names in the industry in such a short period of time.

"Hello, my name is Liu Zhou, and I'm a film investor."

He might be a little more modest towards Zhang Guorong, but there is no need to be so towards others. Besides, there is nothing wrong in calling himself a film investor.

A hint of surprise flashed across Lu Le's eyes, and he said with a smile:

"We hope to have the opportunity to cooperate."

"sure."

This is basically the routine when colleagues meet at film festivals, and no one takes these polite words seriously.

After seeing Chen Chong and the others leave, Liu Zhou and the other three also walked towards the room.

"Brother, which movie is the opening film this time?"

“In the Name of Love, directed by Irish director Jim Sheridan.”

"Is he the director who made the movie 'My Left Foot' that won Daniel Lewis an Oscar?"

"Yes, that's him."

Liu Zhou knew this person. He was a relatively good director. Although he had made only a handful of films, almost all of them were masterpieces. The most famous one was "My Left Foot".

"Since our film has been shortlisted, when will it be screened?"

“The third to last day of the film festival.”

"It seems that our movie is not well received."

Generally, popular movies are screened on the first two days and the last two days of the festival.

"What are you thinking? The movie is lucky enough to be shortlisted."

"That's right, I'm too greedy. So what should we do next?"

"Next, we will promote our movie and try to attract more audiences when it is screened," Yu Liwei continued.

This is the hardship of a crew without funding. With no money for publicity, they can only do it themselves and shamelessly "distribute flyers."

There is no other way around this. The funds for this trip to Berlin were sponsored by Liu Zhou.

Liu Zhou could certainly come up with the money for publicity, but he couldn't possibly invest too much in such a low-budget film. Jia Zhangke and Yu Liwei were also embarrassed to ask Liu Zhou to invest more money.

In the next few days, the three of them went to various screening halls to promote their film, and also watched many of the shortlisted films at the exhibition.

After watching a lot of movies over the past few days, the three of them discovered that their own movie seemed to be the lowest quality, with crude pictures.

I didn't notice anything before, but it's very obvious after comparison.

But no matter what, it was his own movie after all, and today was the day when "Xiao Wu" was screened.

Liu Zhou glanced at the audience entering the theater. The huge theater was less than 30% occupied, and he couldn't help feeling a little frustrated.

“There aren’t many people!”

"There's nothing we can do. We haven't invested in any promotional materials. The reason we have these people now is because of our previous recommendations. Otherwise, there might be even fewer people." Yu Liwei sighed.

Regarding the concerns of the two, Jia Zhangke, the director, seemed more optimistic and said with a smile:

"It's okay, take a seat first. If dozens of people watch a movie like ours, I think it's a good deal."

At this time, a few foreigners suddenly came in and sat in the first row.

"Who are they?" Liu Zhou asked Liwei.

“It should be the film producer.”

"Shall we go say hello then?"

"No, it doesn't matter whether you greet them or not. If they want to buy, they will buy. If they don't want to buy, no matter how much you greet them, they won't buy." "Okay."

After a while, the movie started.

The scene begins on a bumpy dirt road, with a few raggedly dressed farmers standing by the road, looking around numbly.

Then a shabby bus drove up, Xiao Wu got on the bus, and said to the guy selling tickets:
"I'm a police officer!"

The guy looked at him expressionlessly for a while, then gave up asking him for money and returned to his seat.

Because Liu Zhou had watched the entire movie, he paid more attention to the audience present.

He saw several foreigners burst out laughing when they saw this.

Liu Zhou didn't feel happy and couldn't help frowning.

Before the 2008 Olympics, foreigners thought that China should have streets full of bicycles, no tall buildings, and that the people would haggle like they were bargaining in the vegetable market every day, and were ignorant and backward.

This is a traditional way of thinking, and it also represents a trend of thought in Western society, which is usually called "imagined Chineseism."

So they like to watch movies that show China’s poverty and backwardness.

This is the case with "Qiu Ju Goes to Court" and "Farewell My Concubine", because these movies fit the image of China in their minds.

Why does "Farewell My Concubine" have such a high reputation internationally and won the only Palme d'Or for a Chinese-language film to date?
Isn't it because it captures everything foreigners want to see?

"Xiao Wu" is essentially a film of this type, but the difference is that Jia Zhangke's treatment is more realistic and closer to the true portrayal of the lower classes of Chinese society.

Jia Zhang can present the lives of the lower class people in a documentary-like manner without deliberately adding the distorted stories of the lower class people imagined by those who claim to be intellectuals.

Therefore, for many Westerners, the movie "Xiao Wu" has almost zero appreciation value, and the audience almost left before the movie was halfway through.

Even several film producers in the first row stood up and left.

Among the remaining people in the screening room, apart from a few scattered audience members, only the reporters were still staying. It was not because they liked the film, but because their professional ethics forced them to finish watching the film and then go back to write their articles.

After the 105-minute movie was over, the few remaining audience members and reporters immediately stood up and left.

The premiere of "Xiao Wu" ended in a bleak manner.

The three of them looked at the empty screening room and couldn't help but smile bitterly at each other.

Even Liu Zhou was a little uneasy at this moment. He remembered that "Xiao Wu" had won an award, but looking at the current situation, the hope of winning the award seemed very slim.

I hope this movie won't lose its award because of my intrusion.

At this time, Jia Zhangke was more open-minded and said:
"It's okay. It's already a surprise that our movie can be shown here. We can't expect too much. The only thing I'm sorry about is my junior brother. I think your money might go down the drain this time."

"The money is not important. It's not too much for me now anyway. It's just a pity that more people can't see this movie."

In fact, the one who really has to apologize is Liu Zhou. He is now a little worried that the butterfly effect he caused will cost "Xiao Wu" the award and make Jia Zhangke lose the opportunity to rise.

You know, Jia Zhangke became famous through "Xiao Wu".

"In that case, we should eat, drink, and watch movies in the next few days, and then go back after attending the closing ceremony," Jia Zhangke said with a smile.

After that, the two of them did the same thing, watching movies, eating, playing cards, and having a great time.

Seeing this, Liu Zhou put aside his worries. Since things had come to this, whether he could win the award depended on God's blessing.

The day before the opening ceremony, Liu Zhou found out his brother Zhang Guorong's room and plucked up the courage to go over and visit him.

My brother also had a good impression of this young and interesting junior and fan, and the two had a pleasant chat for a while.

If he wasn't afraid of being too presumptuous, Liu Zhou really wanted to ask him for his contact information.

The next day, the Berlin Film Festival closed.

Compared to the opening ceremony, this time it was much more lively, with many crews and celebrities attending.

Liu Zhou and his companions sat in the corner, silently looking at the heavily made-up female stars.

Liu Zhou was not very interested in foreign stars. Instead, he was more interested in Qiu Shuzhen, who was a little distant from him.

She is the heroine of "The Happier the Better" and also came to Berlin.

Although he only saw a profile, it did not stop him from imagining "The Lamb" or "The Secret Life of Empress Dowager Cixi" or something like that.

"Do you think we can win the award?" Liu Zhou couldn't help but ask.

"I don't know, but don't get your hopes up, then you won't be disappointed."

Soon, the award ceremony began.

The award settings for European film festivals are very strange, and the names are particularly long.

Just like the first award given out by the Berlin Film Festival, the Victory Column Readers' Jury Award, this long list of titles was so confusing that not only Liu Zhou and his team, but even some foreigners were confused.

There are also those "Don Quixote Award", "Blue Angel Award" and "Caligari Award". Not to mention passers-by, even many people in the industry don't know what these are!

(End of this chapter)