Chapter 68 Cannes
Time slowly came to May 10th, and Liu Zhou and Qin Hao also rushed to Hong Kong to meet Yu Liwei and others.

To be honest, during the time he was in school, Liu Zhou kept hearing congratulations and compliments from people around him. Although he kept telling himself to keep a low profile, he still couldn't help feeling a little elated.

No wonder it is said that flattery is a knife that kills without shedding blood.

If you are not careful, you may get caught and you may not even realize it.

Only when he arrived in Hong Kong and saw Yu Liwei did Liu Zhou come to his senses a little.

Their films are all feature films, and they are shortlisted for the main competition unit, but mine is just a short film, so there is nothing to be proud of.

Arriving at the airport terminal, Yu Liwei immediately pulled Liu Zhou aside and introduced:
"Ah Zhou, let me introduce you. This is Liang Jiahui, the leading actor in my movie. You should know him. Jiahui should be quite famous in the mainland."

"Hello, Mr. Liang. My name is Liu Zhou. I have heard of you for a long time. I didn't expect to have the opportunity to meet you today."

Liu Zhou thought Liang Jiahui would be polite, but he didn't expect him to ask directly:
"Oh, Mr. Liu, when have you heard of me?"

"Mr. Liang, I'm from Guangzhou. I grew up watching movies and TV series from Hong Kong. I've seen a lot of your films, but my favorite is your debut film, The Burning of the Old Summer Palace," Liu Zhou said in Cantonese.

“Why do you like this movie?”

"Because through this film, I know that Mr. Liang is a patriotic person, and I respect him very much."

Liang Jiahui won the Best Actor Award at the first Hong Kong Film Awards for this film.

Although Liang Jiahui was a small actor at the time, he also had a big heart.

Perhaps the only thing that makes Liang Jiahui feel comforted is that his wife stayed with him during this period and even married him.

Later, with the support of Chow Yun-fat, Liang Jiahui starred in "Prison on Fire" and began to slowly make a comeback.

After Liang Jiahui became popular again, he never left his wife. After decades of debut, there has been no scandal between him and any female stars.

His character and patriotism are indeed worthy of respect.

"Haha, that's great. I heard you're also a director. We could work together if there's a chance."

"Of course, I would love to work with a big star like you."

After the two finished chatting, Yu Liwei continued:

"Ah Zhou, you should be more familiar with this one. Her name is Lv Liping, and she is from the mainland."

"Hello Ms. Lu, my name is Liu Zhou."

Compared to his enthusiasm towards Liang Jiahui, Liu Zhou was very polite to her.

By the way, Lv Liping is Liu Zhou's senior. She graduated from the Central Academy of Drama in 1984.

She was quite popular at that time. Not only did she win the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards for Best Supporting Actress, but she also became famous all over the country with "The Story of the Editorial Department".

At this time, she should still be the wife of the basketball player.

So even though Lv Liping and Liu Zhou have a connection in the Central Academy of Drama, Liu Zhou still keeps his distance from her.

Lu Liping also felt a sense of alienation from Liu Zhou. Although she didn't know why, she didn't care and didn't want to make friends with him.

So Lu Liping behaved very politely, and the two of them simply greeted each other.

Compared to Liu Zhou and Qin Hao, Yu Liwei's team has many more people.

There are not only the leading male and female actors and the director, but also investors and producers, a total of six people.

The eight people waited in the terminal hall for a while and then started boarding the plane.

After more than ten hours of flight, the plane slowly landed at the Paris international airport.

The group did not stay in Paris for long. After getting off the plane, they went directly to Cannes.

After arriving in Cannes, Liu Zhou was so sleepy that he went straight back to the hotel to rest. Fortunately, it was already evening, otherwise he would have to endure the pain of jet lag.

Liu Zhou woke up at dawn the next day because he was hungry.

After washing up and having breakfast in the hotel restaurant, Liu Zhou felt refreshed.

Only then did Liu Zhou feel like experiencing the city of Cannes.

Cannes is a small seaside town. If it weren’t for the Cannes International Film Festival and Zidane, not many people would know about this place.

Whenever the film festival comes, Cannes becomes particularly lively, which also means that prices soar.

Among the various film festivals in Europe, Cannes has the highest cost.

This period is also a paradise for men. Those little models and call girls can be seen everywhere. It has even formed an industrial chain. What kind of people and how many people do you want, there will be a special company to arrange for you.

Compared to the gloomy and humid Berlin in February, the sunny Cannes is obviously more comfortable.

The reason why Cannes is so popular in later generations is not only because of their good management, but also because of the weather and scenery.

Liu Zhou walked on the beach for more than half an hour, sent away several big men who came to chat with him, and then felt a little tired, so he returned to the hotel.

When we returned to the hotel, Yu Liwei and the others had already gotten up.

The film festival will open tomorrow, and Liu Zhou knows that they are very busy, so he stays in the hotel with Qin Hao.

As for shopping, Liu Zhou didn't consider it. He didn't want to be slaughtered like a pig. Qin Hao, on the other hand, was more concerned about his pockets than his face.

The next day, the Cannes Film Festival officially opened.

Like other film festivals, the opening ceremony was rather simple.

However, Liu Zhou and Qin Hao still went to the scene. Although the opening ceremony was nothing special, the opening film was still worth watching.

The opening film of this year's Cannes Film Festival is the Spanish film "All About My Mother", which was written and directed by Pedro Almodóvar.

I don’t know if Pedro Almodóvar was just imaginative or if it was based on real events, but the story of this movie is a bit weird.

It tells the story of a pregnant woman whose husband suddenly passed away before her child was born, and then the mother and child depended on each other in Madrid.

The mother lied to her son that his father was dead, but the son didn't believe it and missed his father very much. Later, something unexpected happened and the son was hit and killed by a car. The mother was heartbroken and went to look for her husband.

However, she learned that her husband had disguised himself as a woman, became a prostitute, and was infected with AIDS.

Even more unfortunate was that a nun became pregnant with her husband's child. The mother stayed with the nun to take care of her, and later named the baby she gave birth to her son.

Finally, she discovered that the newborn baby had escaped the fate of AIDS, which also indicated that there was finally hope after the miserable days.

Liu Zhou has no aesthetic appreciation for such movies, but Qin Hao seems to take them quite seriously.

Over the next few days, the two wandered around and watched several movies.

When it was Liu Zhou's turn to screen his short film, he didn't do much to promote it. Without the connections, it wouldn't be worth the money.

There are still many short film enthusiasts in the audience. A total of five short films were shortlisted this time, and Liu Zhou's "The Tuner" had the largest audience.

This made Liu Zhou more excited about winning the award.

When Yu Liwei's "Heaven on Earth" was screened, Liu Zhou and Qin Hao also went to show their support.

Compared to Liu Zhou's shabby appearance, the investors for the screening of his film still spent some francs, and there were not only many viewers, but also many media reporters.

It seems that the investors have some strength and are quite confident in the film "Heaven and Earth".

The time came to May 23rd, the closing ceremony of the film festival.

It was also the first time that Liu Zhou saw the dazzling red carpet at Cannes. At that time, there were already carpet stars abroad. Several women stayed on the red carpet and didn’t want to leave, and were then asked to leave by the staff.

Liu Zhou and Qin Hao were unknown here, so they did not linger on the red carpet and walked quickly.

After the people from various crews took their seats at the Film Palace, the award ceremony officially began.

The first awards to be presented were for each category. From time to time, shouts and laughter broke out from the crowd below the stage, and then people excitedly went on stage to receive their awards.

Seeing this, Liu Zhou and Yu Liwei couldn't help but look at each other and smiled at each other.

Last February, in Berlin, Liu Zhou, Yu Liwei and Jia Zhangke were just like them, happy and excited about winning the award. It seemed like it happened just yesterday.

As the awards for each unit were presented, it was finally the turn of the main competition unit.

The first awards were for short films.

There are relatively few short film awards, only two, one is the Short Film Palme d'Or, and the other is the Short Film Jury Award.

The first award was for the Short Film Jury Award, and Liu Zhou couldn't help but feel nervous.

The prize drawer said slowly:
"Andhadhun" won the Short Film Jury Award at the 52nd Cannes International Film Festival! Congratulations!"

Hearing the name, Liu Zhou and Qin Hao immediately jumped up excitedly.

Because "Andhadhun" is the English name of "The Tuner", which means that Liu Zhou won the award!
Yu Liwei, Liang Jiahui and other people from the "Heaven and Earth" crew who were standing next to him also stood up to congratulate him, and Yu Liwei even gave Liu Zhou a hug.

With excitement, Liu Zhou walked towards the podium step by step.

(End of this chapter)