Exploiting Hollywood 1980

  Chapter 909 Golden Bear Flying

  Although the West Berlin Film Festival is also one of the famous A-category film festivals in Europe, its influence is actually smaller than that of Cannes and Venice. This category A does not mean that it is more influential than category B film festivals, but a classification code of an international organization, which means that this kind of film festival does not restrict genre films, and all types of films can be openly entered. And there is an open jury award.

  Category B is a film festival with a limited theme, such as a horror, science fiction, fantasy film festival, only this type of film can participate in the competition. The C category is a film festival that does not have an award process and is only for everyone to show.

  West Berlin is a Western showcase city, showing the superiority of the West. So to a certain extent, the West Berlin Film Festival is really a cultural event supported by West Germany's most powerful ally, America, as Godard complained.

  In addition to showing some Western life movies, this film festival also prefers movies that reflect Eastern daily life. Especially after Secretary-General Mikhail took office, he relaxed the culture of the alliance and Eastern European countries, and more films were produced and sent to the competition. Even the leader comrades that Ronald often sees in the movies submitted for review by the Alliance are gone this time.

"I think the Golden Bear will be awarded to films from the Union, East Germany, or Poland." Michelle Cannold signed a lot of distribution contracts. When she was happy, she and Ronald had a drink in the room, guessing The final winner of the Golden Bear Award. "

  His idea is very simple, since it is a showcase, it is better to show the dark side of the opponent than to show your own good things.

"Hehe, no." Ronald had seen several participating films, "Although the team leader didn't come, the political commissar did." He pointed to the movie of the alliance among the participating movies, and another Polish movie. Cannold said, "You don't understand Dongfang. These two are old films, and they are still not reconciled."

   "Oh?" Michelle Cannold obviously didn't understand.

   It was Ronald who explained to him that this movie in Poland was filmed in 1982 and was immediately banned in Poland. General Secretary General Mikhail's open-door policy made the Poles, who were already ready to move, take the film to the exhibition, test the direction of the wind and protest.

Although the alliance does not have the air of domineering over the satellite countries in the past, nor does it have a team leader to follow, but their management committee obviously expressed the atmosphere. A film filmed in 1967 called "Comrade Political Commissar" tells the story of the civil war. A film about the story of a female political commissar of the Red Army was sent to the exhibition.

  However, what is interesting is that the film itself was also banned at the time, but recently it was regarded as a eulogizing film. It was released after the original director revised it and participated in the Moscow Film Festival.

   "So, they themselves are inconsistent movies, I think maybe the jury will give a Silver Bear Award." Ronald is more familiar with Eastern thinking than Cannold.

   "Then who do you think will win the award, does Moonlight Sultry have a chance?" Cannold asked.

   "It seems unlikely, we are evil colonialists after all... Hahaha" Ronald laughed and quoted Godard's attack on him. The West Berlin Film Festival still prefers to award awards to films from Eastern countries, which is more in line with the original intention of the film festival.

   "I have a hunch that maybe Huaguo's film will win the award." Ronald said about an unpopular entry film.

"Why? Is there anything special about this movie? It's really hard for me to understand the story." Michelle Cannold went to see Red Sorghum, and he was going to try to introduce America, which was distributed by Daydream of.

   Ronald discussed with them the positioning of Daydream, which can be said to be an upgraded version of Roger Coleman's New World Company. On the one hand, it produces and distributes its own small-scale films, and on the other hand, it introduces some foreign art films, so as to achieve a balance between word-of-mouth and box office.

"First, you don't need to understand the story of this movie. In fact, you don't need to read the subtitles. You can roughly understand the content of the movie just by watching the performance. This director's editing level is very good. Second, have you noticed that the chairman of the jury has changed? ?”

   What Ronald was talking about was the chairman of the jury for this year's Golden Bear Awards, which was originally held by one of the few male stars in the country, Gert Flob. The villain in the 007 movie Goldfinger is one of the few actors in West Germany who is famous in the English-speaking world.

   But after Gert Flob was ill and resigned from the chairmanship, the organizing committee had no choice but to find the famous Italian film critic Guglielmo Biraghi to play the role. The Italian film critic was also the organizer of last year's Venice Film Festival.

  In addition to the original intention of business ability, Biraghi is also a well-known leftist in Italy who sympathizes with and supports any minority. He often gave opportunities to the films of those Italian left-wing directors, and made friends with the famous left-wing director Bertolucci, actor Roberto Bernini, who satirized the church, and others.

  This time Ronald came to West Berlin to compete, and his old friend Bernini called him and said that he had spoken well of him in front of Biraghi. Ronald remembers this Martin Scorsese, who was friends with Isabella Rossellini.

  Bernini spoke loudly in English with a serious accent, and kept saying that he had a good relationship with Biraghi. Ronald didn't understand what he wanted to do after hearing it. Later, when the agent telegraphed the other party, it became clear that Roberto Bernini, who was too enthusiastic, just wanted to introduce them to each other.

  However, in West Berlin, Biraghi, who is the chairman of the jury, needs to avoid suspicion, and it is impossible to be as casual as in Italy. Ronald found him and chatted a few words in public, and the other party just welcomed him to send the film to the competition.

   But when talking about "Red Sorghum", Ronald found that the other party was very interested in the story that director Yimou also won the best actor at the Tokyo Film Festival last year. He asked Ronald a few questions, and told the secretary to look for information.

  Thinking of the good cooperative relationship between the Italian left wing and Huaguo Films, and Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor", Huaguo, as the producer, is also honored. Ronald guessed in his heart that this famous Italian businessman would pay more attention to Huaguo's participating films in order to cooperate with the Huaguo film market in the future.

   Of course, "Red Sorghum" is also a masterpiece. The fun of this movie is that a foreigner who can't understand the story and dialogue can also feel the bursting hormones in the character's heart through the director's shooting skills and editing.

  This is exactly the opposite of the stereotype of Chinese Americans, and will arouse greater interest from the judges. Ronald knew the critics, and always loved this innovative approach to presentation.

   "I don't want to bet with a famous director..." Michelle Cannold didn't want to refute the boss's idea, so she found an excuse not to discuss with Ronald.

  …

   "The Silver Bear for Best Actress goes to Holly Hunter, 'Catching the News.'" At the awards show, Ronald began to applaud.

  The Venice Film Festival, which is popular with domestic films and has a large number of stars, is different from the Cannes Film Festival, and the German film market has shrunk for a long time. The few stars in this country are also working hard in Hollywood and Britain.

  So the awards show of the West Berlin Film Festival was bleak, and the media did not come as much as the previous two film festivals. In addition to the big gold bear award for best film, other performances, directors, special jury awards, etc., are called silver bear awards.

  This time is different from the domestic Oscars, trade union awards, and film critics awards. In the end, Holly Hunter defeated Cher to win the championship. But the protagonist did not come to receive the award, but the producer received it on the stage.

   Michelle Cannold was sitting next to Ronald and touched Ronald's arm. "Moonlight Alluring" seems to be a play! "

   "Look at luck, I said you don't stab me, it makes me so nervous." Ronald became nervous rarely. He looked at himself, he was not wearing a custom-made evening dress, just an ordinary Armani custom-made suit, and he had brought the dress prepared for Oscar if he knew it earlier.

  It is the practice of the West Berlin Film Festival to try not to award two awards for the same film. Since the Best Actress Silver Bear was awarded to "Receipt News", the possibility of "Moonlight Sultry" winning the Best Director and even the Best Picture Golden Bear is much higher.

   This is because, two controversial oriental films, the Polish one, won the Golden Bear for Outstanding Single Achievement. The political commissar of the alliance won the Silver Bear Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution.

  If you want to come to the West Berlin Film Festival, which balances the awards of the East and the West, the rest is Ronald's "Moonlight Alluring" and Hua Guo's "Red Sorghum".

  No matter what award you win, it will be very helpful to the movie box office and the prospect of winning an Oscar.

   "Silver Bear for Best Director, Ronald Lee from America!"

   "Huh..." Ronald let out a long breath, still the Silver Bear Award. Fortunately, it was the Best Director Award. For Ronald, it was even better than the second consoling jury special award in the Golden Bear competition.

   Now when I go back, I can put the words "West Berlin Silver Bear Award-winning director" on the poster of "Moonlight Seductive".

   Ronald and Michelle Cannold hugged Michael Gray, who was in charge of the announcement, and took the stage to accept the Cubs trophy, which has always been cute.

"Thank you to the West Berlin Film Festival for your love and affirmation of Moonlight Sultry, thank you Mr. Biraghi, the chairman of the jury, and all the judges, and thank you to the audience who love Moonlight Sultry. Thank you also to the creators of the Moonlight Sultry crew , especially Cher, Olympia Dukakis, and Nick Cage, without whom this film would not exist”

After routinely thanking those who should be thanked, Ronald glanced and found Godard in the audience, "This award shows that a movie that is loved by the audience will also be liked by the judges. A good movie should not be either one or the other of."

  The audience below were a little confused and applauded politely. Some who know some of Godard's bombardment will look back at him.

  Returning to his seat, Ronald hugged and celebrated with the left and right. The Silver Bear Award is in the shape of a bear, except for the material and color, which is the same as the Golden Bear Award.

   "Special Jury Award, Souvier Alliance, 'Comrade Commissar'"

  The penultimate award was awarded to the film that was not released until 20 years later. Both Cannold and Gray looked at Ronald. Could his prediction really come true? This is a big upset that no one expected.

   Looking through the rest of the list of participating films, the films selected by Mexico, Yugoslavia and other countries have not received very good reviews from film critics. And the grapevine doesn't mention the movies either.

   Sure enough, there were some low-headed whispers in the awards hall, and some spectators also began to look around for who would be the winner of the grand prize.

   "The winner is Red Sorghum, Zhang Yimou!" A female award presenter announced the winner of the Golden Bear Award on stage.

   Ronald looked back, not many crew members came, and Yimou was arranged in a position near the aisle at the back. When he heard his name being called, he was still a little confused because of the German pronunciation.

  The translator next to him quickly stood up and whispered in his ear that he had won the Golden Bear Award. Yimou jumped up all of a sudden, with his hands in the posture of a bodybuilding champion, and the joy in his heart was beyond words.

   Ronald took the lead in applauding, and soon the surrounding audience also applauded under his leadership. Yimou ran forward from behind, and smiled at Ronald when he passed by him. Ronald looked at the director who didn't look like a director, and nodded to him.

  Yimou is wearing an obviously ill-fitting suit, and a red tie is carefully worn on a white shirt, which is the main color in his red sorghum. Stepping up to the rostrum, he took over the golden bear from the chairman of the jury. At this time, the sound of applause sounded again.

  However, it was similar to when the winner was announced just now. The applause from the audience was not so much congratulations to Yimou, but curiosity, "Who is this?"

  Director Yimou obviously doesn’t know English or German, so he gave an acceptance speech in Chinese on stage.

   "I am very grateful that you gave this award to our film. This award means to me and our young friends that we have the possibility to make better Huaguo films."

   "What did he say?" Michelle Cannold looked at the noise on the stage and the translation was not in place, so she had to ask Ronald.

   "He said that after winning the award, he will be able to get the producer's investment and make more films."

  Ronald told Kannold about Yimou's acceptance speech in a language that Hollywood can understand.

   "I think we should invest in him..." Michelle Cannold was obviously very happy, and the director Ronald was looking for should not be bad.

   "Haha, no, their film production is not open to us, maybe it is possible to invest in his film twenty years later." Ronald applauded happily.

   Michelle Cannold, who was not reconciled, approached Yimou again during the dinner, "We really want to cooperate with you to make a movie. Our Daydream has the ability to distribute nationwide in America."

   "Daydream? Is your boss surnamed Luo?" Yimou smiled honestly, "I heard our factory director, Director Wu, talk about him."

   Cannold was dumbfounded after listening to the interpreter. The boss has contacts in Huaguo?

   "It's me. Director Wu, is he okay? We haven't called for a long time." Ronald went up and smiled at Yimou in Chinese.

   "Ah, you are Director Luo, nice to meet you."

   "If you need anything, you can tell me. Director Wu and I are good friends."

  Yimou can't communicate without a translator. Only Ronald and him chat happily in Chinese. The two also talked about their understanding of Akira Kurosawa's films, and the shooting method of red sorghum's gushing hormones.

"This is mainly due to our screenwriter, whose novels are very good. My cameraman and several leading actors also played a big role. This award belongs to our collective." Yimou said in Huaguo style, Don't take full credit for yourself.

"You can't lie to me, Yimou, your photography and editing are all arranged. In the opening scene where the red cloth is lifted in the sedan chair, you must have planned to edit it first, and then shot it like this, right? Director There is no need for verbal communication between them, as long as they see your picture, they will know what you want to express."

   "Hahaha..." Yimou felt sympathy for Director Luo, whom Director Wu praised highly, and the two chatted very speculatively. Unlike other people who just came to congratulate him and say nothing about their love for Huaguo culture, Director Luo really understands Huaguo culture. He even knows that the bride will wear a red scarf when she gets married. Taking off the headscarf on the sedan chair is an image symbol that subverts the tradition. "

   "Aren't you full? I prepared a Chinese restaurant and asked them to prepare Chinese food." During the dinner, Ronald and Yimou were busy socializing with many buyers and producers, so they didn't eat anything. After the end, Ronald said a few words to Yimou quietly.

   "Oh, Director Luo, thank you so much. After going abroad for a long time, I can't get used to foreign food."

   "These are all the dishes of the restaurant owned by the old overseas Chinese, and they are sent to the hotel to reward you. I said that the Hua people won the Golden Bear Award. They are very happy. If you take some photos of them, it is an advertisement for them."

   took a photo with the owner and chef of the restaurant, and Ronald and Yimou started eating with chopsticks. Yimou feels very relaxed. Director Luo can speak a little Chinese, communication is not difficult, and he is also very skilled in using chopsticks, as if eating at home with friends.

  Satisfied with wine and food, Ronald took a group photo with Yimou and his golden bear with his own silver bear. Then he took out a package from under the table, put it on the table, and passed it to the opposite side, "Here are two bottles of Italian brandy, one bottle is for you, and the other bottle is for Director Wu to taste."

  (end of this chapter)