1979 Golden Age

Many people think that only English films can be nominated for the Best Picture Award, and non-English films can only be nominated for the Best Foreign Language Film Award.

Actually, it is not.

The Oscars do not have a hard and fast rule. For example, "The Grand Illusion" in 1938, "News Focus" in 1969, "The Great Emigrant" in 1972, "The Cry and the Whisper" in 1973, etc., are all non-English films that have been nominated.

The original "Life is Beautiful" and "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" were nominated for both Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film, which is not a conflict.

Of course, they didn't win.

The only non-English film that won the Best Picture Award was South Korea's "Parasite". Of course, this is the same as Michelle Yeoh winning the Best Actress Award.

At this moment, Chen Qi's version of "Life is Beautiful" received three nominations, Best Original Screenplay, Best Picture, and Best Foreign Language Film. This news was not big or small, but it was enough to surprise everyone.

After the list was announced, reporters asked questions one after another.

The people from the film company left quickly. They had to hold a meeting immediately to study and conduct necessary public relations activities for the nominations. 20th Century Fox could only bet on one of the Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Film awards for Life is Beautiful.

The next day, the news was released.

Xinhua News Agency, China News Service, embassies, and consulates all noticed it and sent the news back to China. Hong Kong was even faster and sent it directly, so Taiwan naturally knew about it.

Domestic newspapers began to report it, but the noise was not loud.

It was just a nomination, and it didn't win the award. Moreover, 99% of the people now don't know what the Oscars are, and they have to explain that it is the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers of American movies, and how great it is.

The industry is paying more attention.

At the time when Chinese films are going global, Life is Beautiful won the Golden Bear and was nominated for an Oscar, which made it look very proud. Taiwan blocked the news again, and the Hong Kong media was still sour because Hong Kong films had never won any awards.

At the end of the year, all units had to write reports. It happened that this news came back and was placed on the table of the Ministry of Culture together with the year-end report of Oriental Company. The Ministry of Culture summarized it in the report of the ministry and gave it a higher position.

At this time, meetings were held every day.

Early that morning, Zhu Muzhi went into the lake and went to the Qinzheng Hall to attend a meeting. The level was very high, and Ding Qiao was not qualified to attend.

The venue only provided boiled water, and Longjing tea was packed in small bags, 50 cents a bag, and if you wanted to drink tea, you had to pay for it yourself. Zhu Muzhi bought some tea and drank it.

After a while, Wu Lengxi also came, touched his pocket and looked embarrassed.

"Forgot to bring money? Come on, I'll treat you to tea!"

Zhu Muzhi took out another 50 cents, Wu Lengxi snorted, borrowed 50 cents from others, and also bought a bag of tea - the fact that he paid for tea himself was revealed by Wang Meng, who was the Minister of Culture at that time.

The two sat next to each other, but they just didn't get along.

The old comrade had experienced the baptism of revolution, which did not mean that he had no selfish desires, but at least he had to fight for the interests of his own department.

The relationship between the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television and the Ministry of Culture has been very bad in the past two years. On the surface, it seems to be Chen Qi, but the fundamental reason is that the rapid development of televisions and TV series has threatened the film industry.

The two of them naturally wouldn't quarrel here, and they drank tea slurpingly.

Not long after, the big leader came and presided over the meeting.

There was nothing to say during the meeting, but as the meeting went on, someone suddenly turned to the Spring Festival Gala. The big leader was obviously very interested and asked: "Comrade Muzhi, I heard from Comrade xx (the leader of the Ministry of Truth) that this year's gala was very exciting?"

"Everyone has come up with some new ideas. I dare not say whether it is exciting or not. We are all serving the people."

"New Year's Eve is coming soon. We must hold a good gala for the people... Just now we talked about emancipating the mind and persisting in reform. The Ministry of Culture has done a good job in the past two years. It boldly opened up experimental fields, earned foreign exchange for the country, and won honors internationally..."

The big leader praised a few words and continued the meeting.

Zhu Muzhi was very happy. Xiao Chen was really a treasure of the Ministry of Culture. Without him, the department was doing routine work. With him, it overtook others in a blink of an eye.

"..."

Wu Lengxi had a blank expression on his face and was depressed.

At present, the development direction of radio and television is to strengthen infrastructure and expand television coverage; second, to support the TV drama industry. But TV dramas are not like movies, which can earn foreign exchange and win honors.

"Why should movies and TV be separated? It is convenient to manage them in a coordinated manner. If movies are under the radio and television system, then all problems will be solved."

This idea popped up in his mind, and then it was out of control.

This kind of big thing cannot be done just by thinking about it, nor can it be approved by the superiors if a report is submitted. There must be sufficient theoretical basis and factual evidence to make the opposition of the Ministry of Culture invalid, and to get the support of the central government...

Then can the central government support it?

He thought about it and it was not impossible, because the power of the Ministry of Culture was a bit too great, so it was just right to split the film out.

…………

Chen Qi was also surprised to receive the news.

He didn't expect there would be a nomination for the best film, but he didn't have much hope. The original version of "Life is Beautiful" was a living Jew, which was correct, but it didn't win the best film.

So "Parasite" is really fantasy!

He didn't know about the intrigues of the top leaders, and it didn't matter if he knew. The major historical events were all in his mind. It was enough for him to do his job well, continue to earn foreign exchange, win awards, and win glory for the country.

As New Year's Eve approached, he and Gong Xue were busy and exhausted.

Every day, they went out early and came back late. At this time, they found that having a car was so convenient.

In the blink of an eye, it was the 29th day of the lunar calendar.

People were coming and going in the CCTV building, one quarter of the people were serving the Spring Festival Gala, and all the relevant leaders were present to watch the last overall rehearsal.

This month, Chen Qi has been working on details, adding some small thoughts to make the gala more interesting. Of course, he thinks it is a small thought, but in the eyes of others, it is Jiang Boyao beating Cai Xukun - Jiang Wei beats the chicken (dimensionality reduction attack)!

In the studio.

Groups of performances, teams of people hurried, leaders sometimes laughed heartily, sometimes seriously discussed, and when the athletes appeared, a sentence caused disagreements.

This year, China sent 225 athletes to participate in 16 major events.

And Chinese Taipei also sent 67 athletes to participate in the competition. This is the first time that the two sides of the Taiwan Strait have met at the Olympics. So I wanted to play a little and say a few words to express that the two sides are one family.

"Xiao Chen, I still think it's inappropriate. Letting athletes say such things on the Spring Festival Gala stage may have the opposite effect. Let's delete it."

"Yes, the previous "Clouds of Hometown" has expressed enough."

"Then delete it!"

"No other opinions."

Zhu Muzhi stood up and shook Chen Qi's hand to cheer him up, just like last year: "You have already had a successful experience. Although the senior leaders took the initiative to show their concern this year and will definitely watch it tomorrow night, you should keep a normal mind and perform according to the level of rehearsal."

"Are you putting pressure on me, or are you not?"

"Pressure is motivation, you are fine."

Afterwards, Wu Lengxi came over to shake hands, which was unusual. He was indifferent to Chen Qi before, but now he was very enthusiastic: "Xiao Chen, I have absolute confidence in you and look forward to you bringing a wonderful evening party to the people of the whole country!"

"Thank you for your encouragement, I will do my best!"

"Come on, be sure to tell me if you have any difficulties."

"Okay!"

Chen Qi was a little confused and glanced at Wu Lengxi's back. What does it mean? Suddenly showing goodwill to me?

(One more chapter)