Exploiting Hollywood 1980

Although the West Berlin Film Festival is also one of the famous A-class film festivals in Europe, its actual influence is smaller than that of Cannes and Venice. This A-class does not mean that it has a greater influence than the B-class film festival, but it is a classification code of an international organization, which means that this film festival does not limit the type of films, and all types of films can participate in the competition. There is also an open jury award.

Class B is a film festival with limited themes, such as a horror, science fiction, and fantasy film festival, and only these types of films can participate in the competition. Class C is a film festival without an award link, only for everyone to show.

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

In addition to showing some movies about Western life, this film festival is also more inclined to movies that reflect the daily life of the East. Especially after Secretary-General Mikhail took office, he relaxed the culture of the Union and Eastern European countries, and more films were produced and sent to participate in the competition. Even the team leader, who Ronald often saw in the films submitted by the Alliance for review, was nowhere to be seen this time.

"I think the Golden Bear will be awarded to the Alliance, East Germany, or Polish films." Michel Cannold signed many distribution contracts. In his joy, he and Ronald had a drink in the room and guessed the final winner of the Golden Bear Award. "

His idea was very simple. Since it was a showcase, it was better to show the dark side of the opponent than to show his own good things.

"Haha, no." Ronald had seen several participating films. "Although the team leader didn't come, the political commissar came." He pointed to the Alliance's film and another Polish film in the participating films and said to Cannold, "You don't understand the East. These two are old films. They are still unwilling to accept it."

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

It was Ronald who explained to him that the Polish film was shot in 1982 and was immediately banned in Poland. Secretary-General Mikhail's open policy made the Poles, who were already eager to take out the film, to test the wind and express their protest.

Although the Union did not have the same air of dictating to satellite countries as in the past, and there was no leader following, their competent committee obviously expressed the atmosphere and sent a film called "Comrade Political Commissar" shot in 1967, telling the story of a female political commissar of the Red Army during the civil war, to the exhibition.

But what's interesting is that this film itself was also banned at the time, but recently it was regarded as a eulogy film, released after the original director revised it, and participated in the Moscow Film Festival.

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

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

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

"I have a hunch that maybe this Chinese film will win the award." Ronald mentioned an unpopular film.

"Why? Is there anything special about this film? I actually find it difficult to understand the story. "Michel Cannold went to see Red Sorghum. He originally wanted to try to introduce it to America and distribute it by Daydream.

[A novel app that has been running stably for many years, comparable to the old version of the book-chasing artifact, the source-changing app used by old bookworms, huanyuanapp]

Ronald discussed with them the positioning of Daydream, which can be said to be an upgraded version of Roger Corman's New World Company. On the one hand, it produces and distributes its own small-scale genre 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 can roughly understand the content of the movie just by watching the performance without watching the subtitles. This director's editing skills are very good. Second, did you notice that the chairman of the jury has changed? "

Ronald was talking about the chairman of the jury for this year's Golden Bear Award, who was originally the chairman of the jury by one of the country's few male stars, Gert Frobe. This villain in the 007 movie Goldfinger is one of the few West German actors who is famous in the English-speaking world.

But Gert Frobe was ill and declined the chairmanship, so the organizing committee had to find the famous Italian film critic Guglielmo Biraghi to take the lead. This Italian film critic was also the organizer of the Venice Film Festival last year.

In addition to his commercial ability, Biraghi is also a famous left-wing figure in Italy who sympathizes and supports any minority. He often calls those Italian left-wing directors The film took the opportunity to make friends with the famous left-wing director Bertolucci and the actor Roberto Benigni who made a movie satirizing the church.

This time when Ronald came to West Berlin to compete, his old friend Benigni called him and said that he spoke well of him in front of Biraghi. Ronald remembered this Martin Scorsese and Insabella Rossellini's good friend.

Benigni spoke loudly in English with a heavy accent, saying that he had a good relationship with Biraghi. Ronald didn't understand what he wanted to do until the end. Later, the agent sent a telegram to the other party, and then he realized that the overly enthusiastic Roberto Benigni just wanted to introduce them to each other.

However, in West Berlin, Biraghi, who serves as the chairman of the jury, needs to avoid suspicion and cannot be as casual as in Italy. Ronald found him and chatted for a few words in public, and the other party just welcomed him for sending the film to the competition.

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

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

Of course, "Red Sorghum" is also a masterpiece. What’s interesting about this movie is that even if a foreigner can’t understand the story and dialogue, he can still feel the overwhelming hormones filling the character’s heart through the director’s shooting techniques and editing.

This is exactly the opposite of the outside world's stereotype of Chinese Americans, and will arouse greater interest from the judges. Ronald knew that film critics always liked this innovative approach.

"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 it with Ronald.

…

"The Silver Bear for Best Actress is, Holly Hunter, 'Bearing the News.'" At the awards show, Ronald started clapping.

Unlike the Venice Film Festival, which has become a popular destination for domestic films and has a large number of stars, unlike the Cannes Film Festival, the market for German films has been shrinking for a long time. The few stars in this country are also working hard in Hollywood and Britain.

Therefore, the awards night at the West Berlin Film Festival was dimly lit, and there were not as many media visitors as there were at the previous two film festivals. In addition to the Golden Bear Award for Best Picture, other acting, directing, special jury awards, etc. are all called Silver Bear Awards.

This time it was different from the outposts of the domestic Oscars, the Guild Awards and the Film Critics Awards. In the end, Holly Hunter defeated Cher to win. However, the protagonist did not receive the award at the scene, but the producer received it on the stage.

Michelle Cannold sat next to Ronald and touched Ronald's arm. "Moonlight is sultry" seems to be something! "

"It depends on luck. I told you not to stab me. It made me so nervous." Ronald became nervous in a rare moment. He looked at himself and saw that he was not wearing a custom-made evening dress, just an ordinary Armani custom-made suit. If he had known better, he would have brought the dress prepared for Oscar.

It is the practice of the West Berlin Film Festival to try not to award two awards to the same film. Now that the Silver Bear for Best Actress went to "Breaking News," the chances of "Moonlight" winning a Golden Bear for Best Director or even Best Picture are much higher.

That's 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 think about the West Berlin Film Festival, which strives to balance Eastern and Western awards, the only ones left are Ronald's "Moonlight" and China's "Red Sorghum."

No matter what award you win, it will be very helpful to the movie's box office and Oscar-winning prospects.

"The Silver Bear Award for Best Director goes to Ronald Lee from America!"

"Huh..." Ronald let out a long breath, it was still the Silver Bear. But fortunately, it was the Best Director Award. For Ronald, it was better than the consolation Special Jury Award for second place in the Golden Bear competition.

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

Ronald and Michelle Cannold hugged Michael Gray, who was in charge of announcing the event, and took the stage to accept the ever-cute Bear trophy.

"Thank you to the West Berlin Film Festival for your love and recognition of Moonlight, thank you to the jury chairman Mr. Biraghi and all the judges, thank you to the audience who love Moonlight. Also thank you to the creators of the Moonlight crew. , especially Cher, Olympia Dukakis, and Nic Cage, without whom this movie wouldn’t be possible.”

After thanking those who should be thanked, Ronald glanced around and found Godard in the audience. "This award shows that movies that are loved by the audience will also be loved by the judges. Good movies should not be either/or." of."

I cannonballed, will look back at him.

Ronald, who returned to his seat, celebrated with hugs from both sides. The Silver Bear was shaped like a bear, and except for the material and color, it was the same as the Golden Bear.

“Special Jury Prize, Union of Soviet Union, ‘Comrade Comrade’”

The penultimate award was awarded to the film that was released twenty years later. Both Cannold and Gray looked at Ronald. Could his prediction really be successful? This is a huge upset that no one expected.

Looking through the list of other participating films, I found that those selected by Mexico, Yugoslavia and other countries did not receive very good reviews from film critics. And the grapevine never mentioned these movies.

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

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

Ronald looked back and saw that there were not many crew members coming, and Yiou was placed in a position at the back, close to the aisle. He heard his name being called, and was a little confused because of the German pronunciation.

The translator beside him stood up quickly and whispered in his ear that it was he who won the Golden Bear Award. Yiou jumped up all of a sudden, and put his hands in a posture like a bodybuilding champion, his inner joy was beyond words.

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

Yiou wore a suit that was obviously ill-fitting, and a red tie was carefully tied on his white shirt, which was his main color in Red Sorghum. He stepped onto the podium and took the golden bear from the chairman of the jury. At this time, the sound of applause rang out again.

However, it was similar to the announcement of the winner just now. The applause of the audience was more of curiosity than congratulations to Yiou, "Who is this?"

Director Yiou obviously didn't know English or German. He gave a speech on the stage in Chinese.

"I am very grateful that you gave this award to our film. This award means to me and our young friends that we may be able to make better Chinese films."

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

"He said that after winning the award, he can get investment from producers and make more films."

Ronald told Cannold Yiou's acceptance speech in a language that Hollywood can understand.

"I think we should invest in him..." Michelle Cannold was obviously very happy. The director Ronald liked should not be bad.

"Haha, no, their film production is not open to us. Maybe we can invest in his film in 20 years." Ronald applauded happily.

Michelle Cannold, unwilling to give up, approached Yiou again during the dinner, "We really want to cooperate with you to shoot a movie. Our Daydream has the ability to distribute nationwide in America."

"Daydream? Is your boss's surname Luo?" Yiou smiled honestly, "I heard our factory director Director Wu talk about him."

Cannold was stunned after listening to the translator's words. The boss has connections in China?

"That's me. How is Director Wu? We haven't called for a long time." Ronald went up and smiled at Yiou 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."

Yiou couldn't communicate without a translator, only Ronald and him chatted happily in Chinese. The two also talked about their understanding of Kurosawa's movies and the shooting method of Red Sorghum, which was full of hormones.

"This is mainly due to the work of our screenwriter. His novel is very good. My photographer and several leading actors also played a big role. This award belongs to us as a group." Yiou used the Chinese way of speaking, not taking all the credit for himself.

"You can't fool me, Yiou. Your photography and editing were all arranged. The shot of lifting the red cloth in the sedan chair at the beginning must have been planned by you first, and then shot like this, right? There is no need for verbal communication between directors. As long as they see your pictures, they know what you want to express."

"Hahaha..." Yiou felt a sense of mutual appreciation for Director Luo, who was praised by Director Wu, and the two chatted very speculatively. Unlike others who just came to congratulate him and said something irrelevant about loving Chinese culture, Director Luo really understood Chinese culture. He even knew that the bride had to wear a red headscarf when she got married. The protagonist 'my grandmother' took off the headscarf on the sedan chair, which was an image symbol of subversion of tradition. "

"Are you not full? I prepared a Chinese restaurant and asked them to prepare Chinese food. "At the dinner, Ronald and Yiou were busy socializing with many buyers and producers, and didn't eat anything. After the dinner, Ronald whispered to Yiou.

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

"These are all dishes from the restaurant opened by the old overseas Chinese, sent to the hotel to reward you. I said that the Chinese won the Golden Bear Award, and they are very happy. If you take some photos with them, it will be an advertisement for them."

After taking a photo with the owner and chef of the restaurant, Ronald and Yiou started eating with a quick spoon. Yiou felt very relaxed. This Director Luo could speak some Chinese, so it was not difficult to communicate. He was also very skilled in using a quick spoon, as if he was having dinner with friends at home.

After eating and drinking, Ronald took his own Silver Bear and took a photo with Yiou who held the Golden Bear. Then he took out a bag from under the table, put it on the table, and handed it to the other side, "These are two bottles of Italian brandy, one for you, and one for Director Wu to taste. ”

Exploitation Hollywood 1980