Cannes has a permanent population of only 70,000, but during the festival, up to 200,000 expats flock to the city, and the quiet town suddenly becomes bustling. Due to the surge in tourists, the supply of hotels and restaurants exceeds the supply, and the cost of accommodation often shows a two- to three-fold skyrocket.

Accommodation in hotels and restaurants is very difficult, and the prices are very high, so many locals will not hesitate to rent out their houses during the festival. Many crews will choose to rent apartments or villas, and the whole crew will live together, which is not only convenient, but also saves a lot of costs.

A month before the opening of the festival, people from the Paris office came to Cannes and rented a 4-room apartment with a terrace of more than 200 square meters. The delegation of 10 people, plus three from the Paris office, was very crowded to live in a four-room apartment, but no one complained, after all, renting an extra apartment would cost thousands of dollars more.

After settling down, Hu Jian sat on the sofa in the living room and said to Zhang Yimou: "Yimou, you go to the square in front of the movie palace to have a look, the flags of the countries and regions participating in the film festival will be raised during the film festival, go and see if our national flag is raised." ”

Xu Wangqiu knew why Hu Jian did this, and there was an incident last year. The Chinese film delegation went to a film festival to screen it, and when they arrived, they found that it was a blue sky and white sun flag. When negotiating with the film festival, the other party was very arrogant, saying yes, this flag was hung before. Seeing that the other party insisted on not changing, the Chinese delegation directly withdrew from the film festival.

I don't know if this incident is a small action made by Taiwan, but it is well known that Taiwan likes to engage in this kind of small action. Not only now, but thirty or forty years from now. When Taiwan films are screened or sold at film festivals, they generally participate in the form of delegations, and the Taiwan Information Bureau will send people to follow, and the Taiwan Information Bureau will often make small moves to disgust people.

For example, Ang Lee's "Lust and Caution" participated in the Venice Film Festival, and the production area was originally marked by China and the United States, but the Taiwan Information Bureau changed the film festival to China, the United States and Taiwan.

Another example is "Assassin Nie Yinniang" went to Venice to compete, the film festival manual printed the nationality of Hou Xiaoxian and others as China, and the people from the Taiwan Information Bureau immediately protested to the film festival and asked for revision, Shu Qi turned out to be from Taiwan, but she was holding a Hong Kong passport, and the film festival official could not change it, so there was a handwritten change of nationality incident.

Xu Wangqiu knew that Zhang Yimou's foreign language was not very good, and he wanted to go out for a walk, so he said: "I'll go with Lao Mou, if the flag is okay, then we'll go around." If there's a problem with the flag, we'll report it right back. ”

Hu Jian looked at the time, it was already past two o'clock in the afternoon, and said, "Okay, if it's okay, you go shopping, and we'll go to the trading market later." But you have to come back early and go to dinner together. ”

Xu Wangqiu and Zhang Yimou came out of their residence and walked along the croisette seaside boulevard. This avenue is an avenue that stretches along the coast of Cannes and is lined with palm trees, also known as the Palm Avenue. With the warm sunshine of the South of France bathed in palm trees, the elegant buildings on the roadside, the French roadside advertising lampposts, and the individual men and women who pass by from time to time on the avenue, the croisette promenade has a very stylish feel. Since a Chinese film delegation will come to the screening this year, some shop windows on both sides of the avenue are decorated with large slogans written in Chinese and other languages welcoming Chinese films to participate in the screening.

It didn't take long for the Cinema Palace to be in front of you. Xu Wangqiu saw dozens of flags of different countries and regions hanging on the roof of the movie palace, and the bright five-star red flag was particularly dazzling among the many flags.

The five-star red flag was hung in the movie palace, Xu Wangqiu was relieved, and turned his head and asked Zhang Yimou: "Where are we going?"

Zhang Yimou didn't know much about Cannes, so he couldn't say why, so he said: "I listen to your arrangement, and you can go wherever you say." ”

Xu Wangqiu said with a smile: "Why don't you go to the beach to see, the beaches in Cannes are particularly famous, and I heard that there are many beautiful women wearing swimsuits." ”

Zhang Yimou knew that Xu Wangqiu was ridiculing himself, his old face was red, and his head shook like a rattle: "What's so nice to see on the beach, let's watch something serious." ”

In fact, Xu Wangqiu is not familiar with the Cannes Film Festival, and has only participated in it once. However, the current Cannes Film Festival is a bit different from when he participated, and the cinema palace in front of him is not the luxurious and magnificent cinema palace when he participated in the film festival, it is an old building, and it is relatively small. The current film festival sells tickets, unlike all later screenings that are only for professionals with certificates, including journalists, market buyers, exhibitors, film practitioners, etc., ordinary fans and audiences can only hold a sign in front of the movie palace if they want to watch a movie, hoping that professionals who do not watch movies will give them tickets. Xu Wangqiu went to the next price, a ticket costs 35 francs, which is equivalent to 24 yuan, which is too much of a expensive.

The two walked around the Palais de la Cinémathèque and came to the famous Place Pompidou. Here, rows of tiles with the handprints and signatures of the winners are linked together to form the famous Walk of Fame. This Avenue of Fame should have not been built for a long time, and now there are very few handprints and signatures, only thirty or forty.

Xu Wangqiu was very calm about this, but Zhang Yimou's face was full of reverence, as if he was on a pilgrimage, analyzing and carefully looking at the signatures and handprints. When he met someone he didn't know, he asked Xu Wangqiu who this was and what works he had.

After reading the signatures and handprints on the ground, Zhang Yimou turned his head to Xu Wangqiu and said: "The people who can leave their names here are all world-class directors and stars, do you say that we will have the opportunity to leave their names here in the future?"

Xu Wangqiu didn't like his name being trampled on by others, and he was not interested in leaving a name on the Avenue of Stars, but seeing Zhang Yimou's face full of longing, he smiled and encouraged: "Of course there is a chance." As long as we work hard, we will definitely have the opportunity to stay on the Avenue of Stars in the future. ”

Zhang Yimou's eyes sparkled: "Yes, I think so too." ”

After strolling around until five o'clock in the afternoon, Xu Wangqiu and the others returned to their rented apartment. Xu Wangqiu met Hu Jian sitting on the sofa and water, and asked Hu Jian how the situation was in the film trading market. Hu Jian told Xu Wangqiu that film manufacturers from more than 30 countries and regions participated in the exhibition and sale of this year's Cannes Film Festival, and more than 300 films will be screened. Because some European and American filmmakers bought the copyrights of "Hoe Rape" and "Nezha in the Sea" last year, after the film was screened, the response was particularly good, and the filmmakers made a lot of money. After Hu Jian and the others arrived at the trading market, soon a filmmaker came to inquire. The film dealers were particularly interested in the films brought by the Chinese delegation, and some even directly said that they wanted to buy "Falcon".

After speaking, Hu Jian looked at his watch and said, "Everyone didn't eat lunch at noon, so they should be hungry." Let's go eat!" He turned his head to look at Liu Jianfeng and asked, "Old Liu, you are familiar with the situation here, where do you think it is better for us to eat?"

Liu Jianfeng didn't think about it, and said directly: "Let's go to the Grand View Garden." ”

Xu Wangqiu remembered that when he went to Cannes in his last life, he went to a Chinese restaurant to eat, and he always felt that the taste was wrong. Not just in Cannes, but throughout Europe, many Chinese restaurants are owned by Vietnamese. He asked Liu Jianfeng: "I heard that many Chinese restaurants in Europe are opened by Vietnamese, and Daguanyuan will not be opened by Vietnamese, if the Vietnamese know the content of "Falcon", maybe they will spit on our dishes." ”

Liu Jianfeng glanced at Xu Wangqiu, thinking that Xu Wangqiu knew too much, and even knew this, and explained with a smile: "The Grand View Garden is opened by Chinese, and the boss is from the magic capital, and he followed his father to Xiangjiang before liberation, and then to France. There are hundreds of restaurants in Cannes, including 7 Chinese restaurants, the largest of which is the Grand View Garden. When the Chinese delegation came over last year, they had been eating at the Grand View Garden. The head of the group, Wang Shuchen, is from the magic capital, and the boss is very enthusiastic, pulling Wang Shuchen to keep asking about the situation in the magic capital. The Grand View Garden is relatively large, which is more suitable for business negotiations, and the delegation often communicates with foreign filmmakers there. ”

Hu Jian heard that the Chinese film delegation had been eating in Daguanyuan last year, and the restaurant was relatively large and suitable for business talks, so he immediately made a decision: "Then we will also eat in Daguanyuan in the future." He got up and said, "It's not early, let's go!"

After more than ten minutes of walking, Xu Wangqiu and his party came to the Grand View Garden. Listening to the name, the Grand View Garden should be decorated magnificently, and when you walk into the restaurant, you will find that the decoration inside is fresh and elegant, and the color matching is very comfortable, and there is a feeling of Jiangnan dwelling.

Since it was still relatively early, there were not many people eating in the restaurant, all of them were white, and there were no yellow people in sight. At present, the newspapers in China are relatively poor, and it is impossible to send a large number of reporters to Cannes to report as they did 40 years later; Hong Kong and Taiwan are relatively wealthy, but because there are no films shortlisted, no media come to report on them.

Xu Wangqiu and the others had just found a big table and sat down, when a chubby middle-aged man in his fifties walked over. He recognized Liu Jianfeng in the crowd at a glance, and said with a smile: "I read in the newspaper that there is a special Chinese film exhibition in Cannes this time, which will screen many Chinese films, but I haven't seen you." I'm wondering if you didn't come to me because of the hospitality last year. ”

Liu Jianfeng said with a smile: "No, no, we just arrived today." We came late in the screening, so we came late. Boss Wang, in the next few days, we will set up camp with you. ”

The boss laughed and said, "Welcome, you can call me at any time if you need anything." ”

After a few words of greeting, the boss asked Xu Wangqiu to order food. Hu Jian was in a very good mood, ordered several dishes in one go, and asked for a drink. The boss took the menu to the kitchen, and then came over with a camera and took a photo with Xu Wangqiu.

Xu Wangqiu and the others did not eat lunch, only a little dry food. When the food is served, everyone comes and goes, spread your arms and eat. While eating happily, Xu Wangqiu suddenly heard the sound of Chinese dialogue at the door, and when he looked up, he saw a group of East Asian faces in suits and leather shoes walking towards the restaurant. Most of these people's faces are unfamiliar, but there are one he knows, Lin Qingxia and Qin Xianglin, and Dillon. There is no need to guess, this is the Taiwan Bend Film Delegation.

Hu Jian saw an old woman in her sixties who looked shrewd and strong in the crowd, her face couldn't help but change slightly, and she sneered: "Tong Yuejuan is actually here, it seems that Taiwan is here to sing against us!"

Xu Wangqiu felt as if he had heard the name Tong Yuejuan somewhere, but he couldn't remember it for a while, so he said, "Who is Tong Yuejuan?"

Hu Jian said in a cold tone: "Tong Yuejuan is Zhang Shankun's wife, and Zhang Shankun is one of the founders of the Freedom Federation. After Zhang Shankun's death in 1957, Tong Yuejuan took charge of Zhang Shankun's film company. Every year, she organizes Xiangjiang artists to go to Taiwan to participate in activities such as the Labor Army, Double Tenth Celebration and Chiang Kai-shek's birthday. In 1973, Tong Yuejuan faded out of the company's management rights and moved to politics, serving as the chairman of the Freedom Federation. This person is an anti-communist activist, and there can't be any other reason for her presence here, she must have come to play against us!"