No mainland films were selected for the Cannes Film Festival this year, but the export company organized a delegation to promote and sell films in Cannes. The main films that the export company brought to Cannes were kung fu films and thrillers, including "Shaolin Kid" starring Li Lianjie.

Xu Wangqiu and the others flew to Paris, and after meeting with the export company's office in Paris, they asked the office to send two young men who could speak French to Cannes together. Two young men sent by the office, one named Jin Ge and the other Labaokang.

After seeing Labaokang, Xu Wangqiu was a little stunned. He stared at Laqikang for several seconds, and then he realized that the childish young man in front of him was the new head of China Film Group after Han Shanping retired. He smiled and patted La's shoulder, and said encouragingly: "Xiao La, you have to work hard, and you will definitely have a great future in the future." ”

Labaokang is about the same age as Xu Wangqiu, but Xu Wangqiu is the director of the company's art center and a superior leader. Therefore, instead of feeling that there was anything wrong, Layukang was very excited and said: "I will definitely work hard!"

Xu Wangqiu smiled and nodded, without saying anything more.

Before Xu Wangqiu crossed, he had filmed a version of "Cold", which was invested by China Film. After the filming of the movie, when China Film conducted an internal review, the general manager of China Film, Laqikang, patted him on the shoulder and said: "Xiao Xu! Your film is very good at shooting at a high level, and it will definitely have a great future in the future." ”

Under the leadership of Labaokang and Jin Ge, Xu Wangqiu was at the Gare de Lyon in Paris and poured into the train carriage with the crowd. Due to the tiring journey, Hu Jian and the others dozed off on their chairs after getting on the train. Xu Wangqiu was in good spirits, holding the film festival brochure provided by Layukang and slowly flipping through it.

This year's Cannes films are generally diverse, and the selection range is much wider than in the past, with a total of 20 films from 14 countries and regions shortlisted for the main competition unit. In the shortlisted list, Xu Wangqiu saw a lot of glittering names, Truffaut, Polanski, Satyagit Rey, Bertolucci, Wim Wendersen, Werner Herzog, Angelopoulos, Lars von Trier. In the screening unit are Chabrol, Sergio Leone.

Of all the shortlisted films, the one that attracted the most attention was undoubtedly Truffaut's new film "The Psycho". In 1968, during the May Storm, Truffaut and Godard had a major disturbance at the Festival de Cannes, which forced the festival to close that year. After that, Truffaut and Godard broke with Cannes. Their films were never shown again at Cannes. Truffaut was able to return to Cannes with the film, indicating that he and Cannes had officially reconciled. This is a blessing for the entire film industry.

Xu Wangqiu was a little surprised to see Truffaut's shortlisted film "Psycho", he didn't remember that Truffaut had made this movie. He felt that it was because of his own butterfly that Truffaut made this film. After all, everyone made an appointment in Cannes to make a film with mental illness or mental illness as the main axis, and Truffaut's new film was obviously created for the sake of the agreement.

Similar to Truffaut's "Psycho", Polanski's "Bitter Moon" was also influenced by Xu Wangqiu's butterfly, and the original film that would have been born in the 90s was made nearly ten years earlier. Xu Wangqiu remembers very well that this movie should have been born in 92.

Before coming to Cannes, Xu Wangqiu always thought that his "Cold" would be the most controversial film at this year's Cannes Film Festival, because "Cold" was violent and bloody, and there was also a scene where children were shot, which would definitely cause controversy;

Compared with the star-studded film list, the jury of the main competition unit of this year's film festival is more stretched. The chairman of the jury, Dirk Bogard, is okay, he is a famous British actor who has starred in films such as "Distant Bridge" and "Soul Broken Venice", but the members of the jury do not know any other Xu Wangqiu except Isabelle Huppert.

After a long journey of five hours, the train arrived in Cannes without any problems. Xu Wangqiu dragged their luggage out of the train station and found that the sky was clear in Cannes, the sun was hanging high, and the warm sun was particularly comfortable on their bodies. When I left Paris, it was still dark clouds, the sky was drizzling, and Cannes in front of me was like another world.

Hu Jian said happily: "It seems that Cannes welcomes us very much!

Two months before the opening of the Cannes Film Festival, Xu Wangqiu asked the Paris office to rent an apartment in Cannes. Their apartment is not far from the Cinema Palace, the surroundings are very quiet, and the complex has communal gardens and swimming pools. The apartment is well equipped and the spacious balcony is wrapped in green flowers and plants, which makes it look green.

Xu Wangqiu moved a chair, sat down on the balcony, closed his eyes and enjoyed the afternoon. After lying down for a while, he suddenly remembered that La Baokang had said that Xia Meng and the others had already arrived in Cannes, so he planned to meet Xia Meng and them. Xu Wangqiu called La Baokang to find Xia Meng and them to see if they needed help, and casually chatted about movie premieres and selling films.

Xia Meng and they didn't stay in a hotel, but also rented an apartment. Xia Meng has never participated in the Cannes Film Festival and is not familiar with the film festival. After receiving the notification of the shortlist, she got in touch with the Paris office of the export company and asked the Paris office to help. Their apartment was rented by the Paris office, not far from Xu Wangqiu's apartment.

When Xu Wangqiu and La Baokang walked into the room, Xia Meng and Wang Mingquan were sitting on the sofa chatting. Both of them are women, and France is a country of fashion, and they plan to go to Paris to buy clothes and cosmetics after the festival. Xia Meng saw Xu Wangqiu coming in, and greeted with a smile: "Wangqiu." When did you arrive and did everything go smoothly on the way?"

Xu Wangqiu sat down on the sofa and said with a smile: "It's going well." How are you doing?"

Xia Meng smiled and said, "With the help of the comrades in the Paris office, we are also quite smooth." ”

Xu Wangqiu noticed the film festival brochure on the coffee table, and said: "Do you see the introduction of the shortlisted films in the main competition unit this year?" This year's main competition is really full of masters, with the older ones Truffaut and Satyagit Rey, the younger ones Wim Wenderson and Werner Herzog, and the budding Angelopoulos and Lars von Trier. Our opponents are ridiculously strong!"

Xia Meng smiled and said, "Then do you think we have hope of winning the award?"

Xu Wangqiu remembers that this year's Cannes should have won the Palme d'Or for Wim Wenderson's "Paris, Texas", but now with Truffaut and others joining the team, there are uncertainties. Polanski's "Bitter Moon" is more controversial and unlikely to win the grand prize, but Truffaut is hard to say. He was the standard-bearer of the New Wave, but he never won the top prize at the three major film festivals, and this year is the year of his rapprochement with Cannes, and it is entirely possible that the jury will award him the top prize.

Xu Wangqiu shook his head slowly and said, "A small prize should be possible, but a big prize is impossible." I think nine times out of ten this year's Palme d'Or will be Truffauut's. Truffaut has a place there, and he deserves a Palme d'Or. I think if we want to win the award, I hope it's the best actor, and he played a really good role. Other awards are hard to say. ”

At this moment, David Jiang walked in from the balcony. He looked at Xu Wangqiu and said with a smile: "Wangqiu." We were all new to Cannes for the first time. You're familiar with Cannes, so show us around. ”

Wang Mingquan echoed: "Yes, yes, we are all waiting for you to be our tour guide!"

Xu Wangqiu got up and said, "If you dislike it, then I'll be a tour guide." After speaking, he suddenly remembered something: "By the way, Sister Xia Meng, you went to the film festival to register, did you get your certificate?"

Xia Meng looked dazed: "Do you still need to register?"

Xu Wangqiu said: "Only after registering and getting the certificate can you enter and leave the movie palace." Take your documents, and we will go to register with Manager Hu and them. ”

Coming out of the apartment, Xu Wangqiu and the others called Hu Jian and others and marched along Binhai Avenue towards the Movie Palace.

The promenade is bordered by sandy bays on one side and numerous five-star hotels on the other. At this time, the billboards on the Corniche and the walls of the hotel were hung with movie posters, which were basically Hollywood movies, such as "Raiders of the Lost Ark 2", "Star Trek 3", "Ghostbusters" and so on. The film competition at the festival has not yet begun, and the market war has quietly begun.

When he arrived at the Movie Palace, Xu Wangqiu found that the Movie Palace in front of him was not the old movie palace he saw last time he went to Cannes, but the movie palace in his memory. Huge white building that looks like a giant bunker.

The Palais du Cinémathèque is divided into three sections, from left to right: the Lumière Hall, the Media Center, and the Debussy Hall. The Lumière Hall is the official red carpet ceremonial venue, while the Debussy Hall is the main venue for a kind of focus unit.

At this time, banners and posters of the film festival were hung above the three parts of the film palace, and the film festival had not yet officially opened, but the front of the film palace was already full of tourists. The red carpet outside the Lumière Cinema has not yet been laid, but the fence is already full of ladders for fans to chase stars.

Jiang Dawei and the others wanted to visit the movie palace, but when they walked inside, they were stopped by the security guards and asked them to take their documents. Xu Wangqiu and the others had not yet applied for documents, so they came to the certificate center to register for documents.

There were a lot of people at the ID center, and there was a long queue of filmmakers and media reporters waiting to register. Xu Wangqiu and the others waited in line for nearly an hour to complete the registration and get their respective certificates. Xia Meng: They brought a film to the competition, and they registered for the film festival card. Hu Jian: They brought their films to Cannes to sell them, and they registered for the Cannes Market Pass.

After getting the documents, the security guards did not stop them again, and Xu Wangqiu and they successfully entered the movie palace.

Walking into the hall of the movie palace, Xu Wangqiu found that the pillars of the hall were printed with photos of the director of the main competition. On the front pillar is a photograph of Truffaut, with a photograph of Polanski on one side and a photograph of Angelopoulos on the other. Xu Wangqiu looked up at the pillar behind him, looking for a photo of himself.

At this moment, Jiang Dawei shouted loudly: "Look! That's a photo of Wangqiu!"

Everyone looked in the direction pointed by David Jiang, and on a huge white pillar, a photo of Xu Wangqiu was impressively printed. He was wearing a white shirt, with his hands in his trouser pockets, and he looked at the camera with his head tilted slightly, looking very cool.

Wang Mingquan said loudly: "Oh, it's really a photo of Wangqiu!" She walked quickly to Xu Wangqiu's photo and posed: "Come and take a picture for me." Let me take a photo with Wangqiu!"

Everyone laughed, and they all followed suit, taking photos with Xu Wangqiu's photo. Even Xu Wangqiu himself was standing next to his photo, asking Xia Meng and them to take pictures for him.

After taking the photo, Xu Wangqiu and the others were about to continue their visit, when a voice suddenly came from behind them: "Xu! My dear friend! So you are here!"