May 14, the day before the opening of the Cannes Film Festival. The main venue of the Cannes Cinema Palace has been decorated, and workers have erected huge posters outside the Cinema Palace, which is full of police forces to maintain law and order, and the whole town has been decorated with a romantic color of light and shadow.

The festival hasn't officially opened yet, but journalists from all over the world have already flocked to it, especially at Nice Airport, 27 kilometers from Cannes, which is jammed with reporters before dawn. Today, celebrities from all walks of life will come one after another, and this is the best place to snap up stars.

At the same time, Zhang Ran hugged his daughter very reluctantly, kissed several times on the "Trojan Horse" and "Trojan Horse", and then embarked on the journey to Cannes. In addition to Zhao Fei, Li Xuejian and Wang Luodan were accompanying him, as well as their assistants. The airport in Cannes is very small, and there is no way to fly a large plane there, so Zhang Ran and they can only drive a ten-seater Gulf Stream to it. The other members of the crew had no choice but to take Zhang Ran's plane, so they could only take a passenger plane to Cannes. Of course, it's all first class, and the cost is covered by the film festival.

Zhang Ran's plane did not land at Nice airport, but at a private airport called Mandeleu on the outskirts of Cannes. There are no regular routes to Mandeleu, and all takeoffs and landings are charter or private jets. The real big names come to Cannes by private jet, and their planes often stop in Mandeleu.

Zhang Ran and his entourage walked down from the plane, dragging their luggage and about to go out. Suddenly, there was a shout: "Zhang!"

Zhang Ran and the others stopped and looked up, there were several cars parked not far away, Jacob, the president of the Cannes Film Festival, and Fumao, the artistic director, were standing next to the cars, waving at everyone.

Zhang Ran waved at Fumao and them, and said to Li Xuejian and the others: "Jacob and Fumao are here to pick us up, let's go!" As he spoke, he dragged his suitcase and walked towards Jacob and them.

Jacob greeted him and warmly greeted Zhang Ran. He knew Zhang Ran, nine years ago Zhang Ran brought "Time and Space Warrior" to Cannes for screening, he felt that this young director was good and creative, but unfortunately the film was too commercial. At that time, he didn't expect that Zhang Ran would grow to this point. Jacob said with some emotion: "Zhang Ran, I haven't seen you for a long time! It's really good that you can come to Cannes!"

"Jacob, hello! I haven't seen you for nine years, you haven't changed at all!" Zhang Ran smiled and began to introduce the crew members, "Let me introduce, this is Li Xuejian, the star of "Scorching Sun", this is the photographer Zhao Fei, and this is Wang Luodan. ”

Jacob shook hands with everyone very politely, and then beckoned to get on the bus: "Don't stand here, let's get on the bus." ”

The group got into the car one after another, Zhang Ran and the bodyguard got into Jacob's car, and the bodyguard sat in the co-pilot's seat. Without waiting for anyone to give him an order, the driver started the car and drove out.

As soon as the car drove out of the airport exit, Zhang Ran was surprised to find hundreds of fans standing in front of him, men and women, of different colors, holding cheering cards in various languages and posters of Zhang Ran's movies, and kept looking into the airport. There are also journalists from all over the world, with their cameras in hand, ready to take pictures.

The appearance of Jacob's car instantly attracted the attention of fans, and they screamed when they boarded, desperately waving the altitude and support cards in their hands at Zhang Ran, shouting Zhang Ran's name in their mouths, and the reporters were shooting wildly at Zhang Ran in the car.

Zhang Ran was a little surprised, he didn't disclose the schedule, but he didn't expect fans and reporters to know. At the same time, he felt a warm current circulate through his body, warming his entire body. He rolled down the window and waved at everyone with a smile: "Hello, you have worked hard!"

"Zhang Ran, I love you!" "Zhang Ran, we will always be with you!", "Zhang Ran, I will always support you!......

A short time later, the car pulled into the Hotel Barrière, opposite the Palais du Cinémath. This is the official partner hotel of the film festival, about 200 meters away from the Palais du Cinéma, and the stars can step on the red carpet in Cannes as soon as they step out of the hotel, so it is loved by the stars.

Settling down at the hotel, Zhang Ran and Jacob sat on the sofa chatting.

Jacob said with emotion: "After Cannes this year, I will retire. In the last film festival I was in charge of, I can invite you here, and my career as the president of the film festival can be regarded as a complete one!"

Because it is the last Cannes at the helm of Jacob, this year's Cannes can be said to be a gathering of masters, a rare big year, from the main competition unit to a kind of attention, all kinds of powerful characters gathered.

Zhang Ran is not particularly interested in other directors, but is really interested in Godard, and he really wants to meet this old man. However, Godard is an old disgruntled young man, and since attending the Cannes Film Festival in 2001, he has never set foot at the Cannes Film Festival, nor has he attended any awards ceremony, even the Academy Award for Lifetime Achievement. His assessment of Cannes is that the place is noisy all day long, like a circus, and it is really tiring to go once. Godard will definitely not come to the Cannes Film Festival this time. Zhang Ran felt a little regretful in his heart: "It's a pity that Godard won't come, if he can come, then your farewell ceremony will be perfect!"

Jacob suddenly laughed: "No, Godard will come this year!"

Zhang Ran was stunned, he remembered that Zhang Ran remembered that Godard did not attend in the previous life, how could he suddenly attend again this time? He was very surprised by this: "Has it been decided?" He saw Jacob nodding very affirmatively, and said with a smile: "Even Godard is here, this is really a perfect curtain call." ”

Jacob looked at Zhang Ran and said seriously: "Thanks to you, Godard wants to see you, and he also wants to see what tricks your 3D movie will play, so he decided to come to Cannes!"

Zhang Ran was stunned, and then laughed: "Actually, I also want to meet him and talk to him, I look forward to meeting him!"

Zhang Ran didn't particularly like Godard's films, he felt too elitist, but he really admired this person. Godard spent his life rebelling against bourgeois cinema and fighting against Hollywood. He doesn't care if his movies have an audience, he only cares if he is still thinking and whether he is still exploring. He fought all his life and explored all his life. For such a person, you may not like his work, but you can't help but respect this person.

Zhang Ran was originally not very interested in participating in this year's Cannes Film Festival, so he came to promote it, but now when he heard that he could meet Godard, he suddenly looked forward to this trip to Cannes.

Seeing off Jacob, Zhang Ran plans to go out for a walk. In order to avoid being recognized by fans and triggering a siege, he put on makeup, put on a fake beard, and put on sunglasses before going out.

Walking on the streets of Cannes, Zhang Ran was surprised that the streets were full of Chinese faces, which were no different from those in China. Zhang Ran remembers that when he came to Cannes a few years ago, there were not many faces in the East, and from time to time he could see one or two Chinese reporters and Chinese fans in the crowd, but he didn't expect that there were Chinese faces everywhere now.

Zhang Ran remembered that just now at the hotel, Jacob told him that the number of Chinese delegations in Cannes has increased the most, with an annual increase of about 20%, and the number of Chinese delegations has reached more than 700 this year. Coupled with the reporters of various domestic newspapers and websites, various Internet celebrities who organize groups to rub the red carpet, and tourists who come to travel and join in the fun, there are thousands of Chinese in the whole Cannes, so it is not surprising that there are Chinese faces everywhere.

A good advertising space at the Festival de Cannes is the building across the road from the Palais du Cinéma, and there is always a huge, giant poster for the main Cannes poster upstairs during the festival. Due to the high price, ordinary movies can't afford this advertising space, and for a long time it was the private reserve of Hollywood blockbusters, but this year this location belongs to China, Ning Hao's "Country Teacher".

The facades of the various high-end hotels leading east from the Movie Palace, which used to be dominated by Hollywood blockbusters, are now half stolen by Chinese films, and are covered with posters of Chinese movies. Jiang Wen's "One Step Away" took over the open-air advertising space of the Majestic Hotel and hung up huge posters, John Woo's "Taiping Wheel" grabbed the particularly competitive Carlton Hotel, Zheng Baorui's "Three Dozen White Bone Spirits" won the advertising space of the Marriott Hotel, and the poster of "Wolf Totem" hung on the wall of the Cannes Hotel......

China's commercial blockbusters are almost all coming to Cannes, gathering together to show their talents and attract attention from all over the world.

For a long time in the past, Chinese-language films were a very small film genre in the world, and it was difficult to enter the distribution of mainstream commercial films in Europe and the United States. The only commercial movies that can be sold are action movies by Cheng Long and Jet Li, and other genres basically can't be sold.

However, with the rise of the peak of the century, a number of excellent commercial productions have been launched in recent years, such as Ning Hao's "Three-color World", Ding Sheng's "Chasing and Killing K Star People", Wu Ershan's "Ants" and other sci-fi films, which have achieved good box office overseas. Overseas filmmakers began to sell Chinese commercial blockbusters, and Chinese commercial blockbusters also came to Cannes on a large scale, using the Cannes platform to promote and try to break into the European market.

"Look! Zhang Ran!" Zhang Ran was looking at the poster of the movie "Isopa" when someone suddenly shouted.

Zhang Ran was startled, thinking that he had been recognized and was ready to leave quickly. However, when he looked over, he saw that the speaker was pointing to a poster three or four meters high. It was the poster of the movie "Scorching Sun", Li Xuejian and the blind dog stood on the top of the mountain, and a large piece of sunlight fell on their bodies, which was bright and stinging, and it hurt people's eyes. The poster reads the name of the film in Chinese and English, as well as the director: Zhang Ran, starring: Li Xuejian......

The man looked at the poster and said to his friend: "Look at this sunshine, this strong overexposure, it's just like "The Aviator", I have a hunch that this will be an outstanding work like "The Aviator". ”

Seeing that he was not recognized, Zhang Ran breathed a sigh of relief, took steps, and continued to walk along the street.

After wandering the street for a while, Zhang Ran looked at his watch and found that the difference was mostly dinner time. He was about to go to the restaurant to eat, when he suddenly heard someone shouting in a strange tone: "Teacher Zhang!"

Zhang Ran had many students come to Cannes to promote the movie, and when he heard someone shouting Teacher Zhang, Zhang Ran thought he had met his students. Zhang Ran stopped, raised his eyes, and saw a black man in his twenties waving at him, trying to attract his idea. It's none other than Ryan Coogler, who followed Zhang Ran for a few months when filming "Scorching Sun".

At this year's Sundance Film Festival, Ryan Coogler was a sensation, winning the Grand Jury Prize for "Frutville Station." The film also caught the attention of the Cannes Film Festival and was successfully shortlisted for this year's Un Certain Regard section. In just half a year, he has become a new director star who has attracted a lot of attention in the industry.

Zhang Ran has seen "Frutville Station" and believes that this movie should be very good, and now that the movie is so successful, he is very happy for Ryan Coogler. Zhang Ran walked over and said with a smile: "Boy, I've heard a lot of people say that "Frutville Station" was filmed well!"