On the morning of the 15th, Cheng Peng boarded the plane to Berlin, accompanied by Tong Liyu, Zhao Linlin and Zhang Meng. In fact, Cheng Peng very much hoped that Jin Yaqin would go to Berlin together, but the old lady had been sick recently, and it was not easy to travel far, so he had to give up this plan.

The Berlinale was initiated by Alfred Bauer in the early 50s and held its first edition in West Berlin at the end of June 1951. Once a year, it was brought forward to the end of February for two weeks due to the overlap with the Cannes International Film Festival.

Unlike Venice's literature and Cannes commerce, the Berlinale was born at the forefront of the confrontation between socialism and capitalism, and favored films with heavy ideology; At the same time, because of the rigorous style of the Germans, they are particularly interested in films with serious propositions, which constitutes the unique landscape of the Berlin Film Festival.

Not to mention, in recent years, the films shortlisted and awarded by the festival have basically covered the Middle East, the Balkan ethnic and religious issues, the new national conservatism and immigration waves in Europe, the Northern Ireland issue, and so on.

The Berlinale is divided into many sections, the most important of which is the main competition unit, in addition to the panorama unit, the special screening unit, the new generation unit, the classic unit, the German film rising star unit, the forum unit for discussions with world-renowned directors and producers, and the food unit for watching movies after a banquet and so on.

There are a total of seven awards in the main competition unit, one Golden Bear Award, Best Film; Six Silver Bear Awards, Grand Jury Prize, Best Director, Best Actress, Best Actor, Best Film Music, and Best Artistic Contribution.

Cheng Peng and the others went to Berlin to aim at these seven awards, and as long as they can win one of them, they will attract the attention of the whole world.

In the eyes of many people, being able to be shortlisted for the main competition unit to the Berlin Film Festival must be a hug from front to back, first class and large suites are the highest treatment. In fact, this is not the case, the film festival treats the stars and the people who come to participate in the competition differently, arranging accommodation, travel, film screenings, red carpet time, etc. according to the level, the bigger your card, the better the arrangement.

Young directors like Cheng Peng participate in the film festival, although it is the main competition unit, but the film festival is only responsible for the director's accommodation and air ticket costs, both back and forth are economy class, and the accommodation is also an economy hotel. And the others, including the film's starring Tong Liyu, can only pay for themselves.

Zhang Yimou took "Red Sorghum" to Berlin with this kind of treatment, even if he got the Golden Bear with "Red Sorghum", he could only take economy class when he returned to China, and only paid one person.

Ten years later, however, when he returned to Berlin with "My Father and Mother", he was treated at the top level, not only by him, but by the rest of the crew, including their families, and by the chairman himself, who was greeted at the airport and attended the premiere of "My Father and Mother".

Cheng Peng and the others are participating in the film festival for the first time, and they don't know the difference, but even if they know, they won't care, it is a great joy to be shortlisted, how can they have the heart to consider the treatment issue.

Zhao Linlin is particularly looking forward to the award, because the purpose of her visit to Berlin is to sell films, if the film can win the award, it will attract huge attention, it will be easier to sell the film, she asked: "Do you think we can win the award this time?" ”

Tong Liyu said confidently: "I will cry once I watch it, and I will definitely win the award!" ”

Cheng Peng shook his head with a smile and said: "I'm most afraid of hearing others say that they will cry once they watch it, it sounds particularly sensational, this kind of film describing real life will be hypocritical once it is sensational, it will be over, and it will definitely not be treated by the judges!" ”

Zhang Meng agrees with this very much: "Once a movie is sensational, it is particularly easy to be superficial, and it lacks the excavation of the spiritual core. However, our movies are not sensational, and we treat the sensationalism coldly, omitting the music, which is very restrained, and there is no problem in this regard. ”

Cheng Peng nodded with a smile and said, "Actually, the audience is very good, but the judges generally hate this." Although it is difficult to say that we will win the award, we still have great hopes, the chairman of this session is Cohen's sister-in-law McDormand, female surnames generally have some preferences for the theme of female surnames, and the theme of our film is the topic of integration and communication, which is more likely to be favored, as for what award is difficult to say, of course, the bigger the better! ”

Cheng Peng originally thought that the most promising was the heroine, Jin Yaqin's performance was extremely good, and she was definitely a strong contender for the heroine, but when the shortlist of the Berlin Film Festival was announced, he felt that the hope of the heroine was relatively slim.

Charlize Theron just won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress for "The Devil" and was nominated for an Oscar, while Caterina Moreno was nominated for an Oscar for her performance in "The Devil".

As for other awards, it is not easy to win, there are three or four thousand films that sign up for the film festival every year, and they can stand out from so many films and become one of the 23 films in the main competition unit, most of which are extraordinary. It's not easy to take away any of the awards if you want to stand out from them.

At present, the most optimistic foreign media is "Go Forward", which is a film by Turkish-German director Fatih. Ah Jin's fourth feature film. The film depicts a Turkish girl who wants to break free from the constraints of a traditional family through a fake marriage, and she and her husband develop love in the process of getting along, but this love is full of violence and twists and turns. Immigration has been a hot topic in Europe in recent years, and there are many excellent films on this genre, which are especially popular with film festivals and are particularly easy to win awards.

The second is "The Weeping Steppe" by Greek cinema master Angelopoulos, which tells the story of a Greek couple in exile, first being driven from their homeland during the Russian Revolution, then being hung up as a political prisoner and persecuted. The film is a new film released by An Zhe after winning the Palme d'Or, and it has attracted huge attention since the day it came out.

The French film master's new work "Triple Agent" is also very popular, and the political thriller set in the Second World War, which is quite in line with the Berlin Film Festival's preference for films with political backgrounds, has a considerable chance of winning.

In addition, director Ron Howard, who won an Oscar for "A Beautiful Mind", and "Missing" with French superstar Juliette Binoche are particularly eye-catching; Richard Linklater's "Before the Fall" is also a hit, this film is a sequel to "Before the Rise", which won the Silver Bear in Berlin nine years ago, and countless people are looking forward to him going further.

However, in the prediction list of foreign media, two Chinese films have been forgotten, Zhang Aijia's "203040" is not the genre favored by the film festival, and it is the biggest honor to be shortlisted, as for Cheng Peng, the director of "The Two of Us", who is this guy and has he made any movies before?

Cheng Peng and the others had just walked out of the passage with their suitcases, when a burst of screams suddenly erupted outside, followed by a huge call, and there were hundreds of people in that formation.

Cheng Peng joked with his companions: "Could it be that the girls in Berlin know that Cheng Da handsome guy is coming, and they are waiting outside the airport early?" ”

Tong Liyu smiled: "You often say that others are narcissists, but in fact, you are narcissists!" ”

Cheng Peng rolled his eyes and said, "I'm telling the truth, but you, always say that you are a smart girl and a narcissist!" ”

Zhang Meng smiled: "You two are narcissistic enough!" ”

Zhao Linlin nodded and said, "What a natural pair!" ”

Cheng Peng said: "You two always join forces with me and Yaya, you two are a couple!" ”

Tong Liyu blushed and asked, "What are they shouting, is it a celebrity?" ”

Cheng Peng listened to it and said: "It seems to be shouting Jude Law, the movie "Cold Mountain" starring him and Nicole Kidman is the opening film of the film festival, he should have arrived!" ”

In fact, the original opening film of the film festival was "Motorcycle Story", a film about Guevara's growth, but shortly before the start of the film festival, the film temporarily announced its withdrawal and moved to the Cannes Film Festival, and "Cold Mountain" was a temporary substitute in this situation. Although the problem was solved, the Berlinale still lost a small face.

Hearing Jude Lowe, Zhao Linlin let out an exclamation: "Jude Lowe, handsome guy, I really want to go and ask for an autograph!" ”

Zhang Meng said disdainfully: "Linlin, you are also a person of age, what kind of star-chasing girl!" ”

Zhao Linlin was furious: "Zhang Meng, you bastard, do you want to die?" ”

Cheng Peng and the others walked out of the passage and saw a large number of reporters frantically surrounding the handsome guy Jude Lowe, the flashing lights flickering wildly, coupled with the screams of countless crazy fans, made the entire hall boil.

"Jude, I love you!"

"Jude, I want to you!"

"Oh my God, it's really Jude, I feel like I'm going crazy!"

……

Hundreds of boys and girls held up posters of Jude Law in their hands, held slogans high, screamed desperately, shouted frantically, and some excited girls burst into tears because they saw their idols with their own eyes.

The reporters were no less crazy than these star-chasers, who held dozens of microphones to surround Jude Law in the middle, throwing out questions one after another.

"Jude, let's talk about my relationship with Nicole!"

"Jude, what do you think about participating in the Berlinale for the first time?"

"Jude, tell us about your new work, how did it feel to work with Julie for the first time?"

……

Jude Law is worthy of being a big star in Hollywood, facing crazy questions from reporters, maintaining a good demeanor, smiling, and talking.

No one noticed Cheng Peng and his entourage walking past Jude Law, even if their eyes swept over them, they would not stop at all, in the world of movies, they were just fledgling newcomers, no one paid attention to them, and no one knew them.

But instead of feeling discouraged, they have a certain expectation, the stage of the festival has been set, the curtain is about to open, and the moment for their own performance is coming.

Walking out of the terminal, Cheng Peng found that it was a sunny day, and the sun was shining on the street in front of him.

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