Looking at the blue sea, as soft as silk, with slight ripples, the refreshing and damp sea breeze blowing the cheeks with the smell of the sea, although not very suitable for the smell of the seaside, Li Yange saw the men and women and children around him, laughing and playing, and gradually integrated into this joyful atmosphere, sweeping away the haze of long-term rehearsals in Beijing before.

Li Yange leaned on the beach chair, leisurely drinking a glass of cold beer, thinking about the orchestra that was still stepping up rehearsals in Beijing, and couldn't help but say to himself: "Maybe after I go back this time, it's time to give the orchestra a two-day vacation and have a good rest." ”

"Li Yange, let's see who's coming."

At this time, Liang Leshu, who accompanied Cheng Shaojun to buy juice, suddenly came over with a man and a woman.

Li Yange looked up and saw that it was Zhang Yimou and Gong Li, and while being taken aback, she quickly took off her sunglasses and said in surprise: "Director Zhang, Miss Gong, why are you here?" ”

Zhang Yimou, who has not been seen for a long time, has deeper wrinkles on his face than before, and his complexion is much darker, I don't know if he has been exposed to the sun for a while recently, but I heard him say: "Mr. Li, we have been coming to Cannes for almost a month." ”

"It's been a month?"

Li Yange raised his eyebrows, and immediately remembered Director Zhang's "Red Sorghum", and asked, ""Red Sorghum" is coming to the exhibition? ”

"Not bad. I brought the film to the exhibition this time, and I wanted to see if I could get one or two nominations, but you know the results. ”

Zhang Yimou squeezed out a helpless smile, he finally persuaded the leaders of Western Film Studio to bring the film to the Cannes Film Festival to see if he could win one or two awards, but he was willing to do so, not only did he not win the award, but he was not even eligible to be nominated.

This undoubtedly hit Zhang Yimou's confidence!

In March, Zhang Yimou took "Red Sorghum" to participate in the first Marlash International Film and Television Festival in Morocco and won the "Director's Grand Atlas Gold Award", which also made Zhang Yimou more confident.

Subsequently, at the "5th Zimbabwe International Film Festival", he also won the "Best Film Award", "Best Director Award" and "Feature Film Truth and Novelty Award".

Although almost no one knows about these two film festivals, after all, they are overseas awards, so after Zhang Yimou proposed to lead a team to Cannes, the superior leaders approved a fund of 50,000 yuan to Zhang Yimou after some discussion, and asked him to lead the team to Cannes.

50,000 yuan, which may be a lot in the mainland, but according to the current exchange rate, it is only more than 10,000 US dollars, and the time of this Cannes Film Festival is another month, and it is necessary to get money for eating and drinking in a hotel by plane, and there is no way to get it, Zhang Yimou had to pay out of his own pocket and find someone to get together 100,000 yuan, so he brought the two leading actors, producer and photographer Gu Changwei to Cannes together.

Perhaps because he has won two foreign awards in a row, Zhang Yimou has very high expectations for this film, thinking that even if he can't win the award in the main competition unit, there should still be expectations for a kind of attention unit award. (The latter is an award to encourage new directors around the world, and it is as dispensable as chicken ribs)

But in fact, Zhang Yimou thought too much, although he had a record of winning two awards, he also won the Best Actor Award at the 2nd Tokyo International Film Festival in 1986 with "Old Well", becoming China's first A-level international film festival actor. But the scale and influence of the Cannes Film Festival are far from being comparable to those two small awards and the Tokyo Film Festival, which has only been held for two years.

Among the hundreds of films that came to the exhibition from all over the world, there was "The Last Emperor" with an investment of more than 20 million US dollars, and "The Child King" directed by Chen Kaige, who was also a competitor in China.

You must know that the movie "The Child King" was not only nominated for the "Best Educational Contribution Award", but also nominated for the "Palme d'Or" in the main competition unit.

It can be said that in terms of starting conditions, it has far surpassed Zhang Yimou.

Therefore, this is also the reason why Zhang Yimou looked melancholy at this time.

Don't look at the relationship between him and Chen Kaige, but the two have been working for the Western Film Studio for the past two years, and under the eyes of outsiders and leaders, they more or less have the idea of treating each other as competitors. Now Chen Kaige has been successfully selected for the Golden Palm Tong Award in the main unit with "The Child King", but Zhang Yimou himself, but he is broken in Cannes and returns empty-handed.

Looking at Cheng Shaojun, Liang Leshu and Gong Li not far away playing in the sand, Li Yange wondered in his heart whether the two had hooked up at this time, and at the same time thought about what Zhang Yimou said.

After a while, Li Yange patted Zhang Yimou's arm, pointed to the sea and said, "Director Zhang, do you know the direction I am pointing to?" ”

"The sea?" Zhang Yimou raised his eyebrows, a little confused.

"No, it's Germany!" Li Yange said: "I have watched your film many times, and the shooting is very good, whether it is color or light and shadow, it is absolutely impeccable. Next month is the opening day of the Berlinale in Germany, which is also one of the three major film festivals in Europe, so you might as well try it again with your film. ”

"This ......" Zhang Yimou knew that next month would be the Berlin Film Festival, and he also wanted to try again, but the 100,000 funds he had collected before had already been spent, if it weren't for the relationship between knowing Ning Ying, he often took everyone to the wealthy "The Last Emperor" of the crew next door to eat and drink, and occasionally went to the "Child King" crew to play the autumn breeze, I am afraid that after the nomination is announced, they will buy tickets to return to China.

"There's nothing to hesitate about, believe me, there must be a place for Director Zhang at the Berlin Film Festival." Li Yange looks confident, but in fact, he is very confident, because "Red Sorghum" won the Golden Bear Award at the Berlin Film Festival, which made Zhang Yimou a god.

To be honest, if Chen Kaige's "The Child King" won the Golden Palm Tong Award in Cannes, I am afraid that Zhang Yimou would have nothing to do.

After all, the difference between winning the three major film festivals for the first time and winning the three awards for the second time is still very big, although there is only a short gap of one month, but the first person is always the first person, whether it is reported by the news media or well-known to the public, he will always be the first person to win the award!

After listening to Li Yange's firm words, Zhang Yimou stopped talking, and after a while, he gritted his teeth and said shamefully: "Mr. Li, don't hide it, it's not that I don't want to go to Berlin to try again, but the Western Film Studio only gave me 50,000 yuan, and I scraped together another 100,000 yuan, and after coming to Cannes, the 100,000 yuan has already been spent." ”

"Why did you give 50,000?" Li Yange frowned, 50,000 yuan is a lot in the mainland, but there are really too few people who go abroad, if it is a short distance, it is still said, but this Cannes Film Festival will last for nearly a month.

With more than 10,000 dollars, it is too reluctant to want four people to live here for a month.

Li Yange, who has been here for almost two days, knows very well that the consumption level in Cannes is not low, and Zhang Yimou has to go to the film festival often to promote, which is not enough at all.

"Alas, I signed up for Cannes by myself, and it was already good that the factory could give 50,000 yuan, but I didn't expect to live up to the factory's expectations." Zhang Yimou sighed.

Seeing this, Li Yange pondered for a while and said, "That's it, Director Zhang, I personally sponsor you to participate in this Berlin Film Festival." ”

"Teacher Li, what you said is true?" Zhang Yimou's eyes lit up, his breathing became a lot heavier, and he looked very excited.

"Of course it's true, can I still lie to you about this?"

Li Yange smiled and said: ""The Last Emperor" also participated in the Berlin Film Festival, if it is nominated, I estimate that I will have to go there at that time, and you should help me to play a front." ”

"No problem!" Although Zhang Yimou felt a little embarrassed, he couldn't take care of it if he wanted to prove himself, he couldn't afford the money now, and he would pay it back slowly in the future.

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