The King of Directors 2000

At 2014 pm on April 4, 5, the conference room of Yanjing International Trade Hotel.

Li Shengyao walked in front, followed by two assistants and the CCTV 6 filming team.

When he first started, he was still a little uncomfortable with people following the camera crew around him.

But more than a month passed, and I slowly got used to it.

The film crew only followed him during the day and did not film at night.

If he had to follow me at night, he would naturally not be happy.

At this time, he was wearing a suit and looked very formal. This time he came here to meet the members of the jury of this year's Yanjing Film Festival.

Tomorrow the Yanjing Film Festival will officially begin. Starting from tomorrow, they will select and score all participating films.

Let’s meet today so that we can get to know each other and work together in the future so that we won’t seem too strange.

This time, in addition to himself, the jury members also included Ning Hao, Lu Chuan, Philip Nile, Rajkumar Sirani, Maria Garcia, and Andrews Vincent.

Philippe Nelle is a French director, screenwriter, and producer.

Rajkumar Sirani is an Indian director and screenwriter.

Maria Garcia is an actress from Italy.

Andrews Vincent is a producer from Spain.

These people are not considered to be the top filmmakers. After all, the Yanjing Film Festival is neither a category A film festival nor a category B film festival, so its positioning is awkward.

A-list filmmakers don't come over.

If it weren't for the large amount of money provided by Yanjing, even these people would not come here.

Among the entire jury, Li Shengyao is the youngest, but he is undoubtedly the most famous person.

When he walked into the conference room, everyone else stood up immediately.

Before compatriots Ning Hao and Lu Chuan came forward to say hello, several foreign friends took the lead to greet them and express their goodwill.

Lee Sung-yew had attended the Cannes, Venice and Berlin Film Festivals before, but he knew Philip and Maria and had chatted with them before.

I don't know the other two people.

However, everyone was carrying the sedan chair and everyone smiled, so he smiled at them.

As a result, the atmosphere in the entire conference room seemed very good, and everyone seemed to be very happy to do this job.

Relatively speaking, Ning Hao and Lu Chuan seemed a little stranger.

Ning Hao was very familiar with Li Shengyao. The two of them had massaged together, and they had already winked at Li Shengyao.

Lu Chuan was really unfamiliar with him. The big boss had his arms crossed and a stiff smile on his face. He seemed not very satisfied with Li Shengyao.

Li Shengyao has known Lu Chuan's style for a long time and knows that this person is like this.

Not to mention him, Lu Chuan would still look like this even if Lao Mouzi came over.

He didn't care and chatted with everyone for a while. Then he thought about the opinions given by the organizer and said that the purpose of this film festival was to select films that blended tradition and modernity.

Upon hearing this, the judges probably knew what the film festival organizers meant, and they all said there was no problem.

Li Shengyao chatted for a few more words, and then planned to leave.

Just when he was about to leave, Ning Hao called out to him, "Director Li, wait for me, I want to talk to you about something."

After a while, the two people were lying together in the hotel massage room, and two burly ladies were massaging them.

Ning Hao whispered: "Director Li, do you have any plans this time?"

"plan?"

Ning Hao nodded, "You haven't studied the previous awards at the Yanjing Film Festival, have you?"

"No."

"The Yanjing Film Festival has an awkward positioning. They not only want to please domestic filmmakers, but also want to show off their quality. Therefore, in every previous awards ceremony, there were domestic films and foreign films."

Li Shengyao understood what Ning Hao meant, "You mean to take care of domestic and foreign movies."

"Yeah, that's what it means."

In other words, the awards for Best Film, Jury Prize, Best Director, Best Actor, and Best Actress must be distributed as evenly as possible.

Li Shengyao didn't feel bad at all.

Just like last year's Venice Film Festival, Italy's "Roma Ring Road" won the best film?

It’s not about taking care of local movies.

It's just that the quality of other Italian films was really not good, so that in the end a documentary had to be released.

Such a result makes the organizer of the Venice Film Festival look even more ugly.

But after all, this is a film festival, so there’s not much to say.

It is completely normal for the Yanjing International Film Festival to take care of domestic films.

In this regard, the Cannes Film Festival is much more generous. The reason for this is because the French film heritage is so profound.

My ancestors had good grades and did not need special care. They are the country with the most awards outside of the most beautiful countries.

Li Shengyao understood what Ning Hao meant, "Okay, I understand. I will try my best to coordinate."

There are seven judges in total, and four votes will be considered a winner.

Ning Hao is easy to discuss, but Lu Chuan is hard to talk to.

In other words, if he wants to choose a movie that suits his heart, he needs two judges to be on his side.

Seeing that Li Shengyao understood what he meant, Ning Hao nodded, "Just give me a wink when the time comes."

……

At six o'clock in the afternoon the next day, the Yanjing Film Festival began its official red carpet ceremony. Filmmakers from all over the world walked the red carpet and entered the conference hall, waiting for the opening of the film festival.

The Yanjing Film Festival is relatively stingy about inviting big-name overseas stars.

They can't invite as many Hollywood stars as the big three in Europe, they can only invite some small stars from other countries.

But it was quite lively tonight.

After all, this is a film festival held in Yanjing. People in the Chinese film industry will basically give face. Whether it is the mainland or Hong Kong, actors and stars have come to walk on the red carpet.

Li Shengyao's lineup with the jury members on the red carpet is probably the strongest.

Although the fans' shouts were not loud, many stars stood up and applauded as they entered the conference hall.

In addition to the stars of the Chinese film industry, there is also a group of top actors coming to France.

Jean Reno, Danny Byrne, Jean Jacques Annaud, Léa Seydoux, and Vincent Cassel all came over.

Among them are the best actors and actresses of the Cannes Film Festival.

There is also a new generation of popular kings like Vincent Cassel. This big shot's status in France is similar to that of Shen Teng when he was most popular.

Whatever you perform in France will be a hit.

This group of French actors came here because there is a French Film Culture Week at the Yanjing Film Festival, and they came to the stage.

Lee Seung-yew found that his seat was very close to the group of French actors.

Before he could sit down, Jean Reno, Léa Seydoux and others came over and hugged him.

Jean Reno is a top French actor who has been in Hollywood.

And Léa Seydoux is the best actress in Cannes. They all respected Lee Sheng Yew so much that all the Chinese filmmakers sitting here understood Lee Sheng Yew’s status in the outside world.

Many people have thought about Lee Sheng-yew becoming an honorary professor at the Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Image et Sound. They know that this reputation is very important and many directors are envious of it.

Lee Sheng Yew didn't think too much. After greeting domestic and foreign filmmakers cordially, he sat down quietly.

When the opening ceremony of the film festival officially started, he went backstage, received the speech script from the organizer, took a brief look at it, and then went on stage.

Just like the chief seal of the jury at the Venice Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival before, they talked about the purpose of the selection of this film festival, and then stepped down amidst warm applause.

Everyone then moved to a nearby movie theater to watch the opening film of the film festival - "Beauty and the Beast."

This "Beauty and the Beast" is not a fairy tale movie from Hollywood, but a rather ironic movie from France.

The heroine is Cannes Best Actress Léa Seydoux.

The quality of the movie is... just average. Lee Sheng Yew doesn't think it's very good anyway. The director of this movie thought a little too much. He wanted commercial effects but also wanted to be artistic. As a result, he didn't do both well.

After the movie ended, a group of directors, producers, screenwriters, and actors continued to move on to attend the celebration banquet for the opening ceremony of the film festival.

In the celebration banquet hall with bright lights and dazzling stars, Li Shengyao was undoubtedly the most central figure.

Filmmakers at home and abroad gathered around him.

Among them, Jean Reno and Léa Seydoux all agreed with Lee Sheng Yew to meet again in Cannes next month.

Some filmmakers from other countries promote themselves to Lee Sung-yew and then promote the movies in which they act.

The positioning of the Yanjing Film Festival is awkward, but there is no doubt that the film festival is still quite popular in Asia, perhaps second only to the Shanghai Film Festival.

The biggest reason is naturally the rise of the Chinese film market.

Movies that have received good reviews at the Yanjing Film Festival are expected to be released in the mainland. Even if they earn hundreds or tens of millions at the box office, it is still a lot of money.

Even the Tokyo Film Festival cannot compare with this advantage.

Therefore, a large number of foreign films participate in the Shanghai Film Festival every year.

Li Shengyao naturally knew what these filmmakers were thinking, and he also understood these filmmakers very well, so he was very calm and patiently listened to what these filmmakers had to say.

His gesture made many people secretly admire him and felt that Director Li was very graceful.

……

After the opening ceremony of the Yanjing Film Festival, the film festival officially started.

It is different from the Cannes Film Festival, where there are hundreds of participating films, and the final twenty films are selected.

There are only about fifty films participating in the Yanjing Film Festival, and they have enough time to watch all the participating films.

However, the process of watching the movie was a bit difficult.

In the three major European film festivals, participating films must premiere at the film festival, which means they must be new films. Watching new films will naturally give you a sense of freshness.

Other film festivals don't have such a strong style.

Therefore, Lee Sheng Yew has already seen many of the participating films, and he already knows the quality of these films.

In order to make his judgment well-founded, he analyzed and studied it as carefully as possible.

After ten days, among the twenty selected movies, seven judges began to vote to determine which movie was good.

No matter what award it is, Lee Sheng Yew always speaks a few words before the selection, which naturally has some tendencies.

Fortunately, the foreign judges are all old foxes, and they will give face.

Under such circumstances, the film selection was very smooth, and the awards were given completely in accordance with Lee Sheng Yao's wishes.

Ning Hao witnessed the whole voting process and couldn't help but give Lee Sheng Yew a thumbs up.

It is one thing that the foreign judges are knowledgeable.

On the other hand, Li Shengyao's reputation is high enough, and people are willing to give him face.

If it were other mainland filmmakers, it would be difficult to make these foreigners be so obedient.

In the end, they decided that the best director would go to Sunglasses King and the best actress would go to Zhang Ziyi. Both awards came from "The Grandmaster".

The Best Actor award went to France's Guillaume Goui, from the movie "Song of Dreams".

The best film went to "The Kid", a film co-produced by Canadian and Indian filmmakers.

In this way, several awards have been distributed.

It tastes like pork, but the films that won awards are all good films.

Lee Sheung Yew went through the entire selection process, and he couldn't help but feel grateful when he thought about winning awards at Cannes, Venice, and the Berlin Film Festival.

I have to say that in the three major European film festivals, facing more movies, it is really difficult to stand out.

This shows that the movie he copied is indeed good and is very popular with the jury.

Thinking of this, Li Shengyao doesn't have so many expectations for "La La Land".

After all, he has won the Palme d'Or twice in a row at Cannes.

The organizers of the Cannes Film Festival will naturally consider the feelings of filmmakers from other countries. It is estimated that it will be very difficult to win awards at the Cannes Film Festival.

He thought for a moment, then sighed.

Just do your best.

……

The jury members have determined each award, and the next step is to present the awards.

"The Grandmaster" became the big winner, winning best director and best actress.

The Canadian-Indian co-production "The Kid" won best picture.

French actor Guillaume Goui won the Best Actor for his wonderful performance in "The Dream".

Both the Chinese and foreign films won awards, and it can be said that everyone is happy.

The Yanjing Film Festival came to a successful conclusion. When interviewed by reporters, filmmakers from France expressed that they were loyal fans of Lee Sheng Yew and looked forward to Lee Sheng Yew's performance at the Cannes Film Festival next month.

CCTV's six camera crews, Lan Yu got a hint from the team leader and immediately walked to Li Shengyao and asked sweetly: "Director Li, we have heard many foreign filmmakers' expectations for you. They all said they want to see it." I’m going to see you again in Cannes when I watch your new movie. What do you think of it?”

After hearing this, Lee Sheng-yao thought about the process of the jury selecting films. Compared to before, he was more humble and had a better attitude. "This time I am the chief seal of the jury and I have a deeper understanding of the award selection process.

I'm really lucky, and I want to thank the judges who gave me the grand prize before, and thank them for their recognition.

The production of "La La Land" is nearing completion. We will go to the Cannes Film Festival next month to compete. I am naturally very happy and looking forward to it, but I can't say whether we will win the award.

I now think it takes a lot of luck. "

When Lan Yu heard this, his eyes fell on Li Shengyao's face. He felt that such a great director as Li Shengyao was so humble and peaceful, which was a rare quality.

"Director Li, we all have great confidence in you. I think you can create miracles."

Lee Sheung Yew has won the Palme d'Or for two consecutive years, which is a record.

Later, he shot three films in one and a half years, and two consecutive films won the Best Director Award at the Venice Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival, setting another record.

Now the third film is heading to the Cannes Film Festival.

If "La La Land" can win a Best Director or Best Actress, then he can win the three major European Best Acting Awards or Best Director Awards for three consecutive films, which is also a new record. .

I have to say that Lee Sheng Yew is really lucky to win awards.

Lan Yu could imagine how high-spirited the man in front of him would be if "La La Land" still won the award. He was stunned for a moment, staring blankly at Li Shengyao with red eyes.

(End of this chapter)