director of the millennium

At the quiet entrance of the presidential suite, a young man who was not yet middle-aged but already showing signs of baldness waved the newspaper in his hand and pushed open the door.

"The program ratings are out!"

“Cai Wenji received a 2.8 rating in the program book!”

In the presidential suite, all the main creators of the "Cai Wenji" crew who were attending this year's Berlin International Film Festival had gathered.

When everyone heard this score, cheers immediately broke out in the quiet room. Even Zhang Yimou, who was always serious and stern, showed a relaxed smile on his face.

The program guide score of 2.8 is not low.

The highest program score at this year's Berlin International Film Festival is currently "Synonyms" with 3 points, followed by "Lord, Her Name is Petrunya" with 2.9 points.

"Dinosaur Egg" and "Cai Wenji" are now tied for third place, both receiving a program score of 2.8.

The program score does not represent everything. After all, Wu Yuan, who is familiar with the final winners of this year's Berlin International Film Festival, knows that "So Long, My Son", which scored 2.6 points in the program score, won the Best Actor/Actress award, while "Dinosaur Egg", which scored 2.8 points, won nothing.

But he also knows that a movie that gets good scores may not necessarily win a big award, but a movie that doesn't get good scores will definitely not win a big award.

"Synonyms", which received the highest program score of this year, is the winner of this year's Golden Bear Award.

"Mr. Jones", which received the lowest score of 1.5 points, did not win any prize.

"It seems that in the eyes of this year's film critics, there are no particularly outstanding films in Berlin this year." Zhang Yimou analyzed calmly after coming to his senses.

The highest program book score this year was only 3.0 points, which is obviously not good enough compared with the previous sessions where scores of 3.2 or 3.3 occasionally appeared.

But this news is good news for the crew of "Cai Wenji".

After all, if all of them are around 2.6-2.8 points, apart from "Synonyms" which is most likely to win the Golden Bear, other movies theoretically have a chance to win the award.

In this case, where everyone's ratings are similar, indicating that the quality of the films is similar and the winning films are chosen purely based on the judges' personal preferences, Zhang Yimou is undoubtedly the one with the most advantages.

Because of his fame, status, and influence in the European film industry, he is unmatched by any director in this year's main competition unit.

Given its greatest status and influence, its own films are not significantly inferior to other films, and there is no outstanding film that can crush "Cai Wenji", which almost means that "Cai Wenji" is bound to win the award.

This movie is a biographical film about a female protagonist, so it has almost no chance of winning the Golden Bear, and the probability of winning the Silver Bear Grand Jury Prize is also not high. The most likely awards it will win are the Silver Bear for Best Director and the Silver Bear for Best Actress.

Either you can get both, or you have to choose one of the two. At least you will get one of them. Otherwise, it would be a shame to the program score and Zhang Yimou's status and influence in the European film industry.

Of course, it is just speculation at the moment, but everyone thinks that the possibility of this speculation is very high.

After all, although the three major European awards are famous for their irregular winning patterns, they are not completely unpredictable. Apart from the highest award, Best Picture, which often produces upsets, the winning of other awards is still inseparable from the rules of influence.

Just like Wang Xiaoshuai, after the program score came out, he basically thought that he should have secured the Best Actor award, and he also had hopes of winning the Best Director award.

However, after the ratings of Cai Wenji came out, his hopes of winning the Best Director award were slim. "Hahaha, it's up to you, Director Zhang, to take action." After figuring this out, Wu Yuan laughed and hugged Zhang Yimou, "After 16 years, Director Zhang will definitely not return empty-handed in Berlin again."

"It's hard to say until the last minute." Zhang Yimou was very calm. He waved his hand and said, "There is still a great chance of winning the Best Actress award. After all, among all the films shortlisted for the main competition this year, the heroine of our Cai Wenji has the heaviest role and is the most emotionally demanding."

What can I say about the plot of "Cai Wenji"? Putting aside the historical background and experience of Cai Wenji herself, this movie actually mainly tells about her three love stories.

At the beginning, there was the young talent Wei Zhongdao, then the Left Wise King of the Xiongnu, and finally her young husband Dong Si. If we add Cao Cao, the man who influenced her second half of life, it means that she had to deal with the emotional relationships with four men.

Well, it has the flavor of "Rose Story", and it's an enhanced version.

In this case, Liu Yifei played the role of Cai Wenji well, and portrayed the innocence of a girl, the hardship and humiliation of her youth, and the tenacity of her middle age, so she has a great chance of winning the Best Actress award.

It's not that she's too strong, but there really aren't many movies with strong female leads at this year's Berlin Film Festival. If Cate Blanchett, the big devil in "Carol" that year, had competed, it would obviously be impossible for her to win the award, but who can blame the fact that there aren't other outstanding movies with female leads this year~
I can only say that when it comes to winning awards, sometimes timing is more important than strength.

It can even be said that most of the time, timing is more important than strength.

This year is a good time for Liu Yifei.

Of course, if you want to get such an opportunity, you must have a great director like Zhang Yimou to protect you. It is basically hopeless for others to replicate such success.

"Next, let's wait for the closing ceremony of the film festival!" Wu Yuan said with a smile.

Liu Yifei, who had been sitting quietly beside her and stroking her belly, also looked expectant.

Two days later, on February 2, the 17th day after the "Cai Wenji" crew arrived in Berlin, the closing ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival officially began at 12 pm local time.

As expected, the crew of "Cai Wenji" received an invitation to the closing ceremony, along with the crew of "So Long, My Son". The crew of "Dinosaur Egg", also directed by a Chinese director but produced by Mongolia, was unfortunately absent, having packed their bags and flown back to Asia yesterday.

This time on the red carpet, Wu Yuan did not join in the fun, just like at the opening ceremony, after all, he was not a member of the crew.

However, by using his facial recognition, he also got a spot to enter the closing ceremony.

After all, the closing ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival every year not only invites film crews, but also invites a large number of well-known film critics, filmmakers, and senior executives of film and television companies in the industry to participate.

Wu Yuan sat in the media area with several well-known film critics from Europe.

His arrival also caused quite a stir. Some media reporters who originally came to take award-winning photos on the spot simply surrounded Wu Yuan and started taking pictures. Some even wanted to interview Wu Yuan in the banquet hall.

"Everyone, I am here to watch the closing ceremony just like you."

"Yes, my wife's crew was also invited to attend the closing ceremony, and I'm here to cheer her on."

"Well, she is a very good actor, I am proud of her!" (End of this chapter)