director of the millennium

"ladiets and gentlemen!"

"Welcome to the 69th Berlin Film Festival Closing Awards Ceremony!"

On the stage, Juliette Binoche, the president of the jury of this year's Berlin Film Festival, was guest hosting and warming up for the closing ceremony and awards ceremony.

Off the stage, Wu Yuan wasn't really paying attention. Instead, he was chatting with a French film critic sitting next to him about this year's Berlin Film Festival.

The film critic first expressed his regret that Wu Yuan was unable to attend. After all, Wu Yuan had made efforts in the field of literary and artistic films in the past, but now he has completely turned to commercial films. I don't know how many European film critics feel sorry about this.

After expressing his regret, the outgoing film critic pulled Wu Yuan aside to talk about several Chinese-language films shortlisted for the main competition unit this year.

"Director Wu, you know, So Long, My Son is really great. I went to the media screening at that time. No one left the theater for the entire 175-minute movie. By the end of the movie, the entire theater was in tears, and the sound of sniffling could be heard one after another."

"At the press conference right after the film ended, a German journalist spoke up and hoped the film would win all the awards!"

"Although I don't quite agree with this view, I also think this movie has the potential to win the Golden Bear. The call for this movie to win the "Bear" is very high!"

Seeing that he was still talking about So Long, My Son, Wu Yuan had to interrupt him and ask, "What about Cai Wenji?"

"Hmm." The French film critic pondered for a few seconds and said with regret, "Sorry, I don't know much about Chinese historical figures, so I don't have much knowledge about this great woman in Chinese history. But the movie is still quite good, and the story between her and the four men is indeed impressive."

“The film also did a great job portraying the tragic fate caused by the war. It gave me the same feeling as watching The Pianist, in which the film also insisted on its artistic self amidst the hardships of war. The film also did a great job portraying the horror, loneliness and instinct of the people in the troubled times.”

"But you know, The Pianist has done a good enough job in this regard and has left a deep enough impact on the world audience. Berlin may not need a second The Pianist. What's more, I don't think this movie can compare with The Pianist."

"So I think it's unlikely that this film will win the Golden Bear, or the Silver Bear for the Grand Jury Prize, but it may have a chance to win Best Actress and Best Director."

Hearing this, Wu Yuan raised his eyebrows and nodded without comment.

To be fair, the French film critic's analysis is indeed very accurate.

With the success of "The Pianist", "Cai Wenji", which is of the same theme, is indeed impossible to surpass.

However, his ambitions were not that big and he never thought that he could win the Golden Bear Award with this movie. When this project was first created, it was just to help Liu Yifei win the Best Actress award.

In his opinion, it is already very good to win the Silver Bear Award for Best Actress.
"Hey, the awards have started, let's watch the ceremony first!"

The Berlin International Film Festival is different from Hollywood in North America, which is more about entertainment than professionalism. Even the closing award ceremony was hosted by the chairman of the jury, and the main theme was simplicity and clarity.

After Juliette Binoche briefly interacted with the guests, the film festival awards ceremony began.

As usual, we will start by awarding prizes for other units in the corners.

The five judges took turns holding envelopes and went on stage to announce the winners of non-main competition awards such as the Best Debut Award, Best Documentary Award, Teddy Bear Award, and New Generation Unit.

Those who received awards, whether big or small, cried with joy, hugged each other and celebrated, laughing heartily. Those who missed out on the awards looked regretful, stood up and applauded the winners, their eyes full of envy.

However, all these things have nothing to do with Wu Yuan.

It wasn't until the Lifetime Achievement Awards began to be presented that he began to focus a little.

"Who won the 69th Berlin International Film Festival – Honorary Golden Bear Award for Lifetime Achievement?"

"Charlotte Rampling!"

A name that was very unfamiliar to Wu Yuan was called out, and a blonde, blue-eyed actress who looked to be in her sixties or seventies but still had an elegant temperament walked up to the podium.

Just by looking at her temperament and demeanor, Wu Yuan was sure that she was definitely a British person. She had the same strong British temperament as Queen Elizabeth!

Sure enough, after Charlotte Rampling came on stage, she began to give her acceptance speech in authentic British English.

It was only then that Wu Yuan remembered who this British actress named Charlotte Rampling was.

Funny enough, he did see the actor's movie, but in the future.

Charlotte Rampling to Play Helen of the Hollyhock in Dune!

Although "Dune" was a complete flop in mainland China, with the mainland box office less than 2 million RMB, its global box office was still good, with more than 4 million US dollars.

This is another typical Hollywood blockbuster that did not perform well in China.

And Charlotte Rampling's ability to get the role in "Dune" is probably closely related to the Golden Bear Award for Lifetime Achievement that she won today.

However, Wu Yuan didn't know much about this actress, so he could only watch the fun.

The next Caméra d'Or award was presented to the famous French director Agnès Varda.

Wu Yuan was familiar with this director who could be called the living fossil and godfather of French cinema. In fact, when he was studying at Beijing Film Academy, many of this director's films were required studies in the school's curriculum!
His 1985 film "Wandering Girl" is a classic in the history of world cinema and also the winner of the Golden Lion Award at the 42nd Venice International Film Festival.

Wu Yuan also has great respect for this film master.

Unfortunately, the director did not attend the ceremony to receive the award because he was already in the hospital, suffering from cancer, and there had been reports of his critical illness several times.

If Berlin doesn't give him a lifetime award this year, I'm afraid he won't have another chance in the future.

After the Lifetime Achievement Awards were presented, it was finally time for the much-anticipated main competition awards to be presented!
The Alfred Bauer Silver Bear Award, the Silver Bear Award for Outstanding Artistic Contribution, and the Silver Bear Award for Best Screenplay were awarded to world-renowned film artists under the expectant gaze of all the guests.

Seeing that the Best Actor and Best Actress awards were about to be presented, Wu Yuan, who had always acted calm, couldn't help but get nervous. He looked back and forth between the crew of Cai Wenji and the crew of So Long, My Son, and unconsciously muttered in Chinese:
"It's good to get the Silver Bear, it's enough to have the Silver Bear" (End of this chapter)