Night, guest house.
Li Tangshen leaned against the bedside and reached the cooperation with MK2. The biggest worry of this trip was finally put aside, and he felt extremely relaxed.
After taking a shower, Xiaopang came out of the bathroom in his pajamas and asked, "Do you think we can win a prize?"
Li Tang yawned and said lazily: "I guess there's not much hope. It doesn't matter whether I get it now or not. Anyway, the film has been handed over to another agent."
"Don't you want to win the Best Actor Award?"
Xiaopang climbed onto the bed and lay next to him.
There are a total of four awards in the Against the Current unit, namely Best Film Award, Best Director and Best Actor and Actor.
"Don't have too much hope. The greater the hope, the greater the disappointment."
It is of course impossible to say that he does not want to win the award, but according to the current ratings in the event journal, he feels that winning the award is a luxury.
"Hey, there are rumors now that Zhou Xun is very likely to win the Best Actress award this time. They also say that if she wins the award, she will be on the same level as Gong Li." Xiao Pang couldn't hide his envy.
"How is that possible? It's not even close." Li Tang snorted.
Gong Li won the Venice Best Actress nine years ago for her role in "Qiu Ju's Lawsuit", and then won the Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress twice. She also has a lot of other messy titles. More importantly, the films he starred in won the top prizes at three major European film festivals, including the Golden Bear for "Red Sorghum", the Golden Lion for "Qiuju Lawsuit", and the Palme d'Or for "Farewell My Concubine". There are also Cannes judges and Berlin jury presidents. This kind of international influence, even if Zhou Xun can win the Venice Best Actress, is far from being comparable to it.
As Li Tang spoke, he turned to look at her again and said, "Don't spread such unreliable gossip in the future."
"I'm not telling you nonsense, I'm just telling you."
Xiaopang blinked his big eyes and asked again: "Is your agent reliable? Let me tell you, it's better to sell the copyright. It's safest to get the money. Now that the initiative is in other people's hands, I feel uneasy just thinking about it. .”
Li Tang thought that when he informed Huber of the German AG company to stop the negotiation in the afternoon, the other party looked disappointed, but still said with confidence: "Don't worry, I will definitely earn more than selling copyrights. I will give you a big red envelope then." .”
But Xiaopang said with disdain: "Let's wait until the film can make money."
…
On the evening of September 8th, at seven o'clock.
The 58th Venice International Film Festival finally ushered in the closing ceremony and awards ceremony.
Wearing a dark green cheongsam, the fat girl held Li Tang's arm and walked calmly on the red carpet, waving to fans frequently and constantly posing in front of photographers, completely eliminating the panic at the opening ceremony.
As expected, experience is the most training one. During the ten-day Venice Film Festival, there are various activities, brand advertising, and various screenings. Chang Jihong used her personal connections to frequently appear at events with Xiaopang. She took various photos and sent them back to China for press releases, hyping up how popular Xiaopang was in Venice.
Being able to walk on the red carpet of three major European festivals these days is definitely a bluff. The only one who can overshadow Xiaopang this time is Zhou Xun. Now the domestic media are hyping her as a movie queen.
Zhou Xun was also quite helpless about this. This time it was not their company's intention to hype it up, but the domestic media's self-pleasure. Who knows how popular she is? The more hype she gets, the more eye-catching she will be. But the sequelae is that the higher the praise, the harder the fall. If Zhou Xun doesn't win the award this time, it will undoubtedly be a joke.
Li Tang and Cheng Er, who also wore suits and ties, stood aside and watched Xiaopang posing in front of the camera. Compared with the opening red carpet, the work has already been unveiled, which naturally attracted the attention of many Western media cameras.
At this time, Cheng Er was also very calm. He put his hands in his pockets and stared blankly at the flashing camera.
The highlight moment didn't stop there. When the three of them passed through the bustling central area and arrived at the steps of the Cinema Palace, they saw Alberto Barbera, the chairman of the film festival, waiting on the steps.
The three of them walked up the steps, and Mr. Chairman walked down the steps to greet them. They met in the middle.
"Welcome to Venice!"
"Hello, Mr. Chairman! Venice has given us a magical journey, thank you very much!"
Li Tang shook hands and hugged the old man in prepared Italian, and then introduced Cheng Er and Xiaopang to the old man.
Barbera shook hands one by one, and then took a group photo together facing the camera.
We walked up the steps together again, stood still at the door of the Film Palace, turned around, and faced the camera again.
This is the last film festival that the old man serves as chairman, and it is full of ceremony. Each shortlisted crew will receive courtesy from this respected Mr. Chairman.
The old man will step down from tomorrow, and the new chairman is Marco Muller who recommended them to Venice.
They were ranked relatively high on the red carpet today. There were not many people in the lobby of the Cinema Palace. Everyone sat down in twos and threes or greeted each other with smiles on their faces.
Suddenly I saw Xiaopang waving in one direction: "Sister Yu!"
When Li Tang heard the news, he saw a woman with short hair and casual and simple clothes walking over with a smile.
"This is Li Yu, the director of "This Summer"."
"No introduction is needed for this one, this is our director Cheng Er!"
Xiaopang introduced everyone with a smile.
"Director Li, congratulations!"
Li Tang has an impression of the movie "This Summer". It is one of the few Chinese-language movies shortlisted for non-competition units. He has not seen it. He only knows from the report in the program that it is a movie with a lily theme, and it has already been Won the special female theme award from the film festival.
At this time, Li Tang couldn't help but take a closer look at the plain-looking woman in front of him, but he didn't expect that she was quite trendy. Because this was the first time he discovered that there were domestically produced lily tablets.
"Thank you, hello!"
Li Yu shook hands with Li Tang cheerfully, and then shook hands with Cheng Er and said hello: "Hello, Director Cheng!"
"Director Li, congratulations!"
Cheng Er also expressed congratulations to her. After all, this is the first Chinese-language film to win an award at a film festival.
"Sister Yu is a documentary director of CCTV. "This Summer" is her first work. She wrote and directed it. It is very good!" Xiaopang took Li Yu's arm affectionately and continued to introduce it to everyone.
Li Yu was very embarrassed by the little fat guy's praise, and said quickly: "No, no, I'm just lucky! I hope you can have a good result tonight."
Li Tang and Cheng Er looked at each other and said in unison: "Thank you!"
After finding a seat and sitting down under the guidance of the staff, Li Tang curiously asked Xiaopang: "How do you know this Director Li?"
"We met at an event. Sister Yu is very popular, and she is from the same hometown as me."
When a fellow countryman meets a fellow countryman, tears well up in his eyes. No wonder.
Then Li Tang couldn't help but look at the fat little girl who was dressed up today, and couldn't help but said: "Could she be Lily?"
"What lily, lily?" Xiaopang didn't understand.
Well, Xiaopang is still relatively simple now.
"Just women and girls..."
Li Tang made fists with both hands and touched them with his thumbs, making a friendly gesture.
Xiaopang suddenly blushed and said angrily: "What, how did I know this!"
However, after Li Tang reminded her, she couldn't help but think about the last time they met at an event. The conversation was very good, and it seemed that they didn't mean anything in that regard.
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but stern his face and said, "Don't talk nonsense. Even though Sister Yu made that film, it doesn't mean she is the one!"
Li Tang said hurriedly: "Okay, okay, I'm just guessing. But you have to be careful, don't be overturned by someone inadvertently."
Although Xiaopang didn't understand what bending meant, he could guess it. He blushed again and said, "Why do you do so many things? Are you particularly interested in that...oh, Lily?"
Li Tang not only watched a lot of videos about this in his previous life, but it was also common in his life. But it's still a new thing these days, so he immediately said: "I'm not interested, I'm just a little curious."
"Alas!"
The fat man couldn't help but trembled when he thought of the scene of a woman with a woman. Goosebumps appeared all over her body. He gritted his teeth and said, "I don't like this!"
Cheng Er, who was sitting on the other side of Li Tang, didn't speak, but kept listening to the conversation between the two men. He felt extremely speechless, but at the same time, there was an imperceptible smile on his face. He probably thought of something.
The two chatted for a while, and the guests came in one after another. When Li Tang saw Zhou Xun, Cheng Guo and several Hong Kong people walking in together, he did not take the initiative to stand up and say hello.
At half past eight, the award ceremony started on time.
Film festival chairman Alberto Barbera took the stage first and gave a speech. Maybe it was because the old man stood on the stage of the closing ceremony as the chairman for the last time. The old man was obviously very excited. Barbera spoke for about ten minutes. There was an English translation on site, and the general meaning was nothing more than looking back, paying tribute, looking forward, and thanking you.
Then a panel of seven judges appeared.
The chairman of the jury is the famous Italian director, screenwriter, actor and producer Nanni Moretti. As for the other six judges, except for a director from the United States and a third brother whose title is Jia, the others are all European filmmakers, three directors and one producer.
Then there are all kinds of nonsense, filled with all kinds of high-end European-style jokes.
About half an hour later, the first award finally began to be awarded, the Silver Lion Award for Best Short Film in the Short Film Section.
When the winners were announced on stage, the Chinese filmmakers at the scene were all eagerly waiting, because the most popular one before was Wu Shixian's "Che 44".
Unfortunately, the winner was the German short film "Friends".
However, everyone was not disappointed for long. Soon, as the award presenter announced, "Che 44" won the special jury award in the short film unit, which is the second prize.
Wu Shixian was very excited when he came on stage to receive the award. He spoke a lot in American English and especially thanked his fiancée, Gong Beibi, the heroine of the film.
The baby sister in Xiaopang's mouth also stood up and blew kisses to Wu Shixian on the stage. The applause was very warm. To use a popular saying in later generations, it was probably full of the rancid smell of love. But it is precisely the tune that foreigners like the most.
After the brief climax, there were some random awards, some of which had been announced in advance, such as Li Yu’s lesbian award... Bah, it’s a special award for female subjects and so on.
After seven or eight awards, it was finally time to award the awards for the Upstream Competition unit. Although there was no hope in their hearts, everyone became nervous in unison. In particular, the first award is the Golden Lion Award for Best Film in the Against the Current section. Yes, the only lion trophy in the entire section is still a Golden Lion.
Of course, the final result was not an upset. The critically acclaimed French film "Timeline" won the award.
Then the Best Director and Best Actress categories also fell to others.
At this point, no one, including Li Tang himself, dared to hope that the last Best Actor Award in the Upstream unit would fall to Li Tang.
But when the presenter came on stage, Li Tang's eyes suddenly lit up, because the black-haired beauty on the stage was none other than his idol in his teenage years in his previous life, or the object of his adolescent lust, the Italian actress Monica .Bellucci.
This 36-year-old female star, who has always been known for her coolness, became popular in Europe last year with "The Beautiful Legend of Sicily".
Xiaopang noticed Li Tang staring at the stage with bright eyes and asked in a low voice: "Who is this?"
Li Tang didn't even turn his eyes and replied directly: "Goddess!"
Although it was a new term, as the name suggested, Xiaopang immediately snorted in dissatisfaction.
The glamorous young woman on the stage did not make too many opening remarks. She opened the envelope and announced directly: "The winner of the Best Actor Award in the Against the Current Unit of the 58th Venice International Film Festival is..."
The cold and charming young woman glanced around, and her eyes happened to fall on the seating area where Li Tang and the others were. They were probably very recognizable, because they were the only three Asian faces in this area.
Then she lightly opened her red lips and said, ""Unfinished Girl", Li Tang!"
"who?"
When Li Tang heard his name, his first reaction was that he couldn't believe his ears, but at this time, the little fat man next to him had already screamed and jumped up. Although she didn't understand English, let alone Italian, she could hear the name Li Tang clearly.
Especially when registering, according to the Western custom of putting first name first and surname last, Li Tang’s name usually has to be filled in as Tang Li, but Li Tang just filled in Li Tang.
In his words at the time, my rules are rules.
"Hey, Teacher Li, are you stupid? You won the prize!"
Xiaopang leaned over and shouted in his ear.
Even Cheng Er stood up excitedly, clapped his hands and muttered: "I knew it, I knew it..."
Li Tang finally woke up at this time. His heart that was beating violently just now miraculously calmed down. He stood up and shouted incoherently with excitement, "Teacher Li, you have won the prize..." Fatty gave him a hug.
He smiled and said, "Yeah, I know."
Then he turned around and hugged Cheng Er again, and at the same time said in his ear: "Thank you!"
"No, Brother Li, you deserve this!" Cheng Er said solemnly while being excited.
I woke up early in the morning and thoroughly cleaned the house, then bought groceries and cooked, and coded after dinner without stopping for almost a moment. It was a very meaningful Dragon Boat Festival. I wish everyone a healthy Dragon Boat Festival! Due to time constraints, issue first and then change.
(End of chapter)
