Chapter 714

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Main Character:

Shen Yao

Shen Yao wore fine robes and had long been seated in the inner area, surrounded by unfamiliar production teams and actors; because this was the closing ceremony, it lacked the liveliness of the opening ceremony a few days prior, and some stars who had come via brand invitations had already returned home or moved on to other stages of fame and fortune. Those who could stay to attend the closing ceremony were basically able to receive one or two small awards.

That wasn't entirely wrong; at least Shen Yao, with her 5.0 vision, saw several film creators whose movies she and Jiang Han Zhou had watched.

They were all distributed around Shen Yao, dressed in dazzling attire and flashing smiles as they greeted those around them. After all, this was also a stage of fame and fortune. Though the big shots were aiming for the ultimate grand prize, if they couldn't get it, there was nothing to be done. They might as well take the opportunity to chat more with one another; perhaps they could gain an unexpected harvest.

Just like Jiang Han Zhou beside Shen Yao, he had already exchanged business cards with several producers around them and agreed that after the closing ceremony they would discuss film copyright issues. This was an overseas film festival, with so many films; getting a group-buy price to pack them back home could earn enough round-trip travel expenses.

Don't think that because they go out with great fame, when it comes to making money, no matter how small, they won't refuse.

Shen Yao just watched Jiang Han Zhou socializing everywhere like a courtesan; even the director of the production team and the two main cast members couldn't compare to this person.

"What's wrong?"

Jiang Han Zhou returned holding a stack of business cards and sat down beside Shen Yao.

Shen Yao smiled and shook her head. "Nothing, I just think you're very suited to this circle." Not everyone could thrive like a fish in water in such a stage of fame and fortune. Jiang Han Zhou's ability was one thing, but more importantly, his adaptability was perfect.

Hearing this, Jiang Han Zhou raised his eyebrows, saying he owed much to Shen Yao's praise and confidence. Actually, he wasn't born able to adapt, but he was simply unwilling to admit defeat. No matter how great the difficulty, he would grit his teeth and persist.

The entertainment industry—don't look at how dazzling it is and how quickly money is made; there are just as many hardships here. After overcoming one hurdle, there's another.

Shen Yao smiled, thinking, who isn't? Nowadays, those who could sit at this closing ceremony all had stories worth applauding behind them.

"Humans are naturally highly adaptable creatures. Whether it's the entertainment industry or other circles, as long as you don't fall, you can get back up."

Jiang Han Zhou looked at the jury personnel not far away, thinking he had received quite a bit of news these days, with both good and bad content.

Among the jury personnel this time was a well-known domestic actor. Jiang Han Zhou had once had the honor of chatting with him. According to that person's meaning, for the film "Wang Sheng" to win the film festival's ultimate grand prize, the hardest hurdle to overcome was the roadblock "Quan Xiang Jiu Meng."

Although "Quan Xiang Jiu Meng" had previously caused a bit of a stir and received strong recommendation and coverage from the jury chairman, the jury wasn't only made up of this chairman with severe taste preferences. Other jury members from different countries also loved the tone of "Quan Xiang Jiu Meng."

Jiang Han Zhou had watched this "Quan Xiang Jiu Meng," which was said to be profound and certain to bring home the ultimate grand prize. Well, his comprehension might be a bit low; he didn't understand the inexplicable plot and dialogue inside, including the relationship between the male and female leads. Anyway, it was completely different from normal films.

If the ultimate grand prize this time still went to "Quan Xiang Jiu Meng," Jiang Han Zhou could only say he would never play with this group of people with strange tastes again. Although even if his "Wang Sheng" could win an award, he wouldn't come to any damn film festival again.

After sitting for a while, the lights at the front suddenly went down.

The moment they went down, they lit up again, and at the same time, specks of light drifted down from midair.

They were small streamers of different colors and types. Together with the flickering lights everywhere around, they illuminated Shen Yao's entire face, bright and dim in turns.

The jury personnel appeared on the podium along with the jury chairman at the very front.

Accompanied by applause from the entire venue, the jury chairman, who was already quite old, wearing a black suit, walked forward to give a speech.

This step was similar to the previous opening ceremony. The only difference was that the closing ceremony had awards to receive. The reason these people stayed here without leaving was also those awards.

As personnel came forward to speak one by one and then stepped back, time slowly moved forward until a short introduction video suddenly popped up on the not-small screen at the side. Only then did Shen Yao react; this was entering the main topic.

She watched the content introduced in the short video seriously, waiting to see whose home the first award of the night would fall to.

"Will 'Wang Sheng' be among them?" Shen Yao pointed at the personnel lining up to receive awards—blond hair and blue eyes, brown hair and black eyes, black hair and black eyes—basically all types were covered.

Shen Yao was wearing this set of valuable jewelry contributed by Jiang Han Zhou. Especially when the outside lights swept over, her whole body was simply shining astonishingly.

"Will."

Jiang Han Zhou said affirmatively, "This counts as a consolation prize. No matter whether they win awards later, they can take this award back and simply brag about it."

Of course, domestically right now, this kind of consolation award isn't recognized. Before, it might still have carried a few layers of filter, but now the domestic situation is very good. Without real substance, domestically they won't spend money to buy into it.

Sure enough, as Jiang Han Zhou's words landed, the presenter at the front read out the "Wang Sheng" production team.

The director accepted the award on their behalf. After going back and forth for five minutes, he finally brought back a golden trophy no bigger than a palm, with important marks of this film festival on both sides.

"Good luck opening the door, good luck opening the door!"

The director wasn't a killjoy. Smiling, he handed the trophy to the people around him to pass around, saying to share the joy, so everyone could have a harvest tonight.

Everyone gave face and touched it. Especially the male and female leads were even more exaggerated, saying pleasant words without cost. It wasn't aimed at themselves, but at the director and Jiang Han Zhou, who stood silently to one side.

Whether the two of them could have a big breakthrough at the box office next depended on whether these two Imperial Concubines could get their wish tonight. So the film "Wang Sheng" winning an award was more important than the two of them winning awards themselves.

Shen Yao propped her chin and just watched the trophy held in her hand, thinking that picking it up wasn't heavy. Except for a layer of gold powder on top, the rest wouldn't be plastic, would it?

Tsk tsk tsk

It seems the economy hasn't been good these past few years. It's not just reflected in daily life, but involves all aspects.

She pursed her lips secretly and returned the trophy. Shen Yao continued to look forward to the short film at the front. By now, who knew which award was being presented. Listening to the strange names, it should be that the formal segment hadn't started yet.

At the same time, not only overseas, but many netizens on the domestic internet also had nothing to do and started swishing through to find related content reports.

This year, many domestic films were sent for awards. Many were eliminated halfway, and finally only two or three were left there waiting to see whose home the award would fall to.

Dumpling Skin: Speaking of which, what on earth is going on this year? Is there still no news at all?

Loves Sausage and Roasted Leg: What news could there be? This year's movies are even worse. Only that person's "Wang Sheng" is passable. But after all, it's an overseas film festival. They value their own films more. Winning an award is basically impossible.

It's a Persimmon, Not a Momentum: You can't say it too absolutely. Wasn't "Pastoral Family" like that before? As a result, the youngest Film Emperor—enough for Feng Chen to eat dividends for a lifetime, leaving other young actors far behind.

Carrot My Love:... That was all hundreds of years ago, right? Feng Chen is now around thirty years old. Why mention movies?

Chen Chen Is the Best: Why can't it be mentioned? This is Chen Chen's honor. Your family's brother doesn't have it. Are you jealous or just incapable?

Feng Feng I Love You: Definitely both jealous and incapable. For so many years, the domestic entertainment industry hasn't produced a young Film Emperor. See, it's really just incapable.

The internet was noisy. Some netizens indeed paid close attention to whether this film festival could win an award. After all, although domestically they didn't value it as much as before, they couldn't really return empty-handed.

Over so many years, how many famous Film Emperors and Empresses are there? Besides, many are getting old and gradually retiring from acting. They really aren't too many.

However many or few there are, they don't dislike them, but someone has to actually be able to walk onto the stage.

It's no wonder the comments behind are getting more and more skewed. Feng Chen's fans, because of the Young Film Emperor, started mocking those young actors of the same period. It's really that these people themselves are unpromising. All day they don't seek improvement and only care about making money. Clearly they've earned enough money to pursue something in their careers. As a result, what are they filming? Not to mention comparing with Feng Chen, they can't even touch a bit of Feng Chen's heel.

Netizens with interest started digging up overseas news everywhere to read for themselves. Netizens without interest didn't forget to watch these fans and passersby quarreling in various ways. Occasionally jumping in to stir up a few sentences, then provoking other parties to beat them up together.

Abroad

Shen Yao's gaze had already become somewhat unfocused, because right now it had come to the formal award presentation — things like Best Cinematography, Best Screenplay, Best Costume Design, basically all related to the production's behind-the-scenes crew.

"Best Actress"

Jiang Han Zhou suddenly reminded Shen Yao, indicating this award would most likely go to a small country, because that small country's film performed exceptionally brilliantly, especially its female lead — one person acting from youth to old age; that share of experience not letting up on the drama alone crushed the other nominated actresses.

Shen Yao: ……

Jiang Han Zhou's analysis was indeed reasonable; sure enough, the final unveiled winner was precisely this small country actress.

The other party was only twenty-four years old, not only young and beautiful but with astonishing acting skills; tsk tsk tsk, Shen Yao sighed inwardly that this person won the award, and upon returning home who knows if she could step up another level.

After presenting Best Actress, next came Best Actor.

Jiang Han Zhou likewise indicated Best Actor would most likely go to Europe, the candidate being an Italian.

Of course, there were other strong contenders in this, but they did not include domestic male actors.

Shen Yao signaled Jiang Han Zhou to speak more tactfully, careful not to offend those actors preparing to rush for awards.

Jiang Han Zhou: ……

"They knew from the start they had no chance; I'm just telling the truth. Whether a film is good or not, the creative personnel already have a general understanding during filming; editing cannot turn rotten wood into magic, it's merely repairing the messy stuff to look as good as possible, but it cannot change the core inside."

Domestic cinema has had no achievements at international film festivals for many years, and that really cannot be blamed on these actors; actors' acting skills are icing on the cake relative to the script, while the script and filming quality determine the film's ceiling.

This film "Wang Sheng" had impure motives from the very beginning; even with Shen Yao participating in the adaptation, unless it discarded all content of the original novel, no matter how it was changed it could not ignore the internal awkwardness and contradictions within it.

Add to that the male and female leads contributing passing-grade acting skills; they could only expect the director and film awards — other awards, don't even think about them.

Sure enough, the Best Actor award ultimately went to this Italian.

Watching the handsome guy walk up on stage to receive the award, Shen Yao couldn't help thinking of the few films this person shot; aside from the one submitted for competition which was incomprehensible, the others were pretty decent narrative films — if introduced domestically they might make a small profit.

Raising her hand to poke Jiang Han Zhou beside her, Shen Yao's beautiful eyes shifted slightly, laughing as she blinked.

Jiang Han Zhou: ……

"Works. Not only the male lead, but the female lead too — both can be introduced domestically for promotion." Foreign films entering the domestic market have a set of strict procedural requirements, but relatively speaking it's already much looser than in previous years.

Moreover, they originally planned a one-time buyout, not participating in subsequent cooperation at all; that would definitely be demanded together with the package price.

After the male and female lead awards passed, came the Best Director award.

The director beside her was somewhat nervous; his originally smiling eyes unconsciously flattened, both hands tightly pinching, pressed against his pants seams.

Shen Yao didn't waste words; at this time saying anything was useless — still had to see if the awards announced above could let people get what they wished for.

Fortunately, this session's jury president was an interesting person, or you could say a master of serving water evenly.

Knowing awards are the essence that can gather so many people to participate session after session; if they really gave all awards to one side, wouldn't that disappoint everyone?

This is like receiving red packets during New Year — it's not about how much money is inside the red packet, but that others have it and you have it too; during the big New Year, what's sought is just happiness.

Best Director went to "Wang Sheng"; simultaneously this also meant the "Wang Sheng" production team had no relation to Best Film anymore, because the jury president was blatantly dividing the pork — impossible to also give Best Film to "Wang Sheng".

Jiang Han Zhou clapped while saying this wasn't bad either; Best Director acquired, the next few commercial films can also get project approval and launch; as long as promotion is sufficiently in place, they're a multi-win situation.

"But an art film director going to shoot commercial films — really won't lose out?"

The system felt Jiang Han Zhou was a bit overly optimistic, including the Host who was also somewhat floating.

"'Wang Sheng' isn't an art film; it's a realist-themed commercial film. Just wait — before release, this film will be re-edited into a new version." Even if film rights are sold abroad, domestically a new version will still be broadcast — this was a handling plan agreed upon early on.

Some content was merely to win awards by catering to foreign aesthetics; domestic audiences fundamentally don't eat this set — of course it must be directly cut clean without a single bit remaining.