Chapter 473: Relying on Others Is Unreliable

The International Convention Center here not only has all the major domestic entertainment stars and actors, but also foreign stars, as well as officials, veteran artists, and other celebrities.

Fang Hong was in high spirits among the crowd; no matter how many people came to flatter and curry favor, they all couldn't help looking toward him.

Those who knew him knew him; those who didn't were foreigners, and they would also ask who this person was? Mainly because he was too popular, as if everyone had to hold this gentleman up.

This made some people feel a bit unbalanced inside—why couldn't they be as glorious as this person? He was, after all, an international friend.

Song Chengxian even asked his companion: "Who is this person? So badass."

"Shh, don't offend him. He has a very good relationship with CJ. I heard he's cooperating with CJ to produce 'Train to Busan,'" the companion said.

This shut those sticks' mouths. In the South Korean entertainment market, CJ ranks first; crushing them is like crushing little chicks.

In a market like South Korea's, as long as it's an entertainment company, there are chaebol shadows behind it.

Hearing this, the fiery look in Song Chengxian's eyes toward Liu Tianxian couldn't help but dim a few degrees—he really couldn't afford to offend them.

But then again, Liu Tianxian had no interest in him either.

Any man here, seeing Liu Tianxian's radiant appearance, the temperament she displayed, and that open-heartedness in how she got along with people, would involuntarily feel goodwill toward her.

No way around it—those who knew her would want to be her friend, and those who didn't could only gaze from afar, which was also a feast for the eyes.

It's just that she had the Principal by her side, which extinguished a lot of thoughts.

Since the venue was very large, not everyone could see Fang Hong, and not everyone had to know him or come to flatter him; there were still plenty of aloof people.

Xue Xiaolu and Bai Yu had long since returned to their seats; their seats were together.

After Fang Hong finished dealing with those people, he returned to his seat. Of course he also saw Feng Kuzi, and the two even exchanged a glance.

Both eyes had sparks and lightning, as if neither could stand the sight of the other.

He even saw Yu Fatty. Yu Fatty was sitting very properly, not casting a single glance toward Fang Hong's side.

This occasion was certainly not one for conflict, but that didn't stop them from privately calling each other idiots.

Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian sat in the second row, and he casually exchanged a few words with Xue Xiaolu.

Then Fang Hong whispered to Liu Tianxian: "Look at Feng Kuzi and Yu Fatty, acting like idiots."

"Hehehe, behave yourself." Liu Tianxian laughed and patted the leg of the man beside her.

Of course, she couldn't really go look at those two.

When her man cursed casually, it was only for her ears, not for outsiders—harmless enough.

The seat in front was Gong Huang. She looked back, saw it was the Principal, and extended her hand: "Principal, I've long heard of your great name!"

As she spoke, she also nodded to Liu Tianxian as a greeting, and Liu Tianxian nodded back in response.

"I'm the one who's long heard of your great name." Fang Hong extended his hand and shook hers.

"I heard you set up a film festival, the Macau Film Festival." Gong Huang smiled—her information was quite well-informed.

"Yes, in the future I'll still have to consult you, this professional, often." Fang Hong's words were flattering; he saw her smile looking a bit odd, with a slightly crooked-mouth feeling.

This woman was like that—seen in public, you'd feel her mouth was a bit crooked.

"What's professional or not, as long as it's fair. If it's fair, everyone will naturally be convinced." Gong Huang said.

"True enough." Fang Hong nodded.

Just as the two were chatting in detail, the originally noisy, clamorous environment of the convention center quieted down. The lighting at the guest seating area changed, becoming dim, and the stage lighting also took on a sea-blue hue.

The stage gave off a gorgeous, grand, warm visual effect.

And the on-site personnel had basically all arrived. Some seats were empty—those who came, came; those who didn't, didn't.

Gong Huang ended her small talk with Fang Hong and gestured toward the stage. On stage was a dance, a costume-change performance that switched into South Korean outfits and also into Japanese outfits, among others.

After the dance, two hosts walked out from backstage—Zhang Guoli and Chen Chen respectively.

This Old Zhang had also been feeling melancholy lately, having to come out and work, all because his son had been caught again recently; being caught twice completely cut off his front-stage livelihood.

And his son lived extravagantly—if he didn't earn some money, how would they get by?

It was said that later his son went into music and was doing very well in Thailand, so having a good dad is really important—no need to struggle, and you've already reached the finish line of life.

The two hosts cracked a few jokes on stage, said some connecting lines, and then began introducing the distinguished guests.

The distinguished guests introduced were the General Administration leaders and city leaders; others didn't need to be introduced—someone like Fang Hong didn't qualify.

He could throw his weight around only in the entertainment circle; outside this circle, there really weren't many people who gave a damn about him.

Although Chang'e Technology was currently developing upward with decent returns, it hadn't yet reached the point of being valued by the bigwigs.

Then a short film played on the big screen on stage. This short film displayed every judge's appearance, voice, and smile, and each judge in the short film expressed their views on film.

Of course the most eye-catching was still Gong Huang—she was the jury chair. The hosts also specially thanked her and jokingly paid her respect.

This made the on-site guests all laugh. Gong Huang crossed her legs and pressed her palms together in thanks.

"See, being jury chair has its perks, right? The focus of everyone—instantly elevates your class." Fang Hong said quietly.

"Then why don't you be the chair?" Liu Tianxian retorted.

"If I were the chair, others would think I must be playing favorites. The identity itself isn't suitable—it would naturally drag down the festival's authority, so it's best I don't participate." Fang Hong said.

"But everyone knows you're the one who set it up. It even carries your Jade Rabbit Chang'e brand—everyone knows it's you behind it." Liu Tianxian said.

"So I have to avoid suspicion as much as possible. This kind of reputation can't be built in a day or two—it inherently takes a long time. When people discover I'm only the organizer, not a participant, the reputation will naturally accumulate."

Fang Hong added: "Besides, no matter how you run a ceremony like this, someone will always have something to say—that's unavoidable. All you can do is be relatively fair." Liu Tianxian nodded, indicating she understood.

Although Han Jianü was Jade Rabbit's producer, she was also Zuoshandiao's daughter, and even more a graduate of Beijing Film Academy, so she was a pure Academy person.

With the backing of multiple identities, when the film festival opened, the mainstream voices of doubt would be a bit quieter. If it were rejected by the mainstream from the start, unable to bear the pressure, it would be very hard to keep running the festival for Jade Rabbit in the following editions.

The initiative of the Macau Film Festival was still in the hands of those above, not in Fang Hong's hands.

Just as the two were chatting, it finally entered the award-presenting procedure. This time there were a total of eight Golden Goblet Awards.

Best Film Award, Jury Grand Prix, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Cinematography, Artistic Contribution Award.

And for an A-category award like this, there were no individual nominations or anything like that—as long as a film was entered, once entered it had a chance to win. Whether you win depends on the judges' tastes.

So the competitors were all the entered films—anyone had a chance to take an award.

Normally, an award is a one-in-five chance — like the Golden Horse Awards, five people get nominated, and one is selected to win.

But an awards ceremony like this might be a one-in-several-dozen, or even one-in-several-hundred chance — the odds are very slim.

So Liu Tianxian's heart had been in her throat the whole time.

This ceremony doesn't have a big screen playing clips of the nominees, because there are too many nominees — there are no nominees.

The first award presented was the Artistic Contribution Award. The presenters were Da Baobei and Ni Ni — two beauties in sparkly floral gowns, walking up to the stage with smiles.

Just that their chests were really small — seems like beauties generally have small chests.

Fang Hong tilted his head and said: "When are you going to get up on stage and present an award for me to see? Let me share in the glory."

"There'll be a chance. Let me win an award first, then we'll talk." Liu Tianxian said softly.

"I'm not going to be waiting until my hair turns white, am I!" Fang Hong looked at her.

"You really have that little faith in me? Who knows, maybe I'll win this time." Liu Tianxian gave him an unhappy glance.

"I just want to see you on that stage under everyone's eyes — this wish is just too hard to fulfill." Fang Hong sighed.

Liu Tianxian nudged him with her elbow: "You're doing this on purpose, aren't you? Fine, I'll win one just to show you."

"What if you don't win?" Fang Hong said.

"If I don't win, I'll take it out on you with a beating." Liu Tianxian huffed, her tone threatening.

Then Fang Hong shut up — the one who always ended up hurt was him.

Actually, Liu Tianxian herself had no confidence at all inside — mainly because winning an award really was too hard.

And being interrupted by this man, her originally suspended heart relaxed a little — it wasn't her turn yet.

On stage, after Da Baobei and Ni Ni finished their chatter, they announced that the Artistic Contribution Award-winning film was the United States' "Begin Again," and the winner was Aleksander Greige — didn't recognize him.

After that award was presented, the next was Best Cinematography. The presenters were a foreign woman and a Hong Kong man named Wen Juan.

He's the short one, about the same height as Ceng Aizi — and this guy is seriously impressive. Not only did he produce "In the Heat of the Sun," the "Young and Dangerous" series, "Lost on Journey" was also produced by him.

He's also been chairman of the Hong Kong Film Awards for several terms.

But what really makes this guy impressive is that he exposed the dark side of Hong Kong's film industry — and is still perfectly safe to this day.

Things like Li Lianjie (Jet Li)'s agent being shot dead; Liu Jialin being kidnapped; Liu Tianwang being coerced — he exposed a lot, yet he's still active and doing just fine.

That's far more guts than Fang Long, who waits until a hundred years after his death to publish books exposing things.

At his current status, he doesn't even dare to embrace his homeland — and people expect him to speak up a hundred years from now? A hundred years from now he'd probably be even less willing, because he still has descendants.

While alive he can still protect himself a bit — once dead, how would he protect himself? The Best Cinematography award went to the Chinese film "Five-Colored Divine Arrow," and the winner was someone named Luo Pan.

The ceremony was relatively solemn, without such a lively atmosphere. The next award presented was Best Screenplay, presented by a South Korean and a Chinese person.

The winner was "Diplomatic Secrets," a co-production between France and Germany.

After this award came the gratitude moment — sharing the dream of young filmmakers: "Give every young filmmaker a chance." That's what the big screen said.

After that came the Jury Grand Prix. The presenters were Liu Jie and Li Bailian — Li Bailian now is truly transformed.

Active at every major awards ceremony — either as a presenter or a juror, promoted to the level of an elder figure.

She no longer acts in anything, and doesn't bother competing with anyone — she's moved into authority, into capital.

Because she understands one truth deeply: resources given by others are only temporary; becoming a resource yourself is the real success.

In short, relying on others is unreliable!

The Jury Grand Prix-winning film was the Chinese film "Victory," and the winner was Zhang Meng.

After this award came Best Actress!

When the host said this award was about to be presented, Liu Tianxian couldn't help but sit up straight, her expression turning serious and tense.

Fang Hong glanced at her, saw the seriousness on her face, and stopped teasing her, quietly waiting for the result to be announced.

Other nominated actresses in the venue, whether or not they had a chance of winning, couldn't help but look solemn — all of them looking very expectant.

As the music played, the presenters who came out were a Danish woman and a British man, chattering away in what sounded like English, or some other language — couldn't tell.

The general meaning was that the jury was unanimous on who should receive Best Actress, with no objections whatsoever.

(End of chapter)