Chapter 13: The Annoying Riddler

Xie Fei was truly in a difficult position.

If a film was shot reasonably well, pushing one was still justifiable, but pushing two required selling favors and finding a balance.

Pushing three was just too difficult, far too difficult.

Even if the Berlin Film Festival was friendly toward Chinese-language films, it was an international film festival after all; it still had its bottom line, and one couldn't be too shameless about it.

He hinted to Cao Yang that if there were other channels, he could try to make contact; as long as someone inside the jury pushed it first, he could follow up in time and wouldn't be in such a bind.

Old Xie was also in a real bind; Wang Xiaoshuai wanted a push, Cao Yang here wanted a push, and he owed favors to the Taiwan side, so he had to push there too—it was truly hard to manage.

The Berlin Film Festival wasn't run by his family; how many awards were there in the main competition section in total? If he really gritted his teeth and pushed three films... just thinking about it made his scalp tingle; he might as well kiss the reputation he’d spent a lifetime building goodbye.

At the same time, he also hinted to Wang Xiaoshuai and the Taiwan side that they should each find their own ways, and not let an old man like him be the only one charging at the front.

I haven't reached the point where I don't even want my own face yet.

Speaking of this, Cao Yang couldn't help but passively think of "Sunglasses King" Wang Jiawei.

When he served as the jury president for the main competition at the 59th Cannes Film Festival, he demonstrated what the art of compromise really was; that flashy maneuver left everyone’s jaws on the floor.

He awarded five Best Actor prizes and six Best Actress prizes all at once!

Ever since then, for a period of time in Europe, no one dared to invite the "Sunglasses King" to be a judge again.

Cao Yang really wanted to tell Old Xie this story, but then he realized this was something that would only happen in 2006; it hadn't happened yet. He figured Old Xie wouldn't be able to pull off such a stunt anyway; as a leading figure of the Fourth Generation directors and an old artist, he still valued his reputation very highly.

If Cao Yang dared to suggest that Old Xie do the same, Old Xie would dare to beat Cao Yang to death.

After hanging up on Old Xie, Cao Yang felt a bit uneasy; he hated these people who only said half of what they meant—he understood a little, but also couldn't quite understand, and how one should ultimately understand it depended on one's own comprehension skills.

Why couldn't things just be said directly instead of having to guess back and forth?

Old Tian was better after all; stubborn Old Tian wouldn't play riddles with you, he said whatever was on his mind.

"What are you doing? The phone hasn't stopped ringing, and you aren't doing any work."

His mother slapped the back of Cao Yang's head, interrupting his train of thought.

"Mom, let me tell you, I make a living with my brain; what if you hit me stupid with that slap?"

Seeing his mother's hand raised again, Cao Yang hurriedly shared the good news, "Mom, the movie I shot a while ago has been selected for the main competition section of the Berlin Film Festival!"

His mother was stunned, her raised hand silently retracted, and she asked happily, "Did you win an award?"

"Uh, not yet, but it's possible."

"Haha, my son is still the best. When you win, Mom will cook you something delicious."

Although he hadn't won yet, his mother was clearly very happy, even if she didn't necessarily understand what the Berlin Film Festival was or what it signified.

"Old Cao, what are you doing? Didn't you see our son on the phone? You're still sitting there smoking, puff, puff, puff, all you know is how to smoke, hurry up and come help with the work. Our son is going to win an award, a big foreign one at that."

Dinner was exceptionally sumptuous; after doing some research, his parents finally knew what kind of thing the Berlin Film Festival was.

In this era, the trend of worshiping foreign things was exceptionally strong, and his parents only knew that if he could win a big award at the Berlin Film Festival, their son would soar to the sky, become a famous domestic director, and have a limitless future.

Could there be anything that made the old couple happier than this?

After dinner, Cao Yang called Tian Zhuangzhuang, wanting to ask for Old Tian's opinion.

He told Old Tian exactly what Xie Fei had said on the phone today. Old Tian pondered for a moment on the other end of the line and told him to just relay the words to Hou Keming; he didn't need to worry about the rest, as Hou Keming would naturally know what to do.

Then, Old Tian told Cao Yang one more thing.

The jury president for this Berlin Film Festival was the chairman of Fox Searchlight Pictures, who was in charge of film production and distribution.

The film *Happy Times* directed by the National Master Zhang Yimou was one he had led the investment for. This guy was really impressive; ever since the film *Titanic*, which he oversaw, was screened normally in the domestic market and raked in 240 million in box office, and then reached 360 million after a two-month extension, he had attached extreme importance to the mainland market.

You have to know that was 360 million in 1998; at that time, domestic films that could sell 20 or 30 million were already considered big directors.

The producer of *Happy Times*, Terrence Malick, was a winner of the Golden Bear at the 49th Berlin Film Festival, and he had been a long-time friend of the Berlin Film Festival chairman, Moritz de Hadeln.

Zhang Yimou was a winner of the Golden Bear at the 38th Berlin Film Festival and had just won the Silver Bear Jury Grand Prix last year; he had very extensive connections there and could be considered a direct affiliate of the Berlin Film Festival.

Finally, Old Tian added that this was just the beginning; the school's influence was beyond your imagination, go figure it out yourself.

"Figure out what, damn it! I didn't expect that even a thick-browed, big-eyed guy like Old Tian would defect and become a riddler; it was so much better when you were just stubborn Old Tian." Cao Yang hung up the phone and muttered to himself.

Even though he said that, Cao Yang still called Hou Keming and relayed Xie Fei's meaning.

Sigh, how much better it would be if you two just talked directly instead of being riddlers.

!

Hou Keming said he understood, then very warmly asked after his well-being, and finally asked when Cao Yang would return to school.

The 51st Berlin Film Festival was held in Berlin, Germany, from February 7th to the 18th; today was January 17th, so there were twenty days left.

Cao Yang promised to return to school at least a week in advance.

Days passed one by one; this time, Cao Yang's good treatment lasted for a week before he was once again looked down upon by his mother.

Fortunately, the Spring Festival arrived; Cao Yang had thought his parents would show off in front of their relatives and "accidentally" mention their son's "achievements," but he didn't expect his parents to keep it bottled up the whole time, not telling a soul.

Perhaps his parents wanted to save it for a big reveal, thinking they would be high-profile once Cao Yang won the award.

Or perhaps in his parents' view, things that weren't finalized couldn't be boasted about, for fear of leaking their good fortune.

During this time, Cao Yang thought carefully; even with Xie Fei there and the school supporting him behind the scenes at this Berlin Film Festival, the Golden Bear was out of the question—it was impossible for it to be awarded to him.

Even if Li Xiaoran gave a god-like performance in this film, it was impossible to give the Golden Bear on the first try; the most likely outcome was Best Actress, the Berlin Silver Bear for Best Actress.

In reality, whether it was the Berlin Film Festival, the Venice Film Festival, or the Cannes Film Festival, as long as the film wasn't shot poorly, many awards could be manipulated, with the sole exception of the highest awards: the Golden Bear, the Golden Lion, and the Palme d'Or.

The jury could ostensibly judge all the awards, but without the tacit approval of the film festival officials, the highest awards were hard to produce.

Don't think that the dozen or so jury members were all invited at random; every year, there were a few among them meant to carry out official will, with the goal of ensuring the highest awards remained under control.

Since the difficulty of conquering the highest award was too great, one could only aim for other awards.

Cao Yang used the Spring Festival period to start pondering the script and began to write.

In his past life, Cao Yang had his edges smoothed out and became somewhat worldly and slick; even so, every time he saw the remarks of those South Korean bastards online, he would still get worked up.

So he decided to use their better film ideas first; who told these grandsons to constantly steal Chinese culture and make outrageous remarks.

(End of chapter)