Chapter 21: The Lost and the Missing

At nine o'clock in the morning, Yu Feihong arrived at the lounge next to the TV station studio and saw that Rene Liu and Huang Yi had already arrived, so she smiled and greeted the two.

The film "New Crossroads" starring the three of them is about to be released on March 1st, and they came to the TV station to participate in a program to cooperate with the promotion.

Huang Yi stood up and hugged Yu Feihong, joking, "Sister Feihong, looking at your happy face, is there any good news?"

She collaborated with Yu Feihong last year on the TV series "Life Has Dreams", and their relationship is quite good.

"Yes, the smile on your face is almost overflowing; is there really good news?" Rene Liu also followed with a light hug of Yu Feihong and said with a smile.

"Wasn't it the Berlin Film Festival awards ceremony yesterday? On the way here, I received a call from the company; a film I participated in won the Jury Grand Prix and Best Actress." Yu Feihong explained softly with a face full of smiles.

"Wow! Which great director is so powerful? Two Silver Bears, and one of them is Best Actress; that's a Berlin Best Actress." Huang Yi was very envious, "Who won the Berlin Best Actress?"

Rene Liu was also extremely envious; she is known as a literary talented woman; if she won the Berlin Best Actress, a recognized international Best Actress, she could naturally advance to a literary queen.

"If I had the opportunity to win Best Actress at one of the three major European film festivals, I would be willing to pay any price," Rene Liu couldn't help but think.

"Li Xiaoran."

Mentioning this name, Yu Feihong was a bit jealous and a bit admiring.

She originally turned down the lead role because she didn't have a schedule, but out of the fact that they were both alumni, she agreed to make a guest appearance in a role.

She spent about ten days playing a supporting role with quite a few scenes.

She was originally going to follow to Berlin this time, but because of the new film release, she needed to promote it, so she didn't go.

In Yu Feihong's view, Li Xiaoran's lead role was a "lucky pick".

But during the few days of acting opposite her, Yu Feihong witnessed what is called "the person and the play are one"; she felt she would never forget the fact that she was crushed by someone else's acting.

This made her doubt her own acting skills for a time.

Could it be that she is really just a vase?

Regarding Li Xiaoran's acting skills, she had nothing to say; if she couldn't win Best Actress, it could only be said that the judges didn't have eyes.

Huang Yi thought for a long time and blurted out, "Who is Li Xiaoran?"

Rene Liu also shook her head, indicating she didn't know her.

Yu Feihong introduced them, "She wasn't famous before, only played small supporting roles; Cao Dao had a discerning eye and found her; her acting skills are very, very good."

She used the word "very" twice.

"Really envy her."

Huang Yi said, and then asked Yu Feihong, "Sister Feihong, who is Cao Dao? Which great director? From Hong Kong or Taiwan?"

Yu Feihong smiled and shook her head, "No, he is a junior student in the Directing Department of my alma mater, the Beijing Film Academy; this is his first practice film."

"What?"

"No way?"

Two surprised voices sounded at the same time; Rene Liu looked at Yu Feihong in disbelief, "A junior student?"

Huang Yi opened her mouth slightly, also looking at Yu Feihong; this was really unbelievable.

Yu Feihong smiled even more brightly.

"That's right, his name is Cao Yang, a junior this year. I heard this was an assignment given by their Directing Department, asking them to shoot a practice film, with no time limit; everyone almost shot short films of a few minutes, only he shot this feature film, and then won two Silver Bears."

Huang Yi's mouth opened a bit wider; it was too shocking; a student's practice film? How did it get involved with the Silver Bears of the Berlin Film Festival? Rene Liu was also surprised; suddenly, her heart moved, Beijing Film Academy? A junior student?

She hurriedly took out her phone, said sorry to the two, and went out to call Huang Lei.

After five minutes, Yu Feihong saw Rene Liu walking in in a daze and hurriedly asked what was wrong.

Rene Liu was a bit distracted; Yu Feihong called a few times before she reacted, squeezing out a smile uglier than crying, saying she was on her period and her stomach hurt badly.

In Wang Shuo's courtyard, Zhang Yuan was drinking tea and discussing the plot with Wang Shuo, while Xu Jinglei on the side was boiling tea quietly, looking leisurely and happy.

Zhang Yuan graduated from the Cinematography Department of the Beijing Film Academy and won the Silver Lion for Best Director at the 1999 Venice Film Festival.

Don't look at the domestic market in recent years; literary films are still very powerful at the three major European film festivals.

At this time, Zhang Yuan and Wang Shuo were discussing adapting Wang Shuo's novel "Getting Through It" into a film; the name had already been decided, called "I Love You", and the lead actress was definitely Xu Jinglei.

Wang Shuo suddenly said, "Yuan, have you heard? That kid Wang Xiaoshuai won Best Director in Berlin yesterday."

"Is that so? I haven't seen the news; I've been busy revising the script lately; wasn't it said before that his film didn't pass censorship? How did he go to Berlin? Went privately?"

!

"Probably."

Wang Shuo took a sip of tea and mocked, "He can win Best Director, so he has some strength, but he hangs out with that group from Taiwan all day; once someone incites him, he gets hot-headed and goes, not afraid of being banned as a director."

"Winning this award, even if he's banned, it's worth it."

"There's something even more awesome; I thought it was fake news. In your school, there's a junior student in the Directing Department who filmed a movie for the first time, used a lead actress whose name I've never heard of, and yesterday he suddenly won the Jury Grand Prix and Berlin Best Actress; do you dare to believe this?"

"Pfft!"

Zhang Yuan sprayed the tea in his mouth directly, staring with big eyes, unable to believe it, "Fake, right? Junior? Two Silver Bears? Impossible, impossible."

"Sigh! I also felt it was fake news at first, but that Sina Entertainment reported it with nose and eyes, just like it was true."

Xu Jinglei on the side refilled Zhang Yuan's tea and said, "Should be to attract attention, right? Speaking of this, I remember a very funny thing; before the New Year, a Directing Department student seemed to want to film a movie and asked the school to convey an invitation for me to play the lead actress; I felt it wasn't reliable, so I didn't pay attention to him."

Wang Shuo was happy and joked, "Wouldn't it also be a junior student in the Directing Department?"

Xu Jinglei thought for a moment and said uncertainly, "Seems like it really is."

The three suddenly stopped talking.

Zhang Yuan took out his phone, "I'll ask."

So he started making calls.

A few minutes later, Zhang Yuan put down his phone unbelievably; seeing the two looking over curiously, he coughed and gave Xu Jinglei a strange look.

"Junior Directing Department student, Cao Yang, filmed a movie for the first time, and it was a practice film; yesterday he won the Jury Grand Prix and Berlin Best Actress."

"Ah?"

Xu Jinglei covered her mouth with her hand, staring at Zhang Yuan with wide eyes; is this true?

Zhang Yuan nodded, "I just called a deputy director of the Directing Department; he said Cao Yang sent several invitations for the lead actress, but no one paid attention to him, so he used an unknown actress, and as a result, he suddenly promoted her to Berlin Best Actress."

"Damn, it's unbelievable!"

Wang Shuo was stunned for a moment, then slapped his thigh in annoyance, pointing at Xu Jinglei, "Berlin Best Actress, you, you......"

Xu Jinglei threw the teapot, instantly lost interest, the years were no longer quiet, and she was no longer leisurely and happy; she had to slap herself in annoyance when sleeping at night...... Wang Shuo!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 22 =====