Chapter 110: Ambitions for the Golden Lion

After shooing away the naive young lady, Seeing Lu Kuan and Feng Yuanzheng plunged headfirst into the European and American film section, lingering there, unable to tear themselves away.

It must be said that at this point in time, Europe and America had yet to be swept by the many movements of later years, and the social atmosphere remained extremely open.

There were not many shrill environmentalists or LGBT groups standing out to lash these films for the suspicion of objectifying women, allowing the audience to feast their eyes to their hearts' content.

After coming out of *Ken Park*, the two went to see *Naked*.

This was the new work by German director Doris Dörrie, which straightforwardly spoiled its explosive content right on the promotional stills.

Looking at the "Level 4" rating label and the long queue outside the exhibition hall, Boss Lu found himself somewhat between laughter and tears.

"Teacher Feng, you say these Europeans watch pigs run every day, so why are they still so enthusiastic about this sort of thing?"

Serious films get no visitors, but for a Level 4 film, I strike with a heavy fist?

Feng Yuanzheng laughed: "Little Lu, you aren't married yet, so you don't understand the logic that 'stolen goods are sweeter than those acquired legitimately.' Being able to watch such a film in a temple of art like this is an even more stimulating act for these Europeans!"

Boss Lu gave a thumbs-up to Feng Yuanzheng, who was well-traveled and had gone to West Berlin to study drama in 1989, and the two queued up to enter the cinema.

It was another round of flesh-and-blood combat on the screen, but the audience on-site didn't seem very satisfied, occasionally responding with boos.

The German director and the production team on the sidelines looked very grim.

When the two came out after the film ended, they saw that two-thirds of the seats were already empty; it seemed too many audience members had left early.

"It looks like the festival catalog score for this *Naked* won't be very high."

Seeing Lu Kuan agreed: "It's a bit of 'eroticism for the sake of eroticism.' Using the banner of art to create gimmicks—it's fallen into a cliché."

"Especially since this is the work of a German female director; it's a bit too uninhibited."

Feng Yuanzheng laughed: "When I was studying in East Germany, West Berlin was the largest center for prostitution in the world at the time."

"Don't look at Germans as rigorous and rigid; these people are like springs. They usually suppress themselves too hard, and can only release themselves by indulging in sensuality in these aspects."

The two sat down at an open-air café to wait for the next film, when Liu Yifei popped up from somewhere, followed by Liu Xiaoli.

"Teacher Feng, Seeing Lu Kuan, have you finished watching your film?"

Liu Yifei blinked at the two behind Liu Xiaoli's back, the tone of her teasing quite thick.

Boss Lu was indifferent: "Yes, Auntie Liu, why don't you sit down and have a coffee? We'll go watch Tom Cruise together in a while."

"Alright!"

Liu Yifei had grown familiar with him, so naturally, she didn't treat herself as an outsider.

Seeing Lu Kuan continued to chat idly with Feng Yuanzheng.

"Teacher Feng, you studied Grotowski in East Germany, didn't you?"

Feng Yuanzheng's expression cleared slightly, and he took a sip of coffee with a touch of desolation.

"Yes, and in the blink of an eye, so many years have passed."

"Little Lu, do you think our film can win an award this time?"

Liu Yifei and her mother instantly turned their attentive gazes toward them; what actor doesn't hope their first film will reap some rewards?

Seeing Lu Kuan laughed: "Teacher Feng, this film festival thing relies on strength for nominations, but luck for winning awards."

"How so?"

Feng Yuanzheng was a drama fanatic, obsessed with stage plays, and his understanding of the inside story of these film awards was far less clear than Boss Lu's.

"There are roughly two modes for authoritative film award selections in today's world: the 'big pot of rice' of the Oscars and the elite system of the 'Big Three'."

"The Oscars win by volume, with as many as a thousand judges. It's a mixed bag, which makes it convenient for production crews and capital to conduct public relations lobbying, greatly increasing the opacity of winning."

"In this regard, the Hong Kong Film Awards are similar. In 1997, *The Mad Phoenix* added a subtitle at the end of the film saying 'Encouragement to all Hong Kong screenwriters' just to win an award; that was playing the 'human sentiment' card."

This is the same logic as a primary school student writing 'Teacher, you've worked hard' at the end of an exam paper, attempting to make the grader show mercy.

The key is that it actually worked...

That year, *The Mad Phoenix* won Best Screenplay at the Hong Kong Film Awards.

"But European film festivals like Cannes and Venice follow an elite route. For example, the judge for this session is Sister Gong Li, which is relatively a positive factor for Chinese-language films."

"It's not that she can openly show favoritism, but rather that she can prevent us from being at a disadvantage when everyone is evenly matched, or act as a mediator to explain and communicate when there is a cultural barrier between the East and the West."

Liu Yifei's interest was piqued: "So we still have some hope, then?"

"The elite award mode tests the personal sensibilities of the judges, but having a paranoid jury president can also be very frustrating. Teacher Feng, have you forgotten Cannes in '97?"

Feng Yuanzheng was taken aback, then shook his head with a bitter smile.

This was a long-standing grievance held by Chinese filmmakers.

At the 1997 Cannes Film Festival, Wong Kar-wai brought *Happy Together* to compete, and at the time, Sister Gong Li participated in the voting as the first Chinese judge in Cannes history.

The jury president for that session was Isabelle Adjani.

Adjani was known as the "first divine face of France" and was a superstar who had won Best Actress awards at international film festivals until her hands went soft.

At that Cannes, *Happy Together* was the only Chinese-language film to enter the main competition unit, and Sister Gong Li naturally wanted to protect it.

The key was that the film's quality was indeed excellent, giving her the confidence to shout and cheer for Chinese-language cinema.

Unfortunately, Adjani thought the same, and she also bore the heavy responsibility of defending the honor of French cinema, especially on home turf like Cannes.

Thus, these two great leading ladies slammed the table and tore into each other during the jury meeting, leaving the crowd of male judges trembling.

In the end, they found a balance: Wong Kar-wai won Best Director, but the excellent Liang Chaowei missed out on the Best Actor award.

This story has a sequel: in 2017, Sister Gong Li found a boyfriend, the French electronic music master Jean-Michel, and Adjani was once his fiancée.

Perhaps this was the Empress Gong's revenge after 20 years?

Regardless, all of the above shows how important a jury president with enough weight is.

Tian Zhuangzhuang and Seeing Lu Kuan went to pay their respects to Sister Gong Li on the first day they arrived in Venice, harboring exactly this intention.

It's just that Seeing Lu Kuan was a bit puzzled at this moment: where did Feng Yuanzheng, a drama fanatic who had always been indifferent to fame and fortune, get such a great obsession with winning an award?

Feng Yuanzheng responded to Seeing Lu Kuan's question with a bitter smile, as if he had fallen into painful memories.

"In 1986, Ms. Mersin from East Germany came to the Beijing People's Art Theatre for exchanges, and I came into contact with the Grotowski performance school for the first time."

Liu Yifei listened with sparkling eyes as he recounted this; after all, she now also considered herself a successor to the Grotowski performance school!

Seeing Lu Kuan nodded; those years were the honeymoon period for Sino-Western artistic exchange. Beyond Stanislavski and Brecht, it was the first time the country knew there was a school called Grotowski.

Later, Lin Zhaohua, the vice president of the People's Art Theatre, went to Germany and invited Mersin, and this veteran artist over sixty years old taught in Beijing at her own expense.

The Grotowski she brought had a huge impact on the drama fanatic Feng Yuanzheng.

"In 1989, I went to West Berlin, registered at the University of the Arts, and followed Ms. Mersin to study acting."

"At that time, we didn't just study acting; we also had to learn lighting, repair stage art, repair costume design, and repair body movement. Apart from working part-time to support my studies, I poured almost all my time into learning."

"Ms. Mersin felt I was very talented and shouldn't spend time earning money to subsidize myself when I was young, so she took me to live in her home and even gave me 800 marks in living expenses every month."

The three of them were all quite surprised; the last person who could be so selfless was Norman Bethune.

"Teacher Feng, then how did you return to the country later?"

Liu Yifei associated this with herself; she returned to the country to be an actor, could it be that Feng Yuanzheng was the same?

"Ms. Mersin took care of me like her own son, but although the pear garden is good, it is not a place to stay for long."

"According to her plan, I would study all the way to a doctorate in drama, then inherit her mantle and carry forward Grotowski."

"But!"

"But I wanted to be an actor! I went to the People's Art Theatre for acting; in Germany, I was just a stranger playing bit parts, and I could never become a lead."

Liu Yifei glanced at Seeing Lu Kuan; she thought of what Seeing Lu Kuan had said to her at Anita Mui's residence in Hong Kong that day.

There is only one reason to support you in becoming a true actor, and that is that you like acting; that is all.

Excellent people are always the same; Anita Mui was like this, and Feng Yuanzheng was like this. Persistence stems from love.

The atmosphere was a bit heavy, and Boss Lu started joking: "Fortunately, Ms. Mersin didn't keep you, otherwise *Whiplash* would have lost a great male lead."

Feng Yuanzheng shook his head desolately.

"In the last half-year in Germany, I was very tormented. I talked to her three times, and in the end, I decided to return to the country to find opportunities to be an actor."

"The day I arrived in West Berlin, she was the one who picked me up. At that time, the Berlin Wall was still there, and she crossed over from East Berlin."

"When I left, the Berlin Wall had long been torn down, but Ms. Mersin's figure never appeared again."

Feng Yuanzheng's eyes were slightly red; it was evident that this female artist, who had taken care of and taught him like a mother in a foreign land, held an important place in his heart.

Liu Yifei was a person with strong empathy, and she asked cautiously: "Then did you ever go back to see her later?"

"I went, many times. After I had some small achievements in the country, I brought gifts to visit her, but she had been angry with me the whole time and firmly refused to see me."

Artists are paranoid; she could cultivate Feng Yuanzheng like a child with all her heart, but in her disappointment, she could also treat him like a stranger.

"Little Lu, the reason I care so much about whether *Whiplash* can win an award, or whether I can win an award myself, is that I want to prove it to her."

"That my return to the country was the right choice, that my becoming an actor was the right choice, and that I am truly practicing Grotowski in my acting and promoting it—this is a more meaningful thing than me being a professor of drama."

Seeing Lu Kuan nodded in understanding. Feng Yuanzheng became the president of the People's Art Theatre in 2022, and was also the first head of the People's Art Theatre to come from an acting background.

This drama fanatic had been implementing and practicing his ideals all along.

"Come! Raise your glasses! Wishing *Whiplash* can reap some rewards in a few days!"

The broadcast of the Palazzo del Cinema rang out suddenly, startling a flock of white pigeons by the open-air square of the Lido.

Whether it was Seeing Lu Kuan, who was realizing his film dream from a past life, Liu Yifei, who had just caught a glimpse of the path of acting, or Feng Yuanzheng, who wanted to prove himself to his mentor.

At this moment, their thoughts flew with the spreading wings of the white pigeons, looking forward to *Whiplash* leaving a heavy, colorful stroke in Venice.

(End of chapter)