Chapter 1093

The square in front of the Tokyo Prince Hotel could be said to be overcrowded.

The closing ceremony and award ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival chose to be held here. On the one hand, the Prince Hotel itself was very famous for hosting events, and on the other hand, it was convenient for the subsequent banquet and party.

The red carpet at the entrance had been laid out early, and reporters from all walks of life had long been in position, crowding the open spaces on both sides.

Compared to the opening ceremony red carpet, the heat of the closing ceremony red carpet had dropped slightly, because at the opening ceremony, the Tokyo International Film Festival Executive Committee had carefully planned and invited the world's most prestigious star guests, both highlighting the international nature of the film festival and increasing the heat.

And at the closing ceremony, although there were many invited guests, most were award-winning stars, important filmmakers, and bigwigs who preferred to be behind the scenes, appearing not so star-studded.

However... it was still the grandest red carpet show in Japan, and there were countless people in the entire entertainment industry who wanted to walk it but couldn't~

Naoki Nagayama and Akina Nakamori were naturally important guests, and also the best representatives of a talented man and a beautiful woman. When they stepped out of the car, their path was illuminated by flashes.

Naoki Nagayama in formal wear and Akina in a princess dress were like stars walking out of a movie!

When they reached the media interview area, the reporters vied to ask questions...

"Director Nagayama, do you have confidence in winning an award?!""Mr. Nagayama, how many awards is Shuyou going to take this time?""..."

Most of the inquiries about Naoki Nagayama couldn't be separated from today's awards, and Naoki Nagayama could only smile and nod, occasionally replying:

"Of course I have confidence. A director who doesn't want to win a major award isn't a good actor!"

"As for how many? I actually want to take them all... Hahaha, but the jury won't let me!"

The reporters pressed their shutters happily and extended their recording tubes. As expected, Naoki Nagayama was full of golden sentences. The article titles for today and tomorrow were already there!

They instantly recalled the first few years when Naoki Nagayama debuted, often accepting interviews and having ambiguous relationships with many actresses, concocting countless explosive headlines for the media industry, making the performance of the senior reporters at that time soar!

Naoki Nagayama was really a good person!!

Oh, right, speaking of the actresses he had ambiguous relationships with...

The reporters hurriedly joined another interview group; they had been aiming at Akina Nakamori from the beginning!

"Akina-chan, you look great! So beautiful!" This seemed to be a fan. "Has your health recovered?"

"Arigato~" Akina showed a smile. "Daijoubu, I have fully recovered!"

As expected of a star, even after giving birth to a child, she could recover her figure so quickly!

"Akina-san... have you started filming movies?"

"Hai, *Ghost* is already filming. Today, because it's the closing ceremony, I've temporarily taken a day off."

Akina Nakamori answered the questions honestly.

"I have to go back to the crew tomorrow~"

"How does it feel to film with Naoki Nagayama again?"

"How does it feel?" Akina tilted her head and laughed. "I guess it's that we're more familiar with each other! We're more tacit in our cooperation..."

"Akina-chan, will you be performing at this year's Kohaku Uta Gassen?"

"Hai, I should be performing..."

Akina Nakamori had already received the notice and confirmed her participation in this year's Kohaku Uta Gassen, and like before, she would perform this year's hottest song, which was *Passion*.

Now the vibrant and passionate *Passion* was already at the top of the music charts, and judging from the current heat, there was no sign of it giving up the first place by the end of the year.

Now top music programs like *The Best Ten*, *Music Station*, and *Yoru no Hit Studio* were all requesting Akina to participate in their programs, and even the *Japan Record Awards* had sent Akina an invitation.

However, because she was filming a movie and had to take care of the baby, Akina was very conflicted about whether to accept an invitation from a certain one...

Other artists didn't have this right to choose because everything they did had to listen to their agency, but Akina herself was a shareholder of Burning Productions, plus she had a powerful husband's family, so no program dared to exert pressure.

Amidst the reluctance of a group of reporters, Naoki Nagayama and Akina Nakamori still walked toward the main entrance with firm steps. After all, if the two of them kept standing on the red carpet, other guests would have too little exposure...

"Naoki-san." Akina whispered to Naoki Nagayama after entering the main hall. "Do you already know the awards for today?"

"Of course."

Naoki Nagayama nodded.

"Just like your various music festivals before, it's definitely known in advance... In fact, the winners have already rehearsed!"

"Eh?"

Akina looked at Naoki Nagayama in surprise. Naoki Nagayama had been filming with her for the past few days, and it didn't seem like there was any rehearsal.

"Naoki-san's movie... didn't it win an award?"

"Of course it did... but I'm not the one going to receive it." Naoki Nagayama laughed. "You'll know in a moment."

In the award ceremony venue, several large cameras had already been set up and were already working, and staff members were pointing their lenses at the interior of the banquet hall from time to time.

And the arriving guests, besides facing the camera lenses, also had to face the photography of internal reporters, so most were sitting upright to maintain their image.

Only a small portion of people could relax slightly.

"Naoki-san, why did you come so late?" Xiuyi Yin greeted Naoki Nagayama while leaning his body.

"Because I was entangled by reporters while walking the red carpet..." Naoki Nagayama said. "We are very famous."

"..."

As a director, Xiuyi Yin really didn't have the fame of a star... nor the topicality.

"Osamu Oshima called you before, right?" Xiuyi Yin changed the subject. "Are you not angry about this year's awards, Naoki-san?"

"What's there to be angry about..."

Naoki Nagayama shrugged.

"If I get it, it's my fate; if I lose it, it's my luck..."

"Tsk, don't use these words to fool me! Not to mention Best Director for *The Legend of Hayato*, you didn't even get Best Screenplay. Don't you have any emotions?"

"Didn't I get Best Actor and Best Artistic Award..."

Naoki Nagayama had long known about the awards *The Legend of Hayato* won, and Osamu Oshima had specifically called him to explain.

Because the second International Film Festival had added several foreign judges to the jury to highlight its international nature, the final selection was somewhat biased toward foreign films. As the chairman of the jury, Osamu Oshima couldn't control the results...

"Ha, as long as you don't care..."

Xiuyi Yin shook his head. This time at the Tokyo International Film Festival, because the organizer was Shuyou, for the sake of avoiding suspicion, they didn't put much effort into public relations, so they didn't win many awards.

But since Naoki Nagayama didn't care, he naturally wouldn't say anything more.

In fact, when Naoki Nagayama filmed this movie, he didn't have the idea of having to win a major award. After all, it was a biographical movie of his grandfather, equivalent to a custom-made movie, biased toward creating a sense of coolness and action shots, and lacked more and deeper exploration.

If he were aiming to win an award, why wouldn't he just film *Infernal Affairs*? Man is hell, struggling in the infinite purgatory...

It wasn't until half an hour later that the award ceremony officially began.

"Minna-san, welcome to the closing ceremony and award ceremony of the 2nd Tokyo International Film Festival!"

The host announced the progress of the closing ceremony on the award stage, using exquisite rhetoric to mobilize the emotions of the venue.

"Under the careful voting of the jury, the list of winners for the various major awards of the Tokyo International Film Festival has been determined. Next, we will witness them one by one..."

"But first, let us review the films shortlisted for this Tokyo International Film Festival..."

The projector began to project the short films of each shortlisted movie on the background screen...

Starting from *The Legend of Hayato* at the beginning of the year, *House on Fire*, *The Adventures of Naomi Uemura*, *The Adventures of Milo and Otis*, *Rocky IV*, *Back to the Future*... For a year, the blockbuster movies people had seen in movie theaters all appeared on the screen.

Naoki Nagayama had actually seen them all... After all, Shuyou now had the exclusive cinema "Bungeiza." As long as he wanted to watch, he could book a screening hall and have a private screening by himself at any time.

The subsequent time was a bit boring. Naoki Nagayama listened to the host follow the process, introduce the awards, invite the award presenters to the stage to present the awards, the guests presented the awards, and the winners released their acceptance speeches...

"The winner of Best Actress is *House on Fire*—Mieko Harada!!"

Naoki Nagayama saw his acquaintance Mieko Harada walk up. It had been a long time since he had seen her, and Mieko Harada had lost her baby fat and become more mature.

She took the trophy handed over by the award presenter with an excited smile:

"Thanks to the judges of the jury, thanks to the Tokyo International Film Festival..."

Ever since Naoki Nagayama had created an acceptance speech full of "thanks" in the past, Japanese artists seemed to have obtained the perfect template for acceptance speeches, and most of them would thank important people one by one during their speeches...

"Being able to win Best Actress is everyone's affirmation of me... I will definitely work harder in the future and offer better performances..."

When Mieko Harada came down, a burst of applause sounded in the venue, and Naoki Nagayama naturally sent applause to his friend.

"Next is Best Actor..."

Hearing this award, although he already knew the result, Naoki Nagayama also cheered up... because the one going to the stage to receive the award was his cousin, Feng Nagayama!

"The winner of Best Actor is... *The Legend of Hayato*—Feng Nagayama!!!"

Applause sounded again at the scene. Feng Nagayama, sitting in the third row, stood up happily and even hugged Naoki Nagayama when passing by...

"Minna-san, holding this medal today shows that I interpreted this role very well... I want to do something I've wanted to do since I was a child... Sumimasen..."

Feng Nagayama's tone was a bit excited, holding the medal excitedly toward the camera that was broadcasting live, like a child.

"Ojisan... I won an award!!!"

!!!

Everyone froze for a moment, then laughed in unison, and the applause was constant...

"Hahaha~" "Really reckless..." "Childish..." "Omo-series!" "..."

Feng Nagayama's somewhat reckless behavior on the award stage left everyone laughing and crying. Everyone knew that Feng Nagayama was playing his grandfather, and now he was clearly showing off to Hayato Nagayama outside the camera...

Feng Nagayama's behavior added a bit of innocence and sincerity to the already hypocritical vanity fair...

At the same time, in the old house in Shimizu, the old man who was half-lying on the tatami watching TV couldn't help but shake his head.

"Really... on such an important occasion, how can you be so rude!"

Kumahara Nagayama next to him laughed:

"That guy Feng has wanted to show off to you for a long time... Hahaha, finally found a chance."

"A child who won't grow up... cough cough cough." Hayato Nagayama coughed a few times. "How can people be at ease!"

"He's about to have a child, he's already grown up!"

Kumahara Nagayama showed a worried look, but his tone was stiff.

"Father, you should rest well, you'll be able to see it in a few months."

"Good~~ Good~~~"

The next Best Screenplay award was given to *Back to the Future*, and the Best Director award was given to *Rocky IV*. Both were foreign films, also called foreign movies...

However, Naoki Nagayama wasn't surprised. The script of *Back to the Future* was indeed very novel and interesting, and *Rocky IV* was a series movie, and the filming technique of this one was also excellent.

The Jury Grand Prize was given to *The Adventures of Milo and Otis*. This movie from the perspective of a cat was very novel and interesting...

And the final Grand Prize was still *Back to the Future*. This movie gave new imagination to time travel, the plot was thrilling and exciting, and the dialogue was very humorous...

Whether it was the script, filming technique, or box office, this movie was very excellent, even an epoch-making classic, which naturally made people infinitely agree.

And *Ginza Tiger*, which served as the opening movie, only won a Youth Film Gold Award... which was a bit disappointing!

Especially Xu Mudao and Masataka Komori, who were a bit listless when they went to the stage to receive the award~

The award ceremony of the Tokyo International Film Festival ended successfully after the speech by the president of the Tokyo Directors Association.

However, the media reporters didn't disperse, but instead quickly gathered in the banquet hall next door...

A celebration banquet is naturally indispensable.

Winners, industry bigwigs, and star guests all came to the celebration banquet to participate in one of the largest social occasions in the entertainment industry.

"Director Nagayama..." "Naoki-san..." "Mr. Nagayama..."

Regardless of whether they knew him or not, everyone would toast to Naoki Nagayama, and Naoki Nagayama also toasted back with a champagne glass one by one.

Akina Nakamori saw Kyoko Koizumi and went to chat with her, while Naoki Nagayama naturally found acquaintances to chat a little~

"Kijima-kun... Masataka-kun..."

Naoki Nagayama laughed.

"Why do you look so lost?"

"Naoki-san..." Masataka Komori sighed. They hadn't reached the level of knowing the results in advance, so they really only knew the results at the last moment.

"I thought we could at least win an award in the main competition unit... I didn't expect it to be just a youth award."

"Haha, you are young to begin with, it's already very good to win a youth award!"

Shuyou could push all resources onto Naoki Nagayama and let him win an award, but it was impossible to pile up a large amount of resources to let the directors under its banner win major awards.

Not to mention that this time the competitors also included another movie from their own family...

Plus this session had many foreign blockbusters and other parties intervening, so it was already very good to win a youth award.

"But... the box office of *Ginza Tiger* is so good..."

"For things like winning awards, box office is just one standard..."

Naoki Nagayama persuaded them slightly. Seeing that the two were still lost, he said:

"If you are not reconciled, you will naturally be more influential when you are famous. Expand your connections more! This occasion is a rare social venue!"

Xu Mudao nodded:

"Hai, it's time for the film circle to hear the name 'Xu Mudao'!"

Saying that, he unbuttoned his sleeves, revealed his gold watch, and walked toward the producers and film bigwigs.

And Masataka Komori stood beside Naoki Nagayama and said another thing:

"Naoki-san... the lead for *Hard Boiled* has been negotiated."

"Oh? Did Leslie Cheung agree?"

"Mm..."

Naoki Nagayama nodded: "Then what about the other male lead?"

"Selected, it's Kyohei Shibata!"

"Ah... it's him..."

Kyohei Shibata was a versatile actor with profound acting skills, and his performance style was also very diverse, funny and handsome... He was indeed suitable for Chow Yun-fat's role.

But the reason Naoki Nagayama remembered him was that Kyohei Shibata was Akina's idol!

"Hahaha, he is also very good..."

Masataka Komori nodded:

"... Naoki-san, we will hold the opening prayer ceremony in a few days. In the second half of the month, we may go abroad to film..."

"Mm-hmm, keep it up!"