Chapter 692 The most beautiful kid at the opening ceremony
If he were an ordinary judge, Jiang Ping would never have introduced the preparations for the film festival in such detail.
But Lin Weimin is different. He has been a great help in the preparation of the Shanghai International Film Festival.
Not only did he serve as a judge himself, he also brought in film industry giants like Alain Resnais, which immediately raised the international status of the Shanghai International Film Festival.
Jiang Wen's "Sunny Days" just won the Silver Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival, and it was also recommended by Lin Weimin that it became an entry for the Shanghai International Film Festival.
In addition, Lin Weimin also donated two computers to the film festival organizing committee.
When talking about donating computers, we have to mention the financial difficulties faced by the Shanghai International Film Festival at the beginning of its preparation.
In order to organize a high-standard international film festival, we went to Europe to inspect the three major film festivals. We had a template to learn from, but after returning home, we found a big problem.
No money left!
The funds allocated to the Shanghai International Film Festival for organizing the event are limited and are earmarked for specific purposes, so we can only increase revenue and reduce expenditure.
On the one hand, they save money, and on the other hand, they beg for money everywhere... to seek sponsorship.
Wu Mian is an actor who graduated from the Shanghai Film Academy. He donated 10,000 yuan of his film salary to the organizing committee. Zhou Xiaoli, the head nurse in "Angels Cause Trouble", brought in tens of thousands of yuan in sponsorship for the organizing committee. Director Li Shaohong donated a computer to the organizing committee...
Lin Weimin donated two computers to the film festival after hearing about the festival’s financial difficulties.
After all, it is our own film festival. No matter how poorly it is organized in the future, at least at this time, the people who organized this film festival are full of enthusiasm.
After touring the preparatory office, Lin Weimin was arranged by the organizing committee to stay at the Peace Hotel.
During the past six months, the Shanghai International Film Festival has managed to send out many invitations through various channels. Although there are few big-name stars, there are also many international friends who come.
According to statistics, during the film festival, more than 630 filmmakers from various countries will come to Shanghai, including many internationally renowned directors, screenwriters, actors and producers.
The Shanghai Municipal Government has requisitioned several hotels with foreign-related qualifications, and the Peace Hotel is where the judges will stay.
The day after he checked in, Alain Resnais landed in Shanghai, and Lin Weimin went to the airport with the organizing committee to pick him up.
The old man is 71 years old this year, and he still maintains an active working state, so he is naturally in good health.
Since they parted in France that year, Lin Weimin and he had only communicated through a few letters and phone calls, so this could be considered a meeting between online netizens.
Alain Resnais was excited when he saw Lin Weimin. "Lin, I saw Farewell My Concubine when it premiered in Cannes. It was so great! You found a great director!"
As soon as they met, Alain Resnais talked to Lin Weimin about his feelings after watching "Farewell My Concubine". Lin Weimin felt that if Cheng Kaige were here, he would probably be very proud of himself.
The arrival of Alain Resnais indicates that the opening of the Shanghai International Film Festival is approaching. More and more foreign faces are appearing in major hotels in Shanghai, and the organizing committee of the film festival is extremely busy.
Two days before the opening of the film festival, Xie Jin hosted a meeting for the film festival jury, where everyone got to know each other and had some exchanges.
The Shanghai Film Festival adopts the method of judges watching films collectively to ensure the fairness of the awards as much as possible.
There are 24 films shortlisted for this year's film festival. Assuming the efficiency of 3 films per day, everyone will have to start their intensive movie-watching journey in advance starting tomorrow.
The day before the opening ceremony, a staff member from the organizing committee knocked on Lin Weimin's door with a short curly-haired guy.
"Roberto?" Lin Weimin was surprised when he saw the little curly-haired boy.
"Haha, Lin, surprise? My friend, I'm so happy to see you again!" Roberto Benigni hugged Lin Weimin warmly.
"Why are you here?" Lin Weimin asked.
He had looked at the list of guests invited by the organizing committee, and Roberto Benigni was not on it.
"I heard that you were going to be a judge at the film festival. We are friends, so of course I have to come and support you."
The baldy boy's words were full of true feelings, but Lin Weimin didn't believe a single punctuation mark.
The two of them only met once at a Bertolucci party, so how could there be any feelings between them?
This little bald guy has bad intentions towards me!
However, since he came from afar, Lin Weimin warmly entertained Roberto Benigni.
On October 7, 1993, the opening ceremony of the first Shanghai International Film Festival was officially held at Shanghai Cinema.
The Shanghai Cinema, located at the intersection of Xinhua Road and Panyu Road, was just completed last year. It covers an area of more than 14,000 square meters and integrates film screenings, entertainment, catering, advertising, exhibitions, conferences and other functions.
At the opening ceremony of the film festival, hundreds of domestic and foreign filmmakers appeared in front of the Shanghai Cinema, killing countless films.
In addition to the internationally influential jury, many internationally renowned directors, producers and actors such as Akira Kurosawa, Richard Adenbarro, Sophia Loren, Deborah Raffin, Momoi Kaoru, Roberto Benigni, Xie Fei, Zhang Yimou, Zhang Guorong, Ke Junxiong, Maggie Cheung and Gong Li also appeared at the opening ceremony.
Before entering the opening ceremony, the actors were most popular.
When Leslie Cheung, Maggie Cheung, Sophia Loren, Kaoru Momoi, Gong Li and others appeared, before they had time to sign their names on the "signature wall", fans rushed over and knocked over the tripod of the TV reporter's station several times.
After the official opening, the first to appear was the jury of this year's film festival.
There are seven judges, with Xie Jin, a famous Chinese director, as the chairman of the jury. The judges include Lin Weimin, Alain Resnais from France, Nagisa Oshima from Japan, Oliver Stone from the United States, Paul Cox from Australia, and Xu Ke from Hong Kong. It is a star-studded and powerful lineup.
Lin Weimin is the winner of the Oscar and Cannes Best (Original) Screenplay. As a behind-the-scenes promoter, he has created several Golden Bear, Golden Lion and Palme d'Or films.
Alain Resnais is the flag bearer of French New Wave cinema and a master of contemporary film.
Nagisa Oshima is also one of the three great masters of the New Wave of Japanese and American films in the 1960s. He profoundly influenced the innovation of Japanese and American film creation in the 1960s and 1970s and has a global influence.
As a screenwriter, Oliver Stone has won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay and the Golden Globe Award for Best Screenplay many times. As a director, he also has excellent works such as "Born on the Fourth of July", "JFK" and "Natural Born Killers".
Compared with the previous judges, Paul Cox and Xu Ke are less experienced, but they also have a certain regional influence.
As soon as the seven judges appeared, they were bombarded by countless flashes of light. Lin Weimin's eyes were almost blinded. He couldn't help but look in the direction of Alain Resnais and Oshima Nagisa. No wonder the two old men were wearing sunglasses, they must be very experienced!
The process of the judges' meeting was very simple. After the seven judges came on stage, the host first introduced their resumes, then Xie Jin, the chairman of the jury, spoke. Each judge spoke in turn, and all the content was procedural. The whole process took half an hour.
After a somewhat lengthy ceremony, the opening film of the first Shanghai International Film Festival officially began to be played.
——"Sunny Days".
The organizing committee's initial idea was to screen the British film "Chaplin" and four French short films from the embryonic stage of film at the opening ceremony.
"Chaplin" was directed by Richard Attenborough. The comedy master Chaplin was played by none other than Robert Downey Jr., who later became Iron Man. The film was released at the end of last year.
Lin Weimin found it difficult to understand why the organizing committee chose a film that was neither a participating film, nor a premiere film, nor a classic, as the opening film. More importantly, none of the production companies, directors, and actors related to this film participated in the film festival. This decision was truly incomprehensible.
Lin Weimin questioned the decision of the organizing committee and had an in-depth talk with Wu Yigong and Xie Jin. Finally, the organizing committee changed the opening ceremony film to "Sunny Days".
Although "Sunny Days" has been screened, it has not yet been publicly released. Besides, it just won the Venice Silver Lion Award. No matter how you look at it, it is more suitable as the opening film than "Chaplin", right?
One more thing, it’s Chaplin who is awesome, not “Chaplin”.
Although "Sunny Days" did not win any of the three major European awards or the Oscars, the film was named one of the top ten best films of the year in the world by Time magazine and ranked first, which is enough to prove the excellence of this film.
At the end of the 134-minute film screening, all the guests in the Shanghai Cinema's largest screening hall with a capacity of 1,000 people stood up and applauded for a long time, expressing their love and recognition of the film.
Jiang Wen sat in the third row of the screening room, surrounded by applause, his emotions in turmoil.
In his mind, the status of the Shanghai International Film Festival cannot be compared with the three major European film festivals.
But for some reason, when his debut film was shown in Chinese theaters and received praise and applause from filmmakers from all over the world, he felt more excited and overwhelmed than when the Venice Film Festival announced that his film had won the Silver Lion Award.
Jiang Wen did not come alone today. He is the director of "Sunny Days" and he also brought screenwriter Wang Shuo and a group of front- and behind-the-scenes staff of the film.
After several minutes of applause, Jiang Wen and many other film creators were invited to the stage by the host.
Today is the opening ceremony of the film festival. "Sunny Days" has been selected as the opening film. Jiang Wen is destined to be the most handsome guy tonight.
With the Venice Silver Lion already in his hands, he is full of confidence.
When giving his speech, Jiang Wen first thanked the investors, production company and producer as usual, then the crew members in front of and behind the scenes, until the end he said in a deep voice:
"In addition to the above people, there is another person whom I have to thank. I think many friends are familiar with him.
When I was in college, I really liked a novel and he was the author. I went to him and told him that I wanted to play the role. He let me play the role and not only that, he also gave me permission to perform.
That year, I produced my first drama in my life, directed and acted in it myself. It was so cool!
This year, the movie adapted from the novel was released and won the Palme d’Or at Cannes. It’s called Farewell My Concubine.”
There were nearly a thousand Chinese and foreign filmmakers sitting in the 1,000-seat screening hall of the Shanghai Cinema. After Jiang Wen began his narration, many domestic filmmakers already had guesses in their minds.
But many foreigners were still confused. They didn't know Jiang Wen, and coupled with the delay in translation, their reaction was half a beat slower than many Chinese people.
It was not until the name of "Farewell My Concubine" was heard that there was a sudden commotion in the seats of the screening room.
The novel "Farewell My Concubine" has been published overseas for ten years and has been sold well in more than 40 countries around the world, most of which are developed Western countries. The total overseas sales have exceeded 20 million copies.
In addition, the movie "Farewell My Concubine" just won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival this year, and its popularity has reached the level of a world classic.
The foreign friends present had never expected that the film director on the stage who had just won the Venice Silver Lion Award actually had such a connection with "Farewell My Concubine".
"I'm very sorry that the movie Farewell My Concubine didn't ask me to play Cheng Dieyi..."
After Jiang Wen finished speaking, the solemn and affectionate atmosphere in the screening room suddenly changed, and many people burst into laughter.
Looking at his image, how can he be related to Cheng Dieyi?
(End of this chapter)
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