Chapter 695 Are we Chinese not human beings?
"Teacher Lin, you see, tomorrow is the closing ceremony, and we have to hurry up and decide on the awards. After all, our Shanghai Film Festival has the word 'international' in it, so why don't we give the Best Film to 'Hills Without a Word'? Wang Tong and his friends are not outsiders, and it's not easy for them to participate."
Lin Weimin was immediately displeased when he heard this, and frowned, "Wang Tong is not an outsider, but Jiang Wen is? "Sunny Days" won the Venice Silver Lion Award. Is the quality worse than "Silent Hill"? One film festival, five awards, and none of our own people won. You think it's an honor for the Shanghai Film Festival, right?"
After saying this, Lin Weimin was still not satisfied and angrily shouted: "How many years has it been since the fall of the Qing Dynasty? Why are you running around saying 'I would rather give to friendly nations than to my slaves'?"
This sentence was so heartbreaking that it frightened the organizing committee member so much that he dared not breathe and his face turned pale. He really couldn't understand why he just came over to give some advice, but it caused Teacher Lin to get furious.
Lin Weimin's voice attracted the attention of others around him, and everyone looked over.
Lin Weimin snorted coldly, ignored everyone's gazes, and returned to the meeting room alone.
A few minutes later, everyone returned to the conference room to continue the discussion.
Lin Weimin looked unhappy. Before Xie Jin could preside over the meeting, he spoke first, "Director Xie, I want to say a few words first."
Xie Jin had never worked with Lin Weimin, but he was in the literary and art circles after all, so he had naturally heard of Lin Weimin's temper. In addition, a few years ago, he took the initiative to visit Lin Weimin to discuss cooperation. At that time, Lin Weimin was still a new writer, but he did not give him any face at all.
Just now in the corridor, Lin Weimin was obviously provoked, and if he were to speak now, he would definitely fire a salvo.
Xie Jin wisely handed over the right to speak, and Lin Weimin asked the cadres of the organizing committee to call Wu Yigong and other leaders over.
"Dear leaders of the organizing committee, I'm taking the initiative to call you here today. I want to discuss the award criteria and principles of our film festival."
Lin Weimin had just said one sentence when he noticed that two leaders of the organizing committee were getting a little restless.
Lin Weimin continued, "Everyone should know that we now have two choices for the best film, one is Wang Tong's "Silent Hills" and the other is Jiang Wen's "Sunny Days". As for literary and artistic works, everyone has their own preferences, so it is normal to have disputes. But just now, one of our cadres said something to me..."
Having said that, Lin Weimin looked disdainfully at everyone present.
"He said: After all, our Shanghai Film Festival has the word 'international' in its name, so why don't we give the Best Film award to 'Hill of No Return'? I don't know how you feel about this, but I find it extremely harsh.
What? Just because the word "international" is attached to the Shanghai Film Festival, you Chinese are not worthy of participating?
Under the same conditions, foreigners, Taiwanese and Hong Kong people are given priority. Aren’t we Chinese human beings?
Tell me, what kind of logic is this?"
In a rage, Lin Weimin went all out, without any regard for the face of anyone present.
Wu Yigong looked unhappy. He had not expected something like this to happen so close to the closing. He tried to ease the atmosphere by saying, "Teacher Lin, I wonder if there is some misunderstanding here..."
Before he could continue, Lin Weimin waved his hand and decisively interrupted him, "Don't talk yet!"
Wu Yigong's expression froze and a hint of embarrassment flashed across his face.
The leading cadres of the organizing committee were shocked by Lin Weimin's toughness. You know, Wu Yigong was not only the head of the organizing committee, but also the director of the Shanghai Film Bureau. However, Lin Weimin didn't even let him speak.
But when everyone thought about the rumors that Lin Weimin was going to take over as director of the State Film Administration two months ago, it all seemed very reasonable.
"I don't know who instructed that comrade to advise me just now. I can only say that your idea is very dangerous, comrade, very dangerous!"
Lin Weimin could not help knocking on the table when he got to this point. "What? Are we going to divide people into different classes like in the Yuan Dynasty? I tell you, this is not only bureaucracy, but also comprador mentality."
Seeing that Lin Weimin was making the situation so serious, Xie Jin couldn't help but smooth things over, "Weimin, that's not necessary. They probably just wanted the award process to go more smoothly. There are also foreign friends here..."
"Director Xie, it's better to say some things in advance. You know my temper. I'm not afraid of offending people. I'm not afraid of having foreign friends. There's nothing I can't tell them. You guys, tell them the truth about what happened just now."
From the moment they entered the conference room, several foreign judges were in a state of confusion. Seeing that the situation was not good, the translator following behind them simply stopped translating.
After hearing Lin Weimin's words, several translators looked at each other, wondering whether they should continue to perform their job duties.
Xie Jin felt somewhat helpless. When he came to seek cooperation before, he just felt that Lin Weimin was a bit arrogant. He had heard a lot about his deeds over the years and felt that he had a bad temper.
Today he finally saw it, how can this be called a bad temper?
This is a firecracker!
“Which country in the world holds a film festival? The locals will take care of it to some extent. You guys who hold a film festival, you can’t be ignorant of this common sense.
But when it came to the Shanghai Film Festival, not only was there no care given, but foreigners also had to wait for the foreigners to receive awards.
Four awards are not enough to give five, and five awards are not enough to give six. Why don't you remove the word "Shanghai" and just call it an international film festival?
They spend the country's funds but don't think about how to run a good film festival or enhance its international influence. They use the sheep's head of "internationalization" to sell the dog meat of "fawning on foreigners and seeking fame and fortune".
Tell me, who is this film festival for?"
Lin Weimin had a serious face, stern eyes, and spoke every word in a sonorous voice. He scolded the cadres present so badly that they wished they could find a hole to crawl into in the ground, and they hated Lin Weimin's scolding even more.
Not to mention the cadres of the organizing committee, even the judges of the jury were a little scared. Except for Xie Jin and Xu Ke, the remaining four people still didn't understand what was going on and kept asking in a low voice what happened.
Several translators whispered and translated the situation, and then everyone suddenly realized.
"I am just a passer-by at your Shanghai International Film Festival. I don't care how you judge the awards in the future, but since you have invited me to be a judge this year, I must ensure that the awards are fair and just, not only for outsiders but also for our own people.
Finally, I would like to advise you that if you want to run a good and long-term film festival, you must abandon the bureaucratic and comprador mentality. Cultural exchange must be based on equality and mutual trust.
Otherwise, what is art? What is communication? "
Lin Weimin had already prepared himself to offend people, so he didn't care about people's reactions at all. After saying this, he looked at everyone coldly, with a sense of intimidation without even getting angry.
There was a brief silence in the meeting room. At this moment, it seemed that nothing to say would be appropriate.
Finally, Wu Yigong smiled and said, "This is the first time that our Shanghai International Film Festival is held this year. There are definitely some shortcomings. We welcome your comments and suggestions. Teacher Lin's suggestions for our film festival are very pertinent. Although his attitude is a bit intense, our film festival organizing committee will definitely accept them with an open mind."
After the polite words were spoken, the atmosphere in the meeting room finally relaxed a little.
Xie Jin said a few more words to smooth things over, and Wu Yigong left the meeting room with several leaders and cadres of the organizing committee.
After this group of people left, the atmosphere in the conference room returned to its tense state.
"Let's talk about the Best Picture Award. The award ceremony is tomorrow and this matter can't be delayed any longer," said Xie Jin.
The other judges nodded and resumed the discussion.
Perhaps out of fear for Lin Weimin, Oshima Nagisa no longer insisted on the option of "Hill of No Return", and "Sunny Days" successfully won the Best Picture Award.
The award results were finally confirmed and everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
When they were leaving the conference room, Xie Jin whispered to Lin Weimin, "'Sunny Days' was the film you recommended. Aren't you afraid that people will accuse you of shady dealings?"
When he asked this question, he was expressing his dissatisfaction.
Lin Weimin smiled indifferently at this.
"Director Xie. Don't you think they don't know what foreign film festivals are like?
If our own people suffer when awarding prizes in our own country, then what is the point of awarding prizes? Not to mention foreigners, even our own people will look down on our own people!
Dignity is not gained by flattery or charity, but earned through strength.
In order to take into account the so-called "internationality", the principles of awarding awards must be abandoned, which is putting the cart before the horse.
As for whether I was manipulating things behind the scenes, the movie is there and the public can judge for themselves."
Lin Weimin's tone was light and casual, completely different from the harsh tone he had just used in the meeting room.
An idea popped up in Xie Jin's mind. Lin Weimin's rage in the conference room just now might not have been entirely out of righteous indignation, right?
Nagisa Oshima's retreat is the best proof.
Thinking of this, Xie Jin looked at Lin Weimin with a hint of inquiry in his eyes.
Lin Weimin stopped chatting with him and turned to chat with Alan Reinay, completely lacking the expression he had in the meeting room just now.
The next day, October 14, the first Shanghai International Film Festival closed successfully.
This year's film festival attracted 167 films from more than 30 countries to register for the competition, of which 24 films were shortlisted for the main competition unit.
After the jury's evaluation, South Korean director Im Kwon-taek won the Best Director Award for his film "A Song of Elegy", Belgian actor Jan Declare won the Best Actor Award for "Professor Darns", South Korean actress Oh Jung-hae won the Best Actress Award for "A Song of Elegy", and the Hong Kong film "Prisoners in Cages" from China won the Special Jury Award.
Jiang Wen won the Best Film Award for the film "Sunny Days".
The award ceremony was uneventful, and afterwards no filmmakers or news media expressed any dissatisfaction with the result.
"Sunny Days" just won the Grand Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. Isn't it natural for it to win the Shanghai International Film Festival?
Only a few leading cadres of the organizing committee who had been scolded by Lin Weimin would grit their teeth in hatred whenever the name Lin Weimin was mentioned.
On the plane back to Yanjing, many acquaintances were on this flight. Lin Weimin's seat was next to Wang Shuo, and Jiang Wen had to come over to exchange seats with Wang Shuo.
"Teacher Lin, thank you so much this time!"
"What is there to thank you for?"
"I heard that you had a big fight with the organizing committee and the judging panel over 'Sunny Days'."
When Jiang Wen said this, his face was full of admiration, and he started fighting as soon as he disagreed with something. I wish I was as awesome as Teacher Lin.
"You're overthinking. It has nothing to do with you. Don't be so self-indulgent."
Jiang Wener was not angry at all when she was driven away. Instead, she thought to herself that Teacher Lin was a humble person.
Lin Weimin was bored, so he turned to ask Wang Shuo, "Where's your lover? Isn't she an actress? Aren't you coming to the film festival to join in the fun?"
Wang Shuo was so amused by him that his face darkened. "Are you funny?"
"Just chatting when we are bored. The girl is so young, and with your physique, can you handle it?" Lin Weimin continued to ask in a servile tone.
In the past, Wang Shuo would have started a quarrel with Lin Weimin, but this time he lost his temper.
He pulled Jiang Wen over and said, "Sit next to him."
Lin Weimin smiled complacently.
You little brat, I'm going to disgust you to death!
(End of this chapter)
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