As night fell, the star-studded Locarno Film Festival awards ceremony officially began.
The hosts were two well-known Swiss presenters. The male host was humorous and witty, enlivening the atmosphere of the entire audience, while the female host was beautiful and sexy. The two of them walking onto the stage together were a stunning sight.
The filmmakers in the audience applauded enthusiastically, spurred on by the host's prompting.
The host began by introducing the eighteen shortlisted films, as well as some filmmakers who were specially invited.
After a short, humorous joke by the host, two filmmakers were introduced to the stage as award presenters.
Generally, the awards that are announced first are the ones that don't receive much attention, and the biggest suspense is usually left until the very end.
The first award announced was a special nomination, which went to a German film.
The film's director went on stage to accept the award and gave a brief acceptance speech.
The second award announced was the Catholic Humanitarian Award, which was for an American film about religious beliefs.
The third is the two films that received a Special Mention award: one Spanish film and one French film.
After the two directors went on stage and received their awards, they humorously congratulated each other. They then gave their acceptance speeches in a conversation that resembled a stand-up comedy routine.
The fourth award is the Audience Choice Award, which is for an American light comedy film that did quite well at the box office in Europe and America this year.
After this award is presented, it will become the Best First Feature Film Award this year.
This award is given to young directors who are directing their first film as a form of encouragement.
When Ling Yan heard the host announce that the award was to be presented, she subconsciously glanced in the direction where Gu Weiwei was.
Given her qualifications, this is the award she deserves.
The award was announced by a senior filmmaker on the jury. The filmmaker, a German named Bach with blond curly hair and a full beard, went on stage and praised the winner to the skies in fluent English.
"I think this award winner must be God's favorite. She is beautiful, talented and lovely. I would like to give her all the trophies I have today."
"Actually, if she weren't so young, I would have preferred to give her the Best Director award. However, if we had given it to her, some people wouldn't have had any awards to receive, so we could only decide to give her the Best First Feature award."
...
After saying a long string of words, Bach smiled mysteriously and opened the card containing the name of the award winner.
"It seems everyone is tired of hearing me say it, so let's invite our lovely award winner to come up on stage and take her award."
"Please welcome... the lovely Weiwei, Mu Weiwei."
Amidst congratulatory applause, Gu Weiwei rose to her feet, the spotlight shining on her as she smiled and walked onto the stage.
After going on stage, he politely hugged Bach.
"Thank you. I appreciate the compliment."
Bach presented her with the trophy and then addressed the audience.
"Half-Awake is an excellent film, and Ms. Mu Weiwei is also an excellent and dedicated filmmaker."
"There's a Chinese saying: 'The Yangtze River's back waves push the front waves forward.' So, you old guys in the audience, if you don't work harder, you'll be swept away by her and left to languish on the beach."
...
As soon as he finished speaking, the audience burst into laughter.
Bach is an internationally renowned filmmaker. In recent years, since he stopped directing films, he has often served as a jury member at international A-list film festivals.
Despite his humorous remarks, he has always been strict with film critics.
The film that she praised so highly back then was "The Dream of Immortality," starring Ling Yan, a few years ago.
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