Chapter 957 953 Lost Light

Chapter 957 953. Lost Glory

To be honest, Xu Xin was quite surprised.

He thought that the first place he would be invited to be a judge would be Venice.

After all, that was "his own home".

Moreover, when he first went to Venice, the old man took him to make connections.

He qualified as a member of the association.

Although he has not made much progress in Cannes in recent years, at least he won the first important award in his life there...

Unexpectedly, among the three major European festivals, it was Berlin, which he had only been to once, that invited him.

How could Cannes have a higher chance than Berlin?

What's this?

Rigorous and pragmatic Germans?

Seeing that he would have to go there next year anyway, he might as well make up the number?

But the problem is...

"What date are they this year?... When will we celebrate the New Year this year?"

"From February 6th to 16th, this is the time when the Berlin Film Festival is held. As for the New Year... they will open on the seventh day of the New Year."

"Oh?"

Xu Xin thought that it was okay.

As long as it doesn't delay the Chinese New Year, it doesn't matter to him... huh?

Wait.

"Judges... do they have to go in advance?"

"..."

Qi Lei's silence replaced the answer.

Of course.

Others can rush to the venue after the opening of the film festival or at the last moment of the awards ceremony.

But the judges don't have this.

It takes time to judge the final list of the film festival.

And...

"How long does the evaluation usually take?"

"You have to ask Director Zhang or Wang Jiawei."

"..."

Xu Xin's mouth twitched.

After thinking for a while, he said:

"I'll think about it and ask Director Zhang... It doesn't seem like they're not at home for the Chinese New Year every year."

"Okay. The reason they notified so early is actually because they are afraid that something will happen to the judges during the trip. Think about your schedule first. If you are sure there is no problem, then consider it. If there is any conflict... In fact, you have to go there anyway..."

Xu Xin thought to himself, isn't this nonsense...

After talking about some more movies, the phone was hung up and he scratched his head.

In fact, the biggest improvement for a director... or for himself, being a film festival judge is not the so-called "honor", but a recognition from the three major European filmmakers.

Being a judge means that the three major European filmmakers recognize your artistic aesthetic ability.

This has nothing to do with whether you worship foreign things or not. The status of the three major European filmmakers is there. He is the dream of most filmmakers in the world.

Of course, this majority of filmmakers obviously cannot beat the Oscars, which only have a few people.

After all, the Oscars are in Hollywood.

But the words should be said from both sides.

If the description is exaggerated, then perhaps in a hundred years, no one will study who won the Oscar actor and actress 100 years ago, and what the best film was. But the art films of the three major European filmmakers will surely shine eternally in the annals of film history.

This is also an insurmountable gap between business and art.

Commercial films only make money, but writing film history, textbooks, and things that can be called art, let art films do it.

Although this is not absolute, the truth is here.

It is an honor for any filmmaker to be recognized by the three major European filmmakers.

First, the judges.

Then, the chairman of the jury.

This actually also represents the director's own status in the film hall of fame.

Unless he is a really unique colleague, generally no filmmaker will refuse.

Thinking of this, he thought that there was no reason for him to refuse.

But he still had to ask clearly.

So he looked at the time and called the old man.

"Hello, are you busy?"

"Just finished dinner, what's wrong, is the movie in trouble?"

"No, it's like this. Berlin invited me to be a judge for the Golden Bear Award."

"Oh? That's great. This is a recognition for you. What's the problem?"

"How long does the review process usually take? I haven't spent the past two years at home for the New Year..."

"..."

After a moment of silence on the other end of the phone, a voice that didn't know whether to laugh or cry sounded:

"I've heard people say more than once that when you were in school, you didn't come home every night, driving a Ferrari around the world, either to bars or karaoke bars. Did you ever think you would be a homebody at that time?"

"Uh..."

Xu Xin thought to herself, why did you start to bring this up too?

Don't you know that you should not hit someone in the face when you hit him?

Zhang Yimou didn't wait for his answer and said:

"Gong Li was the chairman of the jury in Berlin. I didn't, but I was a judge. At that time... was it 1992? 1993? I don't remember. In fact, it would be more appropriate for you to ask Wang Jiawei than to ask me. Didn't he participate last year?"

"That's how many times you have participated."

"Ha~"

Zhang Yimou didn't care whether this was flattery or not.

Anyway, he liked to hear it.

Then he said:

"In fact, the review time of the judges is not long. If I remember correctly, it seemed to take 8 or 9 days in our session."

"How long did it take for the film festival to open?"

"About ten days. It's different from us. Our Silk Road is a very common award now, with few people and high efficiency. But for their size, the jury's film selection submission process, including the arrangement, takes at least ten days. You can definitely spend the New Year at home, unless you have a movie to promote in other places, like Wang Jiawei this year, then you will stay abroad for a long time. Otherwise... you will only be there for ten days, and come back after watching the movie. You don't even need to show up at other times. It's okay, it's a good opportunity, agree."

Seeing that he said so, Xu Xin did not hesitate:

"Oh, okay, then I agree... How about your film? Can it be finished before the end of this year? If so, I will get you a Golden Bear Award."

"Hahahaha..."

Zhang Yimou laughed so happily.

Xu Xin naturally didn't have this ability.

But.

As I said, he was happy to chat with Xiao Xu.

And he was in a good mood at the moment.

"You'd better finish your film. Remember to show it to me after you finish it."

"Yeah, OK."

Then, he called Wang Jiawei again.

But the other party seemed to be sleeping, and his voice was fuzzy.

And his answer and the old man's answer were similar.

The list was indeed selected about ten days before the film festival.

So, after hanging up the phone, he sent a message to Qi Lei:

"Reply to the film festival, I agree."

"OK."

After hanging up the phone, Xu Xin walked out of the tent and saw Su Meng squatting next to him, her hands moving non-stop.

He walked forward, wondering what this girl was doing, and the corner of his mouth twitched...

I don't know where she got a plate of roasted brown potato chips from, and she is now weighing the plate.

He thought, I pay you a little salary every day, is it to let you come to the Loess Plateau to roast potatoes?

So he grabbed a handful.

"Who!... Ah... Brother Xu..."

Xu Xin grabbed a handful of potato chips, looked at the assistant who was about to curse, and laughed triumphantly.

"Hehe, you're slacking off at work, so I'll deduct 500 from you. Also, remember that I'm going to be a judge at the Berlin Film Festival after the end of January next year."

"Okay."

Su Meng nodded quickly and stood up, hiding the plate behind her:

"I'll remember that."

Smacking her lips and thinking that the potato chips were baked well, Xu Xin asked:

"Who baked the potato chips?"

"... the old god."

"..."

Xu Xin, who was thinking that this silly girl was getting cuter and cuter, shook her head helplessly:

"If you can bake, bake more. I'll eat them as snacks when I'm filming a movie later."

After that, she took one potato chip at a time and left humming a song.

After he left, Su Meng took out her phone and operated it with one hand, recording the incident in the memo and mailbox, and then took a look at her plate of baked potato chips.

(`Д*)9!

You took away most of my plate... why are your hands so big!

But she immediately remembered something else.

What did he say just now...deduct 500 from me! ?

I...

(`）

...

After arriving at the crew, he walked directly to the RV and knocked on the door.

Soon, Yang Mi opened the door with a calm look.

After seeing that it was her husband, her eyes, which were as dead as ashes, became lively again.

As for her state, Xu Xin was actually used to it.

These days, his wife used this almost perfect state to interpret the role of "Zhao Di" to the fullest.

The price is that she will act like a stranger to herself from time to time in the past two days.

But as long as the two of them stick together for about half an hour, the mask will melt again, and all efforts will be in vain.

So, the two of them have now developed to the point of sleeping in separate rooms and beds.

At least at this stage.

But you really don't say... It's really fun to sleep alone.

Thinking about some random things in his mind, Xu Xin got straight to the point.

After all, there was still a scene to be filmed in the afternoon:

"Brother Qi called me just now and invited me to be a judge at the Berlin Film Festival."

Yang Mi was stunned:

"Not an award presenter? A judge?"

"Yes."

"...What day is the Chinese New Year this year?"

You see.

Great minds always coincide.

The two of them thought of the same thing.

So, after explaining the matter, Yang Mi's eyes became calm again:

"Okay, I know. You go out, the first scene in the afternoon is my scene, don't disturb my state."

"Okay."

Xu Xin nodded and walked out of the RV like an "outsider".

...

In fact, he thinks it is a good thing that he defines the style of "Silent Witness" as "simple".

The whole process revolves around the story, so there is no need to pursue the scenery on the northern Shaanxi plateau too much.

Of course, there should be some embellishments.

Otherwise, it would be too monotonous if it was all main dishes.

The filming process of the movie is more than halfway through, and everything around the story of "looking for children" is beginning to get on track.

Plus the actors are in good shape.

This movie, which originally didn’t take long to film, officially came to an end on the 17th day after the crew started shooting.

This movie doesn’t actually have any big scenes.

All the stories are just from a small rural area in northern Shaanxi.

He didn’t plan to shoot any big scenes.

It's just that in the movie, both sides of human nature are thrown out.

In fact, during the initial stage of the script, he talked with Lu Haibo about the theme of the movie script.

"Is human nature evil? Or is human nature good?"

Lu Haibo quoted classics with him and finally stood on the side of human nature being evil.

He thought the story was good, but not evil enough.

Then, Xu Xin took the story and met Yu Hua again.

Although Yu Hua has been writing tragedies for his whole life, it's just like the old man's evaluation of him, or like the old man's self-evaluation of the movie "To Live".

"In that era, there was no romantic prodigal son who returned to the world, but there were mostly survival, separation and desolation. People lived... like a string of weeds, growing in the cracks, tightened, played repeatedly by the strong wind, and broken again."

His final definition of the work "To Live" is a kind of "living" vitality.

So, when the story was given to Yu Hua, after reading it, Yu Hua commented:

"I don't think this story is very good, too bitter. If it continues to be evil, you will definitely lose money if you make it."

This big brother always speaks in this tone.

But Xu Xin understands the truth.

So, over the years, as the script was prepared, and as Xu Xin read more books, when he understood the world more and more, he finally defined the story as it is now.

Everyone has his own good and evil.

So, just show them all.

The village chief, Zhaodi, Li Shuiquan, and even Chang Wannian...

Express the good and evil of these people.

As for the open ending at the end, it is the answer that Xu Xin himself is not sure of.

Is human nature good?

Is human nature evil?

Everyone has his own answer.

And today, the crew ushered in the first character in the "threesome" to finish filming.

The village chief's play will end today.

At this moment, under the camera.

The neatly dressed man stopped writing.

In the close-up shot, he was bent over the desk, writing something with a rustling sound.

He was to dub this part in the later stage, and Xu Xin had already sorted out the text content, so he didn't need to perform the lines or anything.

After writing, he folded the manuscript paper together.

He picked up a rice bag next to him.

The bag was not big, so he tried to put it on his head. After confirming that there was no problem, he picked up the marker next to him.

Then, the crew was busy for a while, and in the close-up shot, he wrote a few words:

"Don't uncover it, don't scare the baby."

After writing, he stood up and came to the mirror.

In the mirror, the face of a patient with advanced lung cancer who gave up treatment was gray.

That was the signal that death was coming as expected.

He suddenly smiled.

That smile was full of honesty and kindness.

And... a regret under the free and easy.

All the people watching behind Xu Xin's monitor trembled.

Then, he sorted out his shirt and sweater in front of the mirror, and then took out a tie from the closet.

After tying it meticulously, he put some mousse in his hands and combed his hair little by little into the photo frame next to him, with the big red flower on his head.

After this nearly two-minute silent play, Xu Xin finally called over.

Then, the scene was busy again.

After waiting for the camera to be set up facing the door, with Xu Xin's "321" countdown, the shooting resumed.

Outside the camera, the village chief with a big back hair and a suit walked into the frame.

From the moment he appeared, Lin Li began to actively control the camera to lose focus.

The picture became blurry little by little.

But in the blurry picture, it can be clearly seen that he grabbed the cloth bag on the table, walked to the door step by step, and took something like a rope from the hanger.

Then, he arrived at the door.

His footsteps paused.

He seemed to be hesitating.

But it was only for one second.

One second later, with the increasingly blurred picture, he pushed the door open.

The sunlight came in through the door.

The picture is getting blurrier and blurrier.

His back is getting narrower and narrower.

Narrower and narrower.

From a body, it becomes a twisting line.

Finally...

Even the line is gone.

He completely disappears in the light.

I wanted to end the plot of the movie today... Because I regret it now, I think this movie should appear after "The Sound of Wind"... But after thinking about it, I really designed this scene for a long time. I'd better write it out. There will be no long introduction to the acting or the director's perspective. I will end it naturally tomorrow.