Chapter 63 Berlin Premiere (Please Read On!)

Chapter 63 Berlin Premiere

After the lively opening ceremony on February 6, the films participating in this year's Berlin Film Festival began to be screened.

Most of the films screened in Berlin are to sell copyrights and negotiate distribution.

Every year, about 10,000 professionals in the film industry participate in the Berlin Film Festival, one-third of whom are distributors from all over the world who come to buy films.

Films like "Big Shot", "Men at 40", "Flower Eyes" and "Happy Times" came to Berlin to sell copyrights, and each selected a date and theater for screening.

The crew of "Departures" naturally received invitations from these crews to watch the film, and everyone gladly accepted and attended the meeting.

Wu Yuan fell into a busy state after the opening ceremony.

It was not only the crew of the Huaxia Legion who invited him to participate in the screening, but also many American and European film crews, who invited him to attend the premiere.

In particular, the other 22 films that were also shortlisted for the main competition unit all sent him invitations.

In addition to some other big directors' movies, from the 7th to the 16th, for a full ten days, he will attend nearly 30 movies in Berlin, watching an average of 3 movies a day.

The most popular movie at this Berlin Film Festival is "Bloody Sunday", which was scheduled to be screened on the 10th, and Wu Yuan also went to watch it.

The theme of this movie is actually very simple, it is the story of a demonstration, based on the real history of "Bloody Sunday" in Northern Ireland in 1972.

There is no doubt that this movie came to Berlin for the right reason. The judges of the Berlin International Film Festival always like this kind of movie that is related to politics and this kind of "resistance" story.

After the screening, the Berlin site gave the movie a high score of 3.6 (out of 4.0)!

Following closely is "Spirited Away" screened on the 9th. This movie also received a score of 3.4 in the site guide. The media on site has a very good reputation, but no one thinks that this movie will win the Golden Bear Award.

After all, this is an animated film. The Golden Bear Award of the Berlin International Film Festival has never been awarded to an animated film before!

"Spirited Away" is indeed a classic animated film, but the reporters do not think that this film can break the precedent of the Berlin International Film Festival.

Wu Yuan watched both films, and they are indeed very good, but if he were to choose, he would prefer "Spirited Away", after all, he has never been interested in political films.

Unfortunately, Wu Yuan is not a judge of the Berlin jury.

Time quickly came to February 13th.

This day is the second day of the Chinese New Year. Two nights ago, Wu Yuan and other Chinese film crews celebrated New Year's Eve in a Chinese restaurant in Berlin and had a reunion dinner.

Today, the Berlin premiere of "Departures" began.

The Berlin Organizing Committee still attaches great importance to the film "Departures", and the premiere was arranged at the CinemaxX cinema, the fourth largest in Berlin, next to the Berlin Film Palace.

This theater can accommodate 1,500 spectators, which is enough for Wu Yuan to hold a grand premiere!

For this reason, Wu Yuan also sent out invitations and invited the other 22 crews shortlisted for the main competition unit to attend the Berlin premiere of "Departures".

All the Chinese troops were present.

At 3 pm, Wu Yuan, Han Dong, Chen Yuan, Zhang Guorong and others were busy welcoming the invited guests to enter the theater. The theater that can accommodate 1,500 spectators was full in a moment.

Wu Yuan is no longer a Wuxia Amon. There are many local media and film critics in Berlin who want to see his first literary film!

The jury of this Berlin Film Festival was also present, but Wu Yuan did not have too much communication with them, just said hello.

The judges must be cautious during the film festival and are prohibited from discussing the shortlisted films with any non-judges, and Wu Yuan is no exception.

After the jury entered, the premiere of "Departures" officially began.

Wu Yuan has always been quick to act, and he is not used to talking about film concepts, artistic thinking, and the difficulty of filming at the premiere.

He kept time and walked onto the stage before the film was officially screened, saying in Chinese and English: "Thank you very much for coming to the premiere of our "Departures."

"I hope you will like this movie."

The lights in the cinema dimmed as the dragon logo on the big screen lit up, and "Departures" began to be screened.

The movie started on a Peking Opera stage, where several Peking Opera actors in heavy makeup and gorgeous costumes were singing the famous "Farewell My Concubine" on the stage.

The Peking Opera, full of oriental classical beauty, immediately attracted the interest of most of the guests at the scene.

Director Yi Mou, who was sitting in the second row, looked at the familiar scene and raised his mouth slightly.

He saw that Wu Yuan borrowed the lens aesthetics used by Chen Kaige in "Farewell My Concubine" in the opening scene of "Departures."

Not only him, but many directors and film critics at the scene saw it.

"Farewell My Concubine" is not a small movie, it is praised as the pinnacle of Chinese art films.

Many guests who watched the movie smiled knowingly.

In the film industry, it is not embarrassing to borrow and pay tribute to outstanding predecessors.

The [sliding zoom] lens language created by Hitchcock has been borrowed and imitated by countless directors for decades.

The classic lenses of film masters such as Kurosawa Akira, Spielberg, lens master Yang Suo, David Lean, etc. have been borrowed by countless films for decades.

If Wu Yuan was an old man in his 50s or 60s, and he still borrowed from others in his own movies, he would indeed be looked down upon.

But Wu Yuan will only be 20 years old in half a year this year, and he is an extremely young director!

His tribute to his predecessors in the movie will only make the audience feel interesting and moved, and even feel the power of film art inheritance.

What's more interesting is that the scene quickly turned to the backstage, and the camera focused on Zhang Guorong who was playing the suona.

The Peking Opera "Farewell My Concubine" was being performed at the front desk, and Zhang Guorong once played the male protagonist Cheng Dieyi in the movie "Farewell My Concubine".

Such a picture switch made people laugh after watching it.

But the tribute should be limited to a certain point.

Soon, the movie entered the main film. After playing this play, Zhang Guorong received a notice that the troupe was going to disband, and he was going to face unemployment.

The male protagonist, who had just bought a house in his hometown and whose savings were almost emptied, would find it difficult to stay in the big city of Beijing once he became unemployed.

After looking for jobs everywhere without success, he could only take his wife back to his hometown, a safe haven.

In his hometown, by chance, he saw a recruitment advertisement on a telephone pole and was deceived into an interview. He found a job that was not so acceptable to ordinary people and was often looked down upon and rejected by others.

At first, he didn't know what the job was specifically about. As a new employee, he started as a human model and played a dead person in front of the camera.

The boss and teacher touched him while talking to the camera about how a mortician should work. Only then did he realize that he had found such a job.

But in order to support his family, he had to bite the bullet and do it.

And in the work experience that frightened and terrified him again and again, he also realized the meaning and true meaning of life.

But his hometown is just a small city, and it is difficult to hide any secrets. Soon, relatives and friends knew about his job.

His childhood friends despised his job, and even his wife left him because she thought he was dirty and couldn't stand the hand that the person beside him used to wipe the body of the deceased touched her.

Even so, he did not give up his job because of this blow, but insisted on this job of "making the deceased go beautifully".

Facing the heavy pressure of relatives and friends who did not understand him and his wife who left him, the male protagonist took the suona he had played since he was a child, stood at the foot of the high snow-capped mountains, and placed all his emotions in a sad song "The Big Funeral", expressing his emotions with music, and at the same time strengthening his beliefs.

The plain camera movement and Zhang Guorong's wonderful interpretation made this climax plot that Wu Yuan prepared carefully play the desired effect!

All the audiences at the scene were filled with emotion and their backs were numb under the emotional foreshadowing of the movie!

Originally, I should have written about the movie in one chapter, but the editor asked me to control the number of words in order to get recommended next week, so I published it in two chapters. Anyway, the two chapters were published at once, so it shouldn't affect everyone's reading.

I urge everyone to try to read it every day during this period. I will definitely update more on the day of the release, and at least 8-10 chapters will be updated!