In February, Xiang Nan led the crew of "Old Well" to Berlin, Germany, to participate in the film festival held there.

This is also Xiang Nan's first time to attend an awards ceremony. Before this, although he had received invitations from the Academy Awards, the Hong Kong Film Awards, and the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards, he had never been there once.

On the one hand, he is self-aware and knows that his acting skills are not high and his script is not polished to perfection, so he won't get an award even if he went to the awards ceremony.

On the one hand, he is not greedy for awards. He is more concerned about the box office of the movie. Whether he wins the award or not depends entirely on fate. It is good to win the award, but it does not matter if he cannot win it. Anyway, he makes basically commercial films. The possibility of winning a prize was not high.

If it wasn't for Cong Shan's popularity this time, he wouldn't have participated in this film festival.

The arrival of Xiang Nan has also added a lot of color to this Berlin Film Festival.

After all, he is an international star with hundreds of millions of fans around the world.

Although the three major film festivals in Europe advertise themselves as art, they are still essentially a platform for buying and selling movies, just like car shows and game shows.

Every year, thousands of filmmakers come to the exhibition with their works, and tens of thousands of film dealers come here to purchase films every year. The annual transaction volume is from one billion to several billion US dollars.

Since it is a trade fair, it naturally needs exposure and attention. As a world-class superstar, Xiang Nan's visit to the film festival is of course a great thing for the Berlin Film Festival.

Various media came to interview and report one after another, including many internationally influential media, such as BBC, Der Spiegel, AFP, Bloomberg, etc.

Seeing the reporters chasing Xiang Nan and the fans cheering, applauding and blowing kisses to him, the crew of "Old Well" was a little shocked.

They knew that Xiang Nan was famous, but only after seeing him with their own eyes did they realize how famous he was.

"Ning Wei, you are so amazing." Cong Shan couldn't help but sigh.

"It's okay." Xiang Nan smiled. In fact, he is not very popular in Europe. After all, it has its own film industry and its own stars.

In South America and Southeast Asia, where the local entertainment industry is relatively backward, fans would flock to the hotel and fill up the hotels where they stayed.

…

After arriving in Berlin, Xiang Nan began to promote "Old Well" and try his best to win votes.

You know, the three major film festivals and even the Oscars are all inseparable from human sophistication. In the same way, whoever is good at maneuvering and catering to the tastes of the judges will be the easiest to win votes.

Harvey Weinstein, the former Hollywood tycoon, won so many Oscars through his career. It is precisely because of this that many artists are rushing to collaborate with him.

Xiang Nan knew this, so in order to win Cong Shan the award, he had to start working hard. He took Cong Shan to accept media interviews, took her to visit the judges of the film festival, well-known European filmmakers, etc.

Of course, he also promised many things.

For example, he agreed to help Roman Rolansky and let his lover Natasha Kinski be the heroine of his film; he agreed to Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore to invest in his new work...

It is precisely because of his generosity that he received a lot of votes.

In addition, "Old Well", as the first film to participate in the three major European film festivals after China's reform and opening up, has attracted attention and preference.

Just like when Zhang Yimou participated in the exhibition with "Red Sorghum" and immediately won the Golden Bear Award. But in fact, "Red Sorghum" is his first time as a director. How good can it be? It can really surpass those who participated in the exhibition at the same time. Any other movies?

Therefore, at the final awards ceremony, "Old Well" won the Berlin Film Festival Silver Bear Award, Cong Shan won the Berlin Film Festival Best Actress Award, and Zhang Yimou was nominated for Best Actor.

It can be said to be a great success.

"Ning Wei, that's really great~" Cong Shan said happily.

She is the first Chinese actor to win the Best Actress crown at an international film festival. This honor is really too precious.

"Yes, congratulations, you can feel proud." Xiang Nan smiled.

In the past, Cong Shan was often ostracized, and some people accused her of not knowing how to act. Now that she has the title of Best Actress in Berlin, it's time to see who dares to criticize her.

However, Xiang Nan also knew that Cong Shan was a little shy in winning this award.

On the one hand, it is because of his public relations, and on the other hand, it is the first time for a Chinese film to participate in the exhibition, so it has the so-called novice's luck.

…

Due to the award-winning "Old Well", the film sold well in the end, with a total of more than five million US dollars in royalties, which is considered very good.

After all, its cost is less than 800,000 yuan.

After the Berlin Film Festival ends, the mainland delegation will go back.

Before leaving, Xiang Nan pulled Zhang Yimou and said, "Mr. Zhang, I watched the film "Old Well" and I think your photography skills are very good and you are quite talented in color and composition. I think you can be a director." Yes, how about it, do you have any plans in this regard?"

Although Zhang Yimou is the star of "Old Well", he is also the photographer of the film. As long as there is no role for him, he is responsible for being the photographer. Many of the shots in the film were shot by him, and the shots are very high-quality.

"I'm a director?!" Zhang Yimou was stunned.

Of course he wanted to be a director. But at that time, state-owned film studios also needed to be ranked based on seniority. If he didn't meet that qualification, the studio would never let him direct a movie.

"Yes, let me ask you something. Honestly, do you want to be a director?" Xiang Nan nodded and asked.

Zhang Yimou blinked, then nodded, "Of course I want to be a director."

As for all filmmakers, there is no one who doesn’t want to be a director.

After all, as a director, you can keep your word, shoot according to your own wishes, and express your own ideas... you have much more power than a photographer.

"Okay, as long as you have the heart." Xiang Nan nodded, "I have a movie that I would like you to direct. Are you interested?"

"Which one?" Zhang Yimou asked curiously.

"This is "Red Sorghum." Xiang Nan handed the script into his hands and said.

Zhang Yimou became interested when he heard it.

In 1983, Xiang Nan published a number of influential works in mainland literary journals, causing a sensation in the literary world.

One of them is "Red Sorghum".

It was a novella, telling a story about my grandfather and my grandmother during the Anti-Japanese War.

The story is very tastefully written. Although the text is rough, the characters are very vivid. Looking at the words, one can think of the endless red sorghum on the plains, with thick roots, thick ears, dark green leaves, and full of vigorous vitality. Vitality is like five thousand years of Chinese civilization.

No matter how many hardships, how many setbacks, how many wars we have suffered, we will always keep our spine straight and keep high spirits.
Chapter completed!