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Chapter 64 Guaranteed Silver Bear! (Please continue reading!)

The three major European film festivals each have their own unique characteristics.

The Venice Film Festival is the world's first international film festival, with a focus on art and avant-garde films; the Cannes Film Festival has the largest market in Europe, with a focus on films that combine commercial and artistic elements; while the Berlin Film Festival pays the most attention to political and social issues.

However, for short films, the difference isn't that significant, because people generally view short films as experimental works, primarily encouraging new directors. As long as they can see the inspiration and brilliance in the work, they won't be picky about the subject matter.

Compared to the sunny weather at the Cannes Film Festival in May, Berlin in February was rather chilly.

However, the security situation in Romance-speaking countries is very poor. Major cities in France and Italy, two Romance-speaking countries, are often hotbeds of thieves, and Cannes and Venice are no exception. Journalists frequently have had their belongings stolen at the two major film festivals, and even the press centers are sometimes infiltrated by thieves.

Berlin is very good in this respect; it's very safe. The film festival is located in the city center, so you don't have to worry about safety even if you're walking at night.

Wu Yuchen and Jiang Qinqin have been in Berlin for five days now, and they attended the opening ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival the day before yesterday. No, it should be said that they were just bystanders.

Red carpets are a privilege reserved for high-profile films, such as Ang Lee's "Sense and Sensibility" and Sean Penn's "Dead Man Walking." Wu Yuchen is just a new director who makes short films.

Moreover, "Car 44" will not enjoy any special exhibition hall or promotion. All the shortlisted short films will share one exhibition hall and be shown in turn.

Of course, there are advantages as well. Short films attract more focused attention. For example, a small group of people prefer watching short films under 30 minutes, and they concentrate on this exhibition hall, where they can see several times more stories and ideas in the same amount of time as a feature film.

At that moment, a short film had just finished showing in the theater, and the two men were chatting during the break.

"The movie 'The Forgotten Toy' that we just watched was pretty good."

"There are touching parts, but it's an animated film. To be honest, I'd rather see something more realistic."

"This is the best I've seen today. It's better than that Alkali, Iowa short film, which was clearly aiming for a Teddy Award."

"Well, it seems like there are more and more movies with the same surname in recent years."

The Berlin Film Festival established the "Teddy Award" in 87 specifically to encourage films with LGBT themes, which are mainly films about people with the same surname. Yes, the European version is far ahead of the American one.

The two chatted for a while, and when the movie theater went dark again, they saw the title of the next short film, "Bus 44".

Eleven minutes later, the movie ended, but the entire theater remained completely silent.

As soon as the music stopped and the lights came on, the theater erupted as if a calm lake had suddenly been disturbed.

"Good heavens!"

"Chicken coop!"

"The darkness and the brilliance of humanity!"

"This is absolutely the best short film I've seen this year!"

"What the hell is this story?!"

"Why was that last guy laughing? Was he a bad guy too? Was he an accomplice of the robbers?!"

"You idiot, how could he be a bad person!"

"That last laugh sent chills down my spine!"

"I need to see this director! Is this even a true story?!"

Unlike before when everyone chatted casually after watching, this time some people exclaimed, some shouted, and some even yelled for a replay or wanted to see the director.

This situation would naturally be noticed by the staff and reported to the organizers. However, Wu Yuchen was not in the exhibition hall. At this moment, he had just taken Jiang Qinqin to attend a film screening from the mainland, adapted from Mo Yan's novel, "The Sun Has Ears," a story about a woman, bandits, and her husband.

This film has a distinctly Hong Kong style, reminiscent of the Fifth Generation directors Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige, making it hard to believe it was directed by a Hong Kong director. And because the director is from Hong Kong, even though it won the Silver Bear for Best Director at this year's awards, it didn't cause a stir in mainland China.

What really interested Wu Yuchen was the film's producer, Zhang Yu, a popular actress who was a household name in mainland China 10 years ago.

She was the female lead in the first mainland Chinese romance film, "Romance on Lushan Mountain," and also gave the first kiss on the mainland screen, becoming incredibly popular at the time. Ten years ago, actresses like Liu Xiaoqing and Siqin Gaowa were all ranked behind her.

Didn't you see Jiang Qinqin pulling her for an autograph with an expression of adoration?

There were quite a few Chinese people who came to support this exhibition, such as Zhang Fengyi, the lead actor of the mainland film "Sunlight Canyon," and Taiwanese director Edward Yang. Zhang Yu has a certain status, and she also spent two years developing her career in Taiwan.

The two mainland film crews were quite surprised by Wu Yuchen and Jiang Qinqin's sudden appearance. They only understood after learning that they had submitted their short films themselves. They didn't look down on them and said a lot of encouraging words, after all, they were all compatriots in a foreign land.

When Wu Yuchen brought Jiang Qinqin back to the hotel in the evening, he found that staff members were waiting for him.

"Director Wu, we've finally waited for you!" Since Wu Yuchen didn't have a cell phone, the staff hadn't been able to contact him before.

"Dear Director Wu, could you please stay a little longer in the short film screening room tomorrow? Many viewers wanted to talk to you after watching your film today."

After the staff left, Jiang Qinqin, who couldn't understand English, asked:

"What does he want from us?"

Wu Yuchen picked up Jiang Qinqin, spun her around, and said with a smile:
"You're probably going to become famous!"

Three days after the screenings, the short film exhibition hall had changed. The organizers had put up posters for five short films, including "Car 44." At the same time, the screening time and number of screenings for these five short films had been greatly increased, taking up half of the entire exhibition hall.

Now Wu Yuchen didn't have time to take Jiang Qinqin to see other movies. The two of them waited in the exhibition hall, where they received many questions from people every day. Jiang Qinqin, who was slightly flustered at the beginning and didn't know anything, gradually became more confident in taking photos with people and communicating with them using a few common phrases.

By the fifth day of the film festival, people had already approached them to buy the screening rights, offering a relatively low price of $20,000.

This made Wu Yuchen secretly happy; it was a good sign that someone was coming to buy!

Even at $2, compared to the price of 3 Chinese Yuan, it is already more than five times higher.

However, Wu Yuchen naturally declined for the time being, saying that everything would be discussed after the film festival awards ceremony.

He wasn't stupid. He could tell from the situation at the short film exhibition hall these past few days that "Car 44" was definitely one of the most popular films, with the highest level of discussion and buzz!

Although the audience does not represent the judging panel, it does indicate that "Car 44" has a significantly increased chance of winning an award.

The day before the awards ceremony, the publisher had already offered $4, but Wu Yuchen remained patient.

That afternoon, he received a notification from the organizing committee, inviting "Car 44" to participate in the awards ceremony on the last day.

After hanging up the phone, Wu Yuchen excitedly pumped his fist.

Although all nominated film crews can attend the closing ceremony, if the organizing committee specifically notifies you to attend, it means you have definitely won an award, regardless of the size of the award.

The Berlin Film Festival short films have three awards: the Golden Bear, the Silver Bear, and the Teddy Bear.

The Teddy Bear short film was sent to those with the same surname, while "Car 44" had absolutely no connection to it.

Therefore, it is quite obvious that there is at least one Silver Bear!
Please help me continue reading! The reading is getting worse and worse, I'm about to give up, 5555
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(End of this chapter)