Wang Dalun set off from his home on the seventh day of the Chinese New Year and arrived in Beijing on the evening of the eighth day of the Chinese New Year. He also gathered with Lao Jia, Gu Zheng, who arrived in Beijing in advance, and Yu Liwei, the representatives of Hong Kong investors. On February 5, a group of five boarded the flight to Berlin, Germany.

The representative of the Hong Kong investor is Li, and his English name is Jacob. However, his English pronunciation is easily pronounced as Jack Bern by some local canons. Wang Dalun and Yu Liwei got along well when filming. They met again after a long time, and sat together to reminisce about the past.

Wang Dalun has already gone abroad to attend film festivals twice, more than 30 hours at a time and fifteen hours at a time. This time, eleven hours from Berlin is the easiest.

As one of the three major film festivals in Europe, the Berlin Film Festival is definitely more lively than the Matabrata International Film Festival in Argentina, but it seems to be a little worse than the crowded Cannes Film Festival. Maybe the cold weather is also a factor, because when Wang Dalun gets off the plane, he feels that Berlin is colder than Beijing, and it is still that kind of cold.

The hotel Jacob booked is average, but the heating is very good, and the living is very comfortable. As the producers of the movie, Jacob, Lao Jia and Yu Liwei were busy attending various exhibitions and selling movies as soon as they arrived in Berlin.

Wang Dalun and Gu Zheng had nothing to do. By the way, Gu Zheng was a man from the Demon City. When he was in China, he always had a tone of seeing that everyone was a country man, which was very annoying. But when he went abroad, he was a rustic guy. This guy was exactly the same as when Wang Dalun went to Argentina to attend the Matabrata International Film Festival for the first time. He was speechless and completely confused.

Wang Dalun took this local bumblebee to travel and shopping in Berlin with his very fluent English.

Berlin and the tourist city of Cannes are completely different cities. This is a city with a very profound and historical sense of vicissitudes. The ruins of the Berlin Wall produced by the Cold War are bound to be visited, and there is also the Capitol where the Soviet army planted a red flag in "The Capitol of Berlin".

Early February coincides with Germany's "WSV", which is a winter sale. Supermarkets, department stores, and almost all stores are discounted.

What is the most famous thing in Germany? Apart from tanks, cannons, cars, kitchen supplies such as knives and spatulas, and later bombardment of direct TV sales, Wang Dalun remembered the name of Shuangliren. As a cooking enthusiast, he was naturally very interested in this kind of thing. But when he went to the supermarket, he found that even if he discounted the things, it was not cheap. It cost 100 or even hundreds of marks at any time, and it cost hundreds or even thousands of RMB.

However, cosmetics are quite cheap, like hand cream, day cream, night cream, eye cream, etc., only a few marks, and the suit is only about ten or twenty marks, which is equivalent to RMB only a few dozen yuan. It just so happened to buy it and give it to someone.

By the way, I gave it to Liu Ling, but I couldn't leave Zhao Wei, and the little girl downstairs. Old Xu was so naughty. I wonder if this kind of thing could make her white. Others gave it to me, so I couldn't forget my mother who loves to dress up. I also had to mail it. Zhang Lu and Sun Li were not missing these two copies.

Seeing that Wang Dalun bought seven or eight copies of cosmetics, Gu Zheng couldn't help but be surprised and said, "You are just a bachelor. Are you planning to return to China to sell them or why?"

Can Wang Dalun tell him that he is a woman’s friend, he can only vaguely answer that he is the one who is taken for others.

However, there is something he must not leave behind. Zhang Yuan’s wife, Teacher Ning, will give birth this month. Zhang Yuan is absolutely desirable to him. Of course, he cannot forget this relationship and bought a box of infant formula. If you don’t want anything else, just be safe.

A few days passed quickly, and the situation in Lao Jia and Jacob was not optimistic. Several exhibitions participated, but few movies were interested. At present, they could only hope to be shortlisted for the film festival. They dare not expect to be the main competition unit for the Golden Bear Awards, but other competition units, even non-competition screening units, will not worry about selling movies as long as they can be shortlisted. You should know that "Xiao Wu" only invested 200,000 yuan in total. Even if the expenses of participating in the film festival this time, as long as you can sell two or three copies, it is enough to make a profit.

On February 11, the film festival opened. Unfortunately, it was raining in Berlin that day, making the already gray city even colder. The red carpet of the opening ceremony could only end in a hurry, and Wang Dalun's newly customized suit did not have the chance to appear on the red carpet.

The opening film is "Boxer" directed by Jim Sheridan. The organizer gave the reason that Sheridan won the Golden Bear Award in 1994 in "In the Name of Father" to pay tribute to Sheridan. At the same time, she encouraged more Golden Bear winners to return to Berlin and make good movies to give back to the German audience.

But Yu Liwei told Wang Dalun that it is unlikely that the opening film will win a grand prize. However, the movie is quite good, and the male lead Daniel Day Lewis left a deep impression on him. But the media's comments on "The Boxer" the next day were very mediocre, and even mocked the director Sheridan for seemingly having finished his life.

That night, Lao Jia and Jacob brought exciting news. "Xiao Wu" was shortlisted. Although it was not shortlisted for the main competition unit, it was shortlisted for the forum unit, which was also a competition unit.

Jacob was very excited and specially invited everyone to go to the bar to taste German beer. Speaking of which, the selection of "Xiao Wu" was quite thrilling. When Lao Jia sent the video tape to Berlin, the deadline for the film collection had already passed. Fortunately, Gregor's wife, the chairman of the forum unit, watched the movie with her colleagues after get off work, and they all liked it very much. She immediately suggested that the organizing committee give "Xiao Wu" a chance no matter what. This allowed "Xiao Wu" to be successfully shortlisted for the forum unit.

Speaking of which, the Berlin Film Festival has always been quite fond of Chinese films. Director Zhang Da’s famous work "Red Sorghum" won the Golden Bear here; Zhang Manyu won the Best Actress Award for "Ruan Lingyu" and became the first Chinese Best Actor at the three major European film festivals; and Li An won the Golden Bear twice. As for other Silver Bear Awards, Chinese films have also won several.

Among the 15 feature films that were shortlisted for the main competition unit of this film festival, there are three Chinese-language movies, namely Guan Jinpeng's "Happier and Degenerate", Cheng Chong's "Sky Bath" and another Taiwanese film Lin Zhengsheng's "Relax".

Even so, the originally unknown "Xiao Wu" attracted the attention of the media. After all, they squeezed out Xu Anhua's "Half-Life" and were seriously shortlisted for the forum unit.

The next ten days will be the time for free screening. Wang Dalun originally planned very well, so he watched the movie and then went around. As a result, Jacob pulled Yu Liwei and took the copy to fool the foreigners. Lao Jia could only drag him to recommend the movie. Who told him to speak English well? Just do the translation.

However, he took a break from his busy schedule and took some time to watch a few movies. Although he had watched the videos of "Happiness, Degenerate" in his previous life, he had no impression of it anymore. He revisited the movie and made him fall in love with Qiu Shuzhen again; Li Xiaolu in "The Bath of Heaven" was really immature, but she didn't expect that she was so white and big, and it was a bit unreal.

Matt Damon, who was once in the "Spy Shadows" series, was extremely impressive, but in "The Mind Catcher", he performed another self. The funnyest thing was "Murder Green Toe", where Julian Moore was still very beautiful at this time.

In fact, what he wanted to watch was the British movie "Accidental Passion". The reason was that he went to the heroine Rachel Weisz. I remember when he was watching "The War to the City", Rachel Weisz and Jude Law were squeezed on the bunk bed sleeping with Soviet soldiers and made love, revealing half of the snow-white butts, which made him feel high at that time.

Unfortunately, I couldn't squeeze out the time two days ago. The last day was February 18th, and "Xiao Wu" premiered.

Although only half of the audience was seated in the 200-person cinema, and about ten of them were film dealers from Jacobla, the presence of Gregor and his wife, the chairman of the forum unit, caused a lot of sensation.

Lao Jia showed great respect to the Gregor and his wife. If it weren't for the strong recommendation of these two couples, "Xiao Wu" would have never had a chance to make a comeback.

However, the premiere of "Xiao Wu" ended in a bleak state. From the beginning of the 180 audiences to the end of the screening, there were only two or three kittens, and even more than a dozen film manufacturers were almost exposed.

However, Mr. Gregor gave Lao Jia a high evaluation. Whether this was a polite word or it made Lao Jia very excited, he often mentioned this matter afterwards, saying that he would never think that the one who understood him best was a foreigner.

Hard work pays off. With Jacob's unremitting efforts, he finally sold two copies, not only recovered all his investment but also made a slight surplus. Now everyone relaxed. For Jacob, he completed the task. For Lao Jia, he not only made the movie he wanted to shoot, but also had an explanation to the investors. In the remaining days, everyone drank beer and watched the movie. It was so easy. As for whether he could win the prize, no one cared too much. Even Lao Jia said that he could not ask for too much.

It was finally the day of the closing ceremony. God helped, and it was finally a good weather. Although it was very cold, those actresses should still reveal what they should show, as if they were born not afraid of the cold.

Compared to those local bullies, Wang Dalun still attended in a grand outfit, which made Gu Zheng quite jealous. But this time, unlike last time in Cannes, you may feel very novel, but the second time it was obvious that you didn’t even have the qualification to judge the award, and you always feel a little regretful.

Although the Berlin Film Festival is not as good as Cannes in a sense, it does not affect the gathering of big names, including Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman, Robin Williams, Samuel Jackson, Coen brothers, Quentin Tarantino, etc.

In contrast, the crew of "Xiao Wu" seemed very low. This time, Wang Dalun did not steal the spotlight on the red carpet, and five people passed by in a hurry.

Foreigners' closing ceremony was basically the same routine, and there was no nonsense. The jury appeared on the scene, and this year's Chinese judge Leslie Cheung was naturally among them. Wang Dalun was very sorry that he could not meet his brother this time and talk about the past.

The awards officially began after the chairman of the jury, Ben Kingsley, said a few words on behalf of the jury.

Speaking of which, there are many awards at the three major film festivals, which are quite complicated, and they are quite weird. In addition to the Golden Bear and various Silver Bear Awards, there are also Blue Angel Awards, Don Quixote Awards, Caligary Awards, and Reader Jury Awards in various newspapers, etc. The most bizarre one is the Teddy Bear Award. I found out that it was specially designed for homosexual and love-themed films.

Wang Dalun secretly felt sorry for "East Palace and West Palace". It would be great if he had signed up for the Berlin Film Festival. Maybe he could have won the Teddy Bear Award, and he would not have been empty-handed like he was in Cannes.

At the beginning, all the awards were awarded. As Yu Liwei predicted before, the opening film "Boxer" won the marginal award called "Berlin Morning Post" Reader Jury Award.

Not long after, I heard the host on the stage read: "The following is a newly-set award from the Berlin Film Festival - the Youth Forum Award, which is named after the German director Wolfgang Sdodd..."

When Yu Liwei heard this, he quickly reminded: "It's time to win the forum unit."

When everyone heard this, they held their breath and stared at the stage intently. Although everyone said before that it doesn't matter whether they win the award or not, as a video shortlisted for the forum unit, this is the most likely award for "Xiao Wu".

Lao Jia, who participated in such a grand film festival for the first time, was even nervous, and Wang Dalun, who was sitting next to him, felt it, pushed him and whispered in Fenyang dialect: "You can't ask for too much."

This is what Lao Jia said. When this guy heard it, he couldn't help laughing and said, "You kid just makes a lot of trouble."

However, after Wang Dalun's interruption, Lao Jia's nervous mood was relieved. The guy's originally tense body relaxed and leaned against the back of the chair. The expression on his face actually seemed to be calm and clear.

"...Okay, let's see now that the one who won this first prize is..."

The guy on the stage chatted for a long time and finally came out the answer.

“Pickpocket!”

Although Wang Dalun was very disgusted by the translation of the title of Xiao Wu as a thief, this did not prevent him from understanding it. He jumped up from the chair and pulled Lao Jia, who was just shy, up.

"It's us, we won the award, forum award!"

"Wow! Lao Jia, congratulations." Yu Liwei gave Lao Jia a big hug.

Jacob and Gu Zheng also stood up and applauded vigorously. Jacob's eyes were even more starry-like. You should know that winning or not winning is completely different. Why was "East Palace West Palace" sold in more than a dozen countries? It was not because they won three major awards at the Matabrata International Film Festival in Argentina. But winning at the Berlin Film Festival and winning at the Matabrata International Film Festival are completely different, which means that more people will pay attention. Are you still worried about selling the copy?

Although Lao Jia had relaxed a lot just now, he really won the award and couldn't help but his eyes became wet. He was at a loss for a moment. Under the urging of everyone, he wiped the corners of his eyes and walked onto the stage quickly.

Lao Jia's personality sounds nice, but he is introverted, but not nice, he is bored and sexy. Although he has always claimed that "you can't ask too much." But seeing him stumble on the stage, he is talking about the award in English, and there is no need to ask, but he has long hoped that he will win the award in his heart, and even prepared the award in advance.

Chinese people often say that good things come true. Perhaps the Berlin Film Festival is really a blessed land for Chinese-language films. It has just announced that the Hong Kong movie "Happier and more depravity" won the Alfred Award. That is, after Dare to Fight, "Xiao Wu" won the Asian Film Revitalization Organization Award again at this Film Festival.

Finally, several heavyweight awards were issued. When it was announced on stage that "The Waving Tail Dog" starring Dustin Hoffman and Robert De Niro won the jury award, everyone could basically guess that the winner of the Golden Bear Award at this film festival must be the French film "Central Station" that was widely acclaimed before.

Next, Brazilian old lady Fernande Montanaco won the Best Actor for her outstanding performance in "Central Station"; Samuel Jackson, the leading actor in the American movie "Dangerous Relations", won the Best Actor.

As for the Best Picture Golden Bear Award, the Golden Bear Award is naturally attributed to the "Central Station" that everyone is looking for.

Three Chinese-language movies shortlisted for the main competition unit, Cheng Chong's "Sky Bath", which was previously praised by the media, unexpectedly failed. The Taiwanese movie "The Wave" also ran with him. However, Guan Jinpeng's "Happiness and Degenerate" not only won the Alfred Award, but also won the Best Drama Award with the other two films, becoming the biggest winner of the shortlisted Chinese-language movies.
Chapter completed!