Becoming a Movie Star, System Only Finished Loading After Ten Years-Chapter 431 - 423: Just Go to Bed Early

Since it includes the word "international," it's naturally necessary to put on a sophisticated front.

For the first jury of the Temple of Heaven Awards at the Capital International Film Festival, Zhuxi invited Nikita Mikhalkov.

He is hailed as the Russian Steven Spielberg.

His father, Sergey Mikhalkov, was both a poet and a writer, responsible for the Soviet national anthem. His mother was also a poet, and his brother is the renowned Russian director Andrei Konchalovsky.

He won the Golden Lion at the 48th Venice International Film Festival, as well as the Best Foreign Language Film at the 67th Academy Awards.

Previously, he served as the jury president at the 46th Berlin International Film Festival.

The Capital International Film Festival really put in the effort to bring him on board.

Additionally, there was Cameron Bailey, the Artistic Director of the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) from Canada; Ivor Benjamin, President of the British Directors Guild; renowned Australian film producer Geoff Brown; and famous Korean film director Kang Je-gyu.

Apart from these five, there were also Gu Changwei and Qi Hao.

They were basically all incredible figures, far above the level of the Capital University Student Film Festival.

Of course, to outsiders, Qi Hao was also an incredible figure.

In the field of directing, Qi Hao was not much worse than Gu Changwei.

Gu Changwei received the Jury Grand Prize at the 55th Berlin International Film Festival and the Best Director Award at the 6th Chinese Film Media Awards with "Peacock."

However, Qi Hao has also won multiple awards, including the Best Director at the Golden Horse Awards.

Moreover, Qi Hao was also the Best Actor at Venice.

Gu Changwei's main expertise is in cinematography, ranking among the top three in Chinese cinematography.

However, Qi Hao was very low-key as a first-time jury member.

After all, he was just there to complete a task.

If he truly had the final say, he would definitely ensure that Chinese films took at least half of the award slots.

That is obviously impossible.

Since it's positioned as an international award ceremony, it can't just give all the awards to Chinese films.

The first Temple of Heaven Awards ceremony is very important.

To some extent, it can set the tone for the awards ceremony.

If the first edition doesn't go well, it will struggle at a lower level for a long time.

So, Qi Hao had very little room to maneuver.

Since that's the case, there was no need for him to stand out too much, as the awards wouldn't change based on his will.

However, he still managed to get "Heart Pierced by a Thousand Arrows" into the main competition.

In the main competition of the core event "Temple of Heaven Awards" of this year's film festival, 15 films were shortlisted, with two Chinese films: Feng Xiaogang's "1942" and director Wang Jing's "Heart Pierced by a Thousand Arrows."

Among them, "1942" was produced by Mrs. Hua.

While "Heart Pierced by a Thousand Arrows" was produced by Zhonghao Entertainment.

Although "1942" was a box office flop, receiving negative reviews upon release, and its rating fell to a low of 6.1, causing Mrs. Hua's already crisis-ridden stock price to plummet, its market value dipped below 10 billion for the first time.

But the film itself is actually quite good.

Zhang Guoli also delivered peak-level acting.

During the selection, Gu Changwei was responsible for introducing this film to other jury members.

He signed with Mrs. Hua last year, becoming one of her contracted directors.

Mrs. Hua doesn't just have Feng Xiaogang as a director.

In fact, she always has several directors, some cooperatively and some directly contracted.

Last year, Mrs. Hua's gold-medal producer Chen Guofu left, reportedly poached by Wanda. So, they signed Gu Changwei to mitigate the negative impact of Chen Guofu's departure.

As a contracted director for Mrs. Hua, Gu Changwei naturally spoke on her behalf.

Qi Hao was also unreserved.

He focused on introducing "Heart Pierced by a Thousand Arrows."

After receiving investment from Zhonghao Entertainment, Wang Jing produced this film, followed by an investment for "Empire of Silver," binding the two together at a deep level.

Last year, "Heart Pierced by a Thousand Arrows" set out for Tokyo.

It became the only Chinese film shortlisted for the main competition at this year's Tokyo International Film Festival.

Director Wang Jing and actress Yan Bingyan were also invited to attend the festival, with potential to vie for the Best Film Golden Qilin Award and Best Actress.

However, near the festival, the filmmakers suddenly decided to withdraw formally from the competition and all related activities at the Tokyo Film Festival.

This was in response to the Neon island-buying incident at the time.

Famous director Xie Fei issued a statement opposing this withdrawal, deeming it an overreactive "cultural car smashing" action.

Did they consider the feelings of those ordinary Neon citizens who were fervent about Huaxia culture, buying tickets at their own expense even during the tense times between the two sides?

Did they consider that this might disrupt the efforts of our Zheng Mansion, which was striving to retaliate against the other's destructive actions and alleviate the conflict?

After Xie Fei's anti-withdrawal statement was released, numerous stars and netizens commented and shared on Weibo, supporting Xie Fei and claiming that "Heart Pierced by a Thousand Arrows" withdrawing was a publicity stunt.

Xie Fei has always been stubborn.

He has often stated in various occasions that his most admired actor is Jiang Wen.

However, when it comes to Jiang Wen's directing skills, Xie Fei has a different opinion.

He believes that after "The Invaders," Jiang Wen took seven years to make "The Sun Also Rises," which was a huge waste. Regarding this work, Xie Fei commented, "Those segments show great talent, but I still think it's not a worthwhile piece."

Jiang Wen's "Let the Bullets Fly" stirred a box office frenzy, but Xie Fei felt it was a pity that Jiang Wen went to make commercial films, "One film earned him so much money, he couldn't help it; he had to maintain his aristocratic lifestyle. Can he still make better works like 'The Invaders' or 'Sunny Days'? It's hard to say, because he's become pragmatic, and he's already 50."

As if directors should just live a hard life.

Nevertheless, "Heart Pierced by a Thousand Arrows" withdrew from the Tokyo International Film Festival.

Zhonghao Entertainment stated that as the producer, they support all decisions made by the main creative team and do not care whether this film can bring profit to the company.

The fact that the film was made, released, and accepted by fans is already its biggest success.

The film only achieved a box office of a few million in the end.

At the 4th China Film Directors Association 2012 Awards, actress Yan Bingyan won the Actress of the Year Award.

Moreover, many other award ceremonies also showed support.

This time, Qi Hao hoped the jury could affirm this movie by awarding it Best Film or Best Actress.

Now that he was a jury member, even if he stayed low-profile, he wouldn't hold back when it was time to fight for it.

In fact, awards anywhere require PR.

Even with the current tension between Mrs. Hua and Zhonghao, Feng Xiaogang was still thinking of having a meal with Qi Hao.

A bamboo chair plus six jurors means every vote is crucial.

To win over the other jury members, Qi Hao invited them for dinner and to visit Zhonghao Entertainment as soon as they arrived in Huaxia.

Due to Qi Hao's photographic memory, vast knowledge, and proficiency in English, he quickly bonded with the jury members.

Gu Changwei was also feeling helpless.

Even though he traveled abroad often, his English was genuinely average, and coupled with his lack of words, communication was difficult, requiring a translator.

It's nowhere near Qi Hao and his assistant Guo Fan.

Especially Guo Fan, damn, it's almost absurd how high-functioning he is, never shy, and Qi Hao takes him to every exchange.

Leaves devastation in their wake.

Though Qi Hao walked the red carpet alone at the festival, looking especially pitiful.

Nothing he could do; his wife was at home recovering.

After the full month, little Qi Xu grew cuter by the day, adorably lethal.

An Feng spent all her time laughing with their son.

Long forgotten her plans for an early comeback.

After all, "You Who Came from the Stars" was airing on major TV networks, further enhancing her national reach. 𝙧𝙚𝙚𝔀𝒆𝓫𝓷𝙤𝓿𝒆𝙡.𝒄𝙤𝓶

No need to worry about being forgotten even if she takes a year off.

When the time for the Temple of Heaven Awards ceremony came, the award decisions had already been made.

Qi Hao, for the first time as a jury member, witnessed everyone's joys and sorrows, watching "Heart Pierced by a Thousand Arrows" win Best Film and Best Actress, while "1942" won Best Director.

Ten awards, three taken by Huaxia films, and they were all major awards.

It was truly a win-win.

As for whether this festival was authoritative enough and had international influence, better to go wash up and dream sooner.

Just take a look at the Shen City International Film Festival.

If Qi Hao were the film festival bamboo chair, capable of making decisions, he would ensure at least half of the films shortlisted were Chinese, creating significant domestic influence first.

Then strictly select high-quality global films.

As Qi Hao fulfilled his duty as a jury member, the system also prompted that he could settle his task.