Chapter 1635 Awards Ceremony

One award after another was handed out.

The audience below the stage listened to the beautiful Italian spoken by the hosts and the occasional English phrases from the guests, feeling drowsy.

There was nothing to be done about it. They could barely understand a few words of English, but Italian was like listening to a book from heaven, completely incomprehensible.

The crew members were a bit sleepy. Only Zhu Xiaoce, Lu Zhiyao, and a few others watched with anticipation.

Having learned from their previous experience, everyone knew that anyone notified to attend the awards ceremony would almost certainly receive an award.

It was just a matter of whether it would be a big one or a small one.

However, given everyone’s expectations for the movie "The Future You Choose," getting a small award would be as good as getting nothing.

They still needed a substantial award, such as Best Actor or the Golden Lion Award, to be considered a historic breakthrough for everyone.

Before coming, the crew members had also crammed some knowledge about the Venice Film Festival.

It was the oldest film festival in the world, the earliest one ever established.

As a pioneer film festival, the Venice Film Festival had a deep historical background and its own cultural core values.

To summarize simply: The Venice Film Festival leaned more towards the individual, encouraged innovation, bold experimentation with audio-visual language, and valued the film’s ideology more.

In addition, the Venice Film Festival also favored Asian films and paid more attention to Chinese-language films. Many Chinese-language films had been favored by the Venice Film Festival, with two of them even winning the Golden Lion Award for Best Film. One director had also received the Venice Film Festival’s Lifetime Achievement Award.

The Chinese jury also had some influence at the Venice Film Festival. After the crew arrived, they met and exchanged ideas with several Chinese jurors. Everyone had high expectations for the movie "The Future You Choose," hoping that it could continue and even surpass the success of "A Beautiful Tomorrow."

After all, these two films had some similarities in terms of subject matter and story, and "The Future You Choose" could be seen as a comprehensive and improved version of "A Beautiful Tomorrow."

As one award after another was given out, the crew members yawned and chatted quietly. Because these first few awards weren't very interesting, and the name "The Future You Choose" hadn't been mentioned.

Huang Sibao also felt bored. After all, only the director and actors would go on stage to receive awards, and it had nothing to do with him, the person in charge.

He had come to the film festival purely as a bystander.

But just then, he suddenly felt Lu Zhiyao, who was sitting to his left, tense up. Then he heard the second half of the English award speech.

"...for Lu Zhiyao!"

Although Huang Sibao could barely make out Lu Zhiyao’s name, the screen directly displayed Lu Zhiyao’s pinyin.

Nowadays, nearly 90% of actors and directors in mainland China use pinyin for their English names. This was also a manifestation of growing cultural confidence.

And especially important to note: the order of the first and last names would not be reversed.

The screen also showed the award that Lu Zhiyao had won.

Undoubtedly, it was Best Actor. After all, he couldn’t possibly win any other awards.

Lu Zhiyao had already very gracefully buttoned his suit and went on stage.

The crew of "The Future You Choose" immediately erupted in cheers, applauding enthusiastically along with the entire audience. Winning this award was a truly pleasant surprise.

"He really won Best Actor. Now we can finally say that he’s a genuine movie emperor!"

"That’s right. The awards he won before were all domestic, and they were less prestigious."

"Hey, with Lu Zhiyao’s acting skills in our movie, isn’t it perfectly reasonable for him to win Best Actor?"

Lu Zhiyao came to the stage and said in Chinese, "First of all, good evening to everyone. This is my first time at the Venice Film Festival, and I didn’t expect to receive such an honor. I feel very honored."

"Special thanks to the jury for giving me this honor. Here, I would also like to especially thank my director, all the staff, and my fans. This film was a test for me, and also a major opportunity..."

After thanking all the important people, Lu Zhiyao changed the subject.

"Here, I would also like to especially thank the film's investor and supreme producer, President Pei. For me, President Pei is the 'Bole' (a legendary judge of horses) who discovered me. It is under President Pei’s step-by-step guidance that I have been able to constantly hone my acting skills through individual characters and ultimately gain worldwide recognition."

"In the movie "The Future You Choose," my accumulated acting skills have finally gained the best stage to display them. I hope to contribute more wonderful performances and create more classic characters for everyone in the future. Thank you again."

The translator translated Lu Zhiyao’s words into Italian, and the audience applauded again.

Lu Zhiyao returned to his seat, and the crew members congratulated him one after another, their faces filled with happy smiles.

"That’s great! An international movie emperor well-deserved! With this award, our trip to the film festival has been worth it."

"Indeed, with the Best Actor award, we’ll have enough topics to talk about when we go back. Just relying on the movie emperor’s performance and our story, the box office will definitely not be low after it is released."

"Worth the trip, worth the trip."

Everyone passed around Lu Zhiyao’s trophy, and everyone was very satisfied.

After all, although the Best Actor award was a personal honor, it was also an honor for the entire crew of the film. After all, without a good story, even if the actor performed well, it would be difficult to win the Best Actor award.

Good acting still needed to be supported by the plot.

The crew’s goal of participating in this film festival had been achieved. After all, they had won a relatively prestigious award like Best Actor, rather than an insignificant small award.

After the excitement, the crew fell into a state of exhaustion.

When the Best Director award was being presented, Zhu Xiaoce straightened his back, but it wasn’t awarded to him, which made him a little disappointed.

Not only because his own award had fallen through, but also because the bigger the award, the lower the probability of winning it.

Finally, the awards ceremony reached its final stages. Even the Silver Lion Award had been given out, but the name "The Future You Choose" still hadn’t appeared.

At this time, the crew members’ mood was a bit contradictory, somewhat like the mood of an employee who hadn't won any small awards at the company’s year-end party when the final award was about to be announced.

On the one hand, they felt a little guilty, feeling that it was unlikely that the biggest award would fall on their heads just like that, but on the other hand, they harbored a strong sense of expectation.

Either it would end so hastily, or they would win big. This feeling was so exciting.

For the crew of "The Future You Choose," taking home a Best Actor award was considered a passing grade, a worthwhile trip. But having only this one award was still a bit regrettable.

After all, the crew members felt that everything about the movie "The Future You Choose" was good, almost perfect. Even winning the Golden Lion Award would be perfectly reasonable.

The host said a lot of words in Italian, and then looked at the award presenter across the stage, meaning that he should reveal the final award.

The award presenter was an amiable fat man, a world-renowned director.

He said with a smile, "Let me say the name of the winning work directly."

"Zhu Xiaoce, for "The Future You Choose"!"

As soon as he said this, the audience immediately burst into warm applause and cheers.

Zhu Xiaoce’s hanging heart finally fell, followed by an upsurge of ecstasy.

The music started, and amid the warm applause and cheers of the audience, Zhu Xiaoce calmed down his emotions. He pretended to be very calm and slowly walked onto the stage.

After giving a warm hug to the white-haired old judge on stage, Zhu Xiaoce took the highest award from his hand: a small golden lion with wings.

After a long photo session that lasted about two minutes, Zhu Xiaoce held the small golden lion and came to the podium. The warm applause gradually subsided.

Zhu Xiaoce adjusted the microphone slightly and spoke the acceptance speech that he had repeated many times in his heart.

"First of all, thank you to the judges for your recognition and love for this film. 'The Future You Choose' is a movie that embodies the hard work of the crew, full of profound meaning and rich imagination. At the same time, it is rooted in realistic materials and absorbs valuable nutrients. For me, it is a rich and colorful stroke in my entire directing career, and also a milestone for me to break through myself again and challenge the higher halls of art."

"Here, I would like to thank all the crew members, my very lovely actors, and the audience who have always supported us..."

"In addition, all of our crew would especially like to thank President Pei. It is your spiritual connotation that has given this movie its soul. The real events in reality have given the movie flesh and blood. Without you, this movie would not have been born."

"So this award is the result of the joint efforts of all of us, including all the fans who support Tenda Group. I am willing to share this honor with you."

"Thank you everyone!"

The audience applauded again.

At the same time, various news reports were sent back to China as soon as possible. A domestic film winning the Venice Film Festival’s highest award, the Golden Lion Award, was definitely a stroke worth emphasizing in the film industry.

……

……

Sunday, September 8th.

As soon as Pei Qian got out of bed, he quickly picked up his phone to check the situation at the Venice Film Festival last night.

His mood was a bit contradictory.

As a friend, he actually hoped that Zhu Xiaoce and the others could win a small award, such as Best Actor or Best Director. Those awards were actually acceptable.

After all, these people were indeed making movies in a down-to-earth manner, and being able to win awards could be considered well-deserved.

As long as it didn't cause the movie box office to explode.

As a result, Pei Qian didn't expect to receive several push notifications as soon as he turned on his phone.

《Domestic Film Wins Venice Best Picture Golden Lion Award for the Seventh Time!》

《Lu Zhiyao Wins Best Actor, Movie Emperor Finally Crowned!》

《Director Zhu Xiaoce: Thanks President Pei for Giving Soul to the Movie!》