funbook-pk Chapter 47: Premiere
Chapter 47: Premiere
February 13, Berlin Film Palace.
Before Berlin was fully awake in the early morning, long queues had already formed outside the Palais des Festivals.
Moviegoers, bundled up in thick coats and scarves pulled down to their chins, clutched their tickets and stamped their feet in the cold wind.
Liu Yu stood behind the curtain backstage and peeked out through the gap. There was a dense, dark mass of people.
At exactly nine o'clock in the morning, the lights went out.
Liu Yu took a deep breath and led the crew onto the stage.
He was wearing the dark suit that Zhong Lifang had ordered for him. Li Xuejian walked to his left, Song Dandan to his right, and Liu Yifei and Luo Jing behind him.
Five people stood in a row in the center of the stage, with spotlights shining on them, and a sea of faces and countless eyes below the stage.
Liu Yu cleared his throat and leaned closer to the microphone.
"Welcome everyone to the world premiere of 'Hearing Girl'. I'm Liu Yu, the director of this film."
He paused, glanced at the audience, and said, "This is my first time in Berlin. I'm a little nervous standing here today."
Someone in the audience laughed, but the laughter wasn't loud, which eased the atmosphere a bit.
"I'm not nervous about my film because I know it's good. The actors are good, the script is good, the team is good. I'm just nervous about what if you don't like it?"
The audience laughed again, this time the laughter was louder.
"I've thought about it, and if you don't like it, you don't like it. Movies are something that people either like or dislike. To those who like it, thank you; to those who don't, thank you too, at least you took the time to watch it."
He bowed and said, "I hope this film will give everyone a wonderful time. Thank you."
The applause rang out, but it wasn't very enthusiastic.
Liu Yu led the crew off the stage and sat in the reserved seats in the first row.
...
The lights dimmed again, and the screen lit up.
From the very first frame, the film captivates the audience, keeping them glued to their seats.
Liu Yifei's character Ruby makes her first appearance at the dock in the fishing village, helping her parents haggle with the fishmonger.
She spoke very quickly, used many gestures, and played three roles all by herself; first speaking for her father, then for her mother, and finally for herself.
The fishmonger was confused by her and finally agreed to the deal at her price.
She turned her head and smiled at the camera, a hint of smugness in her smile.
For 110 minutes, not a single person left the field.
Liu Yu sat in the first row, not daring to turn around, as he could feel the reactions of the audience behind him.
They laughed where they were supposed to laugh; and when it was supposed to be quiet, the entire theater was so quiet you could hear the projector turning.
When Ruby sang "It Is Where We Came From, It Is Where We Returned" during the competition, Song Dandan, who played the mother, cried silently in the audience, her lips trembling and tears streaming down her face.
A female audience member sitting behind Liu Yu began to sob, though not loudly.
In the final scene, Ruby is admitted to the music academy and boards the train to Beijing.
As the train started moving, she breathed on the window and drew a smiley face.
Her parents stood on the platform, watching the train disappear into the distance, and slowly made a sign saying, "I love you."
The image freezes, and the subtitles appear.
The screen went dark, and the lights came on.
...
There was a three-second silence.
During those three seconds, Liu Yu could hear his own heartbeat, thump-thump-thump.
Then the applause rang out, not the perfunctory kind that stops after a few claps, but the heartfelt applause that came from being moved and that couldn't help but want to clap.
At first, they were scattered, but soon they merged into a large area, wave after wave, without any sign of stopping.
Liu Yu stood up, turned around, and bowed to the audience.
Li Xuejian stood up, Song Dandan stood up, Luo Jing stood up, Liu Yifei stood up.
Five people stood side by side in front of the screen and bowed to the audience.
The applause lasted for a full five minutes.
Liu Yu later heard from Zhong Lifang that this was the longest applause at this year's Berlin Film Festival so far.
As the show ended, audience members walked out in twos and threes, their faces still bearing traces of tears.
An elderly German woman walked past Liu Yu, stopped, and said in English, "Thank you. This movie touched my heart."
A young Chinese student ran over excitedly and said, "Director Liu, I love this movie so much, I cried from beginning to end."
Li Xuejian was surrounded by a group of foreign reporters with recording devices, asking him questions while a translator busied himself translating. Li Xuejian spoke slowly, waiting for the translator to finish each sentence, but he wasn't in a hurry, answering each question one by one. Song Dandan was stopped by several Chinese media outlets, who asked her, "Ms. Song, do you think this film can win awards?" Song Dandan replied, "I don't know if it can win awards, but I know it's the best film I've made in recent years." Luo Jing stood in a corner, head down. Someone asked him for an autograph, and he signed it, his handwriting neat and meticulous, even more so than when he was acting.
Liu Yifei was surrounded the most. She was wearing an elegant dress, her hair was down, and she stood in the middle of the crowd, her eyes glazed over by the flashes of the cameras.
......
That afternoon, the ratings for the "Hearing Girl" program were released.
3.5 out of 4 points.
It is currently ranked first among all films in the competition.
When the news came back, Liu Yu was in his hotel room discussing the upcoming itinerary with Zhong Lifang.
Luo Jing rushed in, holding a program booklet in his hand, his face looking like he had won the lottery.
"Director Liu! Look!"
He handed me the program booklet, flipped to the rating page, and saw that "Hearing Girl" had a rating of 3.5.
Liu Yu stared at the number for a few seconds without saying a word.
Zhong Lifang leaned over for a look, and her expression changed from calm to surprise, and then from surprise to excitement.
"Boss, do you know what 3.5 points means? It means we're the biggest favorites for the Golden Bear right now." Her voice was several octaves higher than usual.
Liu Yu placed the program booklet on the table, leaned back in his chair, and said, "Don't get excited. Being a favorite doesn't guarantee a Golden Bear."
His tone was so calm that even he was surprised. It wasn't that he was unhappy; it was that he knew the event program ratings didn't equal the final result.
The preferences of film critics and the preferences of the jury are sometimes two different things.
Films that critics like may not win awards, and films that win awards may not be liked by critics.
"It's too early to be happy now. Let's wait for the results."
Zhong Lifang glanced at him and nodded. Luo Jing stood to the side, his expression shifting from excitement to restraint, but a smile still lingered on his lips.
Liu Yu picked up his phone and sent Yan Danchen a text message: "Program score 3.5, currently in first place."
She replied instantly: "I saw it! I saw it on the portal website!"
Then she posted another message: "Were you nervous on stage today?"
"A little."
Liu Yifei knocked on the door, holding a box of strawberries.
"Director Liu, my mom bought these. There are too many to finish." She put the strawberries on the table, stood there, as if she had something else to say, but didn't say it.
Liu Yu looked at the box of strawberries, bright red, each one plump and round. "Thank you, Mom."
Liu Yifei smiled, turned around and left.
As she reached the door, she stopped, turned around, and said, "Director Liu, thank you for casting me as Ruby."