Chapter 578: Chapter 578
The three directors were startled and looked up, only to relax when they realized it was He Jinxia.
It’s been almost half a year since everyone had seen each other, but there was no feeling of estrangement between them.
During that month of filming, He Jinxia got to know the three directors very well and knew that their inner selves were the same as their outward appearances—not mature and rather childish.
But they had a strong obsession with filmmaking and were willing to endure hardships for it.
Honestly, even though He Jinxia had already set foot in Berlin, she still felt a sense of unreality.
This feeling wasn’t strong since the news of being shortlisted for Berlin had been out for several months, but now that she saw these three whimsical directors, the surreal sensation suddenly intensified.
Before anyone else had spoken, He Jinxia, curious, asked, "How did you submit the film for the audition, did you report all three directors’ names, and did the committee agree to it?"
Duan Yu said impulsively, "Of course you can’t write three directors’ names, only one director; the others were assigned different positions. As for the audition, it’s simple, my dad is—"
Just as he was about to reveal more, someone bumped his arm, and his friend standing beside him, with a smile, said:
"We naturally have our channels for submitting the film. You don’t need to worry, after the festival is over, ’Eighteen Years Old Sky’ will premiere in major cinemas."
Inside, He Jinxia felt some regret; among the three directors, the most naively sweet was Duan Yu, but this time she couldn’t pry the information out of him.
However, she wasn’t really interested in these matters, so she didn’t dwell on it. Since others didn’t want to tell her, she wouldn’t be indiscreet and keep asking. Instead, she turned the conversation back to the original topic.
She asked with interest, "Is our film really selected for two days of screening?"
The three directors nodded; they had just found out the news themselves and had nothing to hide.
Although tomorrow is the closing ceremony of the Berlin Film Festival, it doesn’t mean that the screening halls won’t show films; they will still be open to the public.
The closing ceremony has limited seats, not everyone can attend, and the stars who did come but can’t participate in the closing ceremony will mostly wander around the exhibition venues.
Aside from stars, there are also some lesser-known directors, producers, investors, and so on; these are the main force in the voting.
’Eighteen Years Old Sky’ had the good fortune of being screened as a debutante in Berlin. When they arrived in Berlin, they had already received numerous invitations from local film distributors, hoping to screen the film under their cinema banners.
Today is the premiere of ’Eighteen Years Old Sky’. Early in the morning, someone came to watch the film, seeing its potential and then phoning the crew. By the morning, they had received more invitations than the previous days combined.
After pondering for a moment, He Jinxia said, "I’ve heard that films selected for two days of screening have a high chance of winning an award, what do you think?"
The three directors looked at each other, their faces a mix of excitement, eagerness, and nervousness.
Duan Yu said, "We just got the news too, and we don’t know if there’s any correlation to the awards. The Berlin officials won’t announce the winners a day in advance; only at the awards ceremony can we find out, so..."
He shook his head, "We don’t know if there’s a connection."
He Jinxia looked at them, and although they said this, she knew they must all be very hopeful.
Winning the Berlin Crystal Bear Award with their first film would not only make their future path much easier but also attract more investment to make the films they love.
But as the saying goes, the greater the anticipation, the greater the fear of being hurt.
They were afraid to hope too much, knowing that disappointment would be profound if they missed out on the award.
He Jinxia’s face broke into a smile, breaking the silence, "Let’s go, let’s first see what the final cut of your film looks like, awards or not, just being able to nominate your film for Berlin has already proven your potential, don’t overthink it."
All three directors nodded, overthinking was pointless—the manipulation of such international awards was extremely difficult.
Even if they could rig them, they didn’t have the capability.
Upon entering the screening hall, "Eighteen Years Old Sky" had already started playing, He Jinxia quickly glanced around; the auditorium was sparsely filled, not even a third full.
Because of the dim lighting, they just found a spot and sat down.
He Jinxia watched the movie screen intently, eager to understand why this film was nominated for Berlin.
Twenty minutes into the film, one of the two female leads He Jinxia had never seen appeared on the screen.
With a total run time of 90 minutes, each of the three female leads features for an average of 30 minutes. Now, with 20 minutes in, it meant that the story of the first female lead was reaching its climactic end. Jinxia had just arrived in time to see a dramatic scene—
The heroine, holding a child in her arms, had a hysterical outburst, crying out against everyone’s discrimination and the injustice she faced!
"You think I wanted to give birth to her? If my health had allowed me to get an abortion, I would have never had her from the start!
She’s a disaster; without her, my life wouldn’t have turned out so terrible, without him, I wouldn’t have been despised by my parents, discriminated against by classmates, I would still be the sunny, cheerful, beloved little Princess I once was!
What have I done wrong? I’m barely past 18 years old! Isn’t it that everyone else is playing too; why target me?
I’m not chaste? I don’t have virtue? And you bunch of hypocrite bitches are better than me in what way?"
The female actress’s eyes reddened from crying, staring fiercely at them: "You will get your retribution; you will surely suffer for this. I’ve done nothing wrong; I’m completely innocent!"
"That day, everyone went out together, how come bad things didn’t happen to you, and I was the one people ... It must be you who framed me, it must be you who harmed me!!"
The actress angrily tried to throw the child in her hands, which immediately caused panic amongst the surrounding people, who hastily stopped her. It took a great deal of effort for the nurses to calm her down.
Many people came to visit her, but were told by the nurse that the patient needed rest, so they were refused further visits. Some of them were her relatives and the rest were her classmates and friends.
Seeing her , her relatives just shook their heads and sighed, constantly deploring as a curse.
As for her classmates and friends, they were all silent, some with a look of fear on their faces, whispering to their friends:
"I’m glad I didn’t go to the party that night. I heard that the girls who went were drugged and that’s why ..."
A crisp slap resonated, and a girl, seething with rage, glared at her, "Don’t talk nonsense. None of that ever happened. It’s all lies made up by Yuanyuan! She was the one who fooled around and accidentally got pregnant. It’s none of our business!"
That girl covered her face, too frightened to speak, and the corridor fell silent. Dıscover more novels at novelFirｅ.net
Only after the slapping girl walked away did the girl who was slapped purse her lips in defiance and whisper to a friend next to her.
Her voice was so soft and low, it seemed like a murmur in everyone’s ears, as if not even her friend heard it, but the audience did.
"Who are they trying to fool? Last year, I saw her going to the hospital accompanied by a man to get an abortion. Yuanyuan is truly pathetic, mixing with this crowd of bad company; in the end, she’s the one who gets hurt."