Offers and Bear Hunting

Early in the morning, several members of the creative team gathered to listen as Wei Jin read out the latest reports on Buried Alive from various German newspapers. The smiles never left their faces.

After the premiere the previous night, the group had held a lively premiere press conference under a barrage of questions from reporters. It had lasted more than an hour, and the atmosphere had been excellent.

Reporters from various countries were extremely curious about Wei Jin, the director. He had written a screenplay and made a film like that, and many of them were ready to find something newsworthy that set him apart...

There was also an interview with domestic media that afternoon. Quite a few reporters from home had come to this Berlin International Film Festival, including people from Watching Movies, Southern Metropolis Daily, Huaxia Film News, and Movie Channel.

Xinlang and Souhu Entertainment had even sent reporters to the event. Their questions were mostly about how he felt visiting Berlin for the first time, what he had seen and heard at his first Big Three festival, whether he was confident of winning an award, and some behind-the-scenes details about the film...

Although Wei Jin had already answered those questions many times the night before, he still had to answer them again and again.

After finally seeing the reporters off, several members of the creative team gathered in Wei Jin's room to discuss what they had seen and heard in Berlin, as well as their hopes of winning an award in the end.

Gao Yuanyuan made no attempt to hide anything, sitting primly beside Wei Jin like a little wife. The others were used to it and thought nothing of it. It was perfectly normal. What director didn't have a few romantic escapades? Besides, Wei Jin was young and handsome, so who knew who was getting the worse end of the deal?

"Wei Jin, what do you think about selling the rights to Buried Alive?"

The speaker was Teacher Jiang Wei. As the producer, he had met with a great many distributors over the past few days, but the results hadn't been very good.

Since the premiere the night before, however, things had improved. Several distributors he had contacted earlier had begun raising their offers.

"What's the price now?"

Wei Jin asked casually:

"The offers from interested distributors currently add up to more than 1.3 million US dollars."

Jiang Wei was a little excited, and the others were delighted to hear it.

"Hmm... there's no rush. Let's wait for the final results."

Wei Jin gave it some thought before answering. After all, the rights would rise sharply in value if the film won an award. That was especially true of a low-budget film like Buried Alive, with its extremely limited setting and enormous potential for adaptation.

"But if it doesn't win, the price might not be as good as it is now."

Chen Zhiming's words dampened the mood somewhat, but as a professional manager, he was right to be rational and quit while they were ahead.

"It's fine. Don't worry about it too much. The film didn't cost much, so we'll make a profit either way."

Wei Jin no longer cared about such a small sum.

"And I'm confident we have a good chance of winning an award. You should have confidence too."

Hearing Wei Jin's words, the others recalled the enthusiastic reception and favorable media reviews after the premiere the previous night and nodded.

Gao Yuanyuan, sitting beside him, saw how confident Wei Jin looked, and her beautiful eyes sparkled all the more.

They chatted a little longer about their opinions of the other films in competition, then soon took their leave.

Once they were gone, Gao Yuanyuan immediately straddled Wei Jin, her eyes hazy, clearly aroused.

An outstanding man really did have a fatal attraction for women. What could Wei Jin do? With a beauty in his arms, he could only see it through to the end.

For the next few days, Wei Jin either had a wild time in his room with the great beauty Yuanyuan or attended premieres of the other films in competition. Chen Zhiming and Jiang Wei, meanwhile, went around meeting various jurors, trying to give the film an advantage in the race for awards.

February 15, 10 a.m.

All five members of the Buried Alive team had gathered in Wei Jin's room, waiting for something.

"Why haven't we heard anything yet?"

Chen Zhiming paced back and forth across the room, the anxiety plain on his face.

Wei Jin looked at the others. Although everyone was pretending to stay calm, the atmosphere was still a little tense, so he spoke up to reassure them:

"Don't worry. We'll definitely win an award."

On the final day of the Berlin International Film Festival, the organizers gathered the jurors in a villa on the outskirts of the city to decide the final results.

The villa was cut off from the outside world, and the jurors were not allowed to use communication devices. Once they had reached their final decisions, the police would escort them to the Film Palace at six in the evening, just before the awards ceremony.

If there was no major disagreement, the results would generally be decided in the morning, and the organizing committee would notify the winners to attend that evening's awards ceremony.

If they hadn't received an invitation from the organizing committee by that afternoon, they could all get lost. It was already ten, and the longer the wait went on, the more anxious everyone became.

As they sat in silence, the phone rang, and everyone held their breath at once.

Wei Jin paused for a moment, then picked up the phone:

"Mm, all right. Thank you. Goodbye."

He put the phone down heavily and let out a long breath:

"We've been invited to the closing ceremony."

Everyone cheered at the news, because it meant they were very likely to win an award.

"All right, let's eat first. We'll dress up and be at the awards ceremony on time tonight."

Gao Yuanyuan would also attend as Wei Jin's companion.

In fact, some smaller awards, such as the Youth Forum Award and the FIPRESCI Prize, had already begun to be presented on the festival's penultimate day. Wei Jin's film was in the main competition, so he hadn't paid much attention to the other sections.

A little after six that evening, the entire Buried Alive team, dressed in their finest, stepped onto the red carpet in front of the Film Palace amid fans' cheers and the long and short lenses of the press.

There were far fewer stars on the closing ceremony's red carpet, since the film crews that hadn't received invitations had already left. It was freezing cold, and everyone moved quickly along the carpet. That was also why actresses preferred to make appearances on the Cannes Film Festival red carpet, for no other reason than the good weather.

Inside the hall, a bustling sea of people filled the space. The group found the seats assigned to their team and sat down.

Beside them was the team behind 20 30 40 from Taiwan, directed by Zhang Aijia. The seating arrangement was thoughtful enough, as theirs were the only two Chinese-language films in competition that year.

The three major European film festivals didn't have nominations for best actor and best actress. Films in the main competition were generally eligible to compete for those awards by default, so anyone who claimed that a star had been nominated for best actor or best actress at one of the Big Three was certainly a layman.

Qin Hao also had a chance of winning best actor this time, so he grew more and more nervous as the moment approached.

Once all the guests had entered, the awards ceremony officially began. After the host's opening remarks, festival director Kosslick took the stage to deliver a speech. Then it was time to present the awards.

The first awards presented were some of the smaller ones, such as the short film awards. Unlike gala awards shows, ceremonies at the Big Three European festivals were very simple, with no singing or dancing. They were straightforward ceremonies of recognition, so although there seemed to be many awards to present, they actually went by quickly.

After the host's remarks, the festival's jury president, American actress Frances McDormand, walked onto the stage with several jurors, and the presentation of the main competition awards officially began.

After a string of winners had been announced, Wei Jin finally heard his own name.

"The Outstanding Artistic Achievement Award at this year's festival goes to... the writer and director of Buried Alive, Wei Jin."

At the presenter's words, the group's joy showed plainly on their faces. Gao Yuanyuan too looked delighted and full of admiration.

"Xiao Wei, congratulations! I knew you'd definitely win an award."

Gao Yuanyuan sounded a little excited. Her temporary partner had won a Silver Bear Award before he was even twenty-one, making him perhaps the first person in China to do so. He really was talented.

It's a pity this man doesn't belong to me yet.

Wei Jin didn't stand on ceremony. After hugging everyone in turn, he strode toward the stage.