By comparison, Lu Heng, whose fate had spoiled half his life for him, was the calmest and most composed person in the entire Kodak Theatre. Whenever the presenters onstage read out the names of the nominees, Lu Heng's gaze would instinctively fall on the winner. If anyone had kept watching where Lu Heng was looking throughout the ceremony, they would have discovered something surprising.
Unfortunately, there were simply too many attention-grabbing things at this star-studded awards ceremony. No one would deliberately pay attention to an insignificant figure from the distant East.
Even when the cameras swept over them, the shots focused on famous, influential stars such as Fang Kaizhi, Rong Xiu, and Liu Jiawei, all of whom had delivered outstanding performances in nominated films.
Finally, two and a half hours after the Oscars began, this year's presenters for Best Foreign Language film—Michael Fonda, a former Oscar winner for Best Actor, and Jane Douglas, a former Oscar winner for Best Actress—walked calmly onto the stage to thunderous applause.
At that moment, everyone from the Autumn Dew White and Bushido crews straightened their backs in unison and unconsciously leaned forward, their breathing growing shallow.
The two presenters took their places onstage, calmly finished their lines, and gestured for everyone to watch the big screen.
The five films nominated for this year's Oscar for Best Foreign Language film were France's A Midsummer Dream, Poland's The Nun, Hungary's The Final Farewell, Japan's Bushido, and Huaxia's Autumn Dew White.
The big screen played highlights from each of the five nominated films in turn: the beautiful scene in A Midsummer Dream where the male and female leads kissed amid the misty morning light; the harrowing scene in The Nun where the heroine knelt in a church, praying devoutly, only to be shot in the chest by