528 Why didn't It Win the Palme d'Or?

Pei Qian browsed various forums, especially those that had been battlegrounds for fans and haters of the movie. One could say that corpses covered the area. What's more, those 'corpses' had not died in the intense battle. Instead, they had been dug up from their 'graves'.

"I heard the film wouldn't be liked by locals and foreigners alike. I get it; Cannes was not organized by foreigners."

"Cannes has been thrown out of the 'foreigners' basket by the haters. I suggest that our country should consider adopting the homeless 'Cannes' now. We should make them a part of Jingzhou and call the film festival into 'Tengda Film Festival' instead."

" 'Tengda Film Festival'? Are you hinting that Tengda is so wealthy that it bribed all the judges in the film festival? Congratulations on figuring out the truth! (sarcasm)"

"This film did indeed only get popular because of its sales. It only got an award at Cannes to tackle the poor figures at overseas box offices. What a solid sales tactic! (sarcasm)"

"Now, it really does look like Tomorrow is Beautiful was just released at the right time. If an even better time had been picked, perhaps it would have stolen awards out of the hands of every other popular movie."

"The major films with high production value must be celebrating the fact that they had not been released at the same time as Tomorrow is Beautiful, right? The more they think back to it, the more fear they should feel."

"'Can you tell us the joke again?' 'Which one?' 'The one about the foreign film.' 'Flying Star Journey! The real major foreign film is here!' Hahahaha!"

"I heard that the foreign audience wouldn't fall for the same trick as we did. Yet, all foreign cinemas have extended Tomorrow is Beautiful's screening periods today. They've even increased the row piece rate. Once again, I'm giving all foreigners a serious warning: you run the risk of having your citizenship revoked if you watch this film. Please watch it at your own risk!"

…

Comments like that were littered all over the internet. The haters' past discussions and posts were dug up as they were beaten up again and again.

Many haters could not ask for anything else. They either deleted comments or switched comments off altogether. Most of them could not do anything but act like they were dead.

It was too bad; those who had the best results had slapping privileges!

Before this, the haters had made a big deal out of Tomorrow is Beautiful's poor performance in overseas box offices. It had almost become concrete proof that only locals liked the film while foreigners did not.

However, the award that the film won at Cannes was far more important. It practically turned the universe inside-out, thereby shooting down all the negative comments of the film that had been made before!

Pei Qian leaned back in his chair, speechless. It was not that he wanted to read those comments; it was that he had no other choice!

Everyone on the internet was discussing the film. Even if he wanted to ogle at girls on Weibo, he could read about Tomorrow is Beautiful in the related content.

He was being attacked from every corner, and the haters' 'corpses' were hanging throughout the internet as people beat them while they were already down. It was absolutely sorrowful.

Pei Qian mourned the brave warriors in his heart.

"All of you have suffered! I will seek justice for you with the next movie! Please, believe me one more time!"

As he read all the hot discussion posts, Pei Qian could not help but think that it was about time Tomorrow is Beautiful blew over.

Its popularity was lasting too long!

He had not expected the after-effects of the movie to be that strong. It premiered in February, but its popularity on the Internet had not died down since then.

The most frustrating thing was that all the attention that the movie was getting online only served to increase the sales and views for Tomorrow is Beautiful on Aili Island.

Pei Qian was extremely frustrated. Why were there still new audiences at a time like that? He could not help but recall an extremely famous meme: 'who the h*ll hasn't bought Grand Theft Auto 5?'

Still, it was alright. The nightmare was almost over.

He had already lived through this nightmare once before. He had already won an award at an international film festival. Things were finally going to die down now, right?

Everyone had already praised the film in every way possible. Wasn't it time to put the lid on the coffin and let the movie rest in peace? Pei Qian decided not to pay attention to this matter anymore and to let it die down.

However, just as he was about to exit the browser, a post caught his eye.

"How did Tomorrow is Beautiful get the Jury Prize?"

Pei Qian felt emotional. Ai, yet another typical post praising Tomorrow is Beautiful. He had already seen countless posts like that.

When Tomorrow is Beautiful won the Jury Prize, all sorts of <anno data-annotation-id="22f3411a-332a-4392-81d7-f6a4fab08dc7">WeMedia</anno> tried to ride on the film's coattails by writing similar posts. They validated the importance of Cannes and the Jury Prize, explained briefly how a local movie won the same prize previously, and finally analyzed how Tomorrow is Beautiful suited the taste of Cannes' judges and won the prize. At the same time, some of those posts recapped the film's deeper meaning and artistry.

Pei Qian had already read many similar posts. He was not much more interested in this one. However, this particular post seemed more popular than expected. After some hesitation, Pei Qian clicked on it.

When he read the first sentence, he felt faint.

…

"Did you all think that I was going to explain why Tomorrow is Beautiful won the Jury Prize after reading the title of this post?

"You're wrong!

"What I'm asking is why Tomorrow is Beautiful won the Jury Prize and not the Palme d'Or.

"Everyone knows that, at this year's Cannes Film Festival, Tomorrow is Beautiful was awarded the Jury Prize and Journey of the Soul, a Southeast Asian film, was awarded the Palme d'Or.

"Many people felt overjoyed after learning that Tomorrow is Beautiful won the Jury Prize. Not many people think about this question: Why didn't Tomorrow is Beautiful win the Palme d'Or?

"In fact, one would only have to do some comparisons to realize that Tomorrow is Beautiful and Journey of the Soul have many things in common.

"Journey of the Soul follows a poor farmer who starts seeing the souls of his late family members after being diagnosed with a terminal illness. He follows those souls to find out about his past life.

"The film stars many non-professional actors, and most of the dialogue between the characters was improvised. Moreover, minimal editing was done, and many long shots were used instead.

"Journey of the Soul contains exotic features and supernatural elements, and it seems to suit the Cannes' judges' taste for artistry better. However, one has to admit that, compared to Tomorrow is Beautiful, Journey of the Soul has no clear advantage in either artistry or meaning.

"Conversely, Tomorrow is Beautiful studies the gap between rich and poor, the alienating effect of money, the manipulation of people's lives using capital and technology, and the concern of people turning into mere numbers. Compared to supernatural elements, these ideas resonate deeper with the audience and are much more profound.

"Many locals don't understand the Cannes Film Festival well enough. They naturally think that local films would not suit the judges' taste and thus would not win the Palme d'Or. However, that's a mistake!

"To me, the judges should have thought more highly of Tomorrow is Beautiful than Journey of the Soul. An informal source said that the Palme d'Or was only selected after three rounds of voting.

"Obviously, the seemingly settled awards have twists and turns where we cannot see.

"Having won the Jury Prize—the widely-recognized second prize of the film festival, Tomorrow is Beautiful should have been a competitor in those three rounds of voting.

"That's why I raised the initial question. Why didn't Tomorrow is Beautiful win the Palme d'Or?

"If you agree with the above, please continue reading.

"To me, there are two reasons why Tomorrow is Beautiful lost to Journey of the Soul by an extremely small margin.

"First, there is an unspoken rule of international film festivals. As we all know, international film festivals prefer films that premier at the festival itself. That helps them to obtain better film resources and maintain the value of their own awards.

"Cannes Film Festival typically would not allow films that have already won awards at other film festivals or that were already well-known to be nominated. That would be equivalent to allowing others to benefit from their own name. It would not be fair to directors who were their 'biological sons'—those who only premiered their films at the film festival for the past few years.

"Exceptions would only be made for particularly outstanding movies.

"Tomorrow is Beautiful was coincidentally premiered overseas. Its only merits were that ticket sales were poor, and few people were paying attention to it. That was why it was fortunate enough to enter into the competition and ultimately won the award based on its own outstanding quality.

"Still, no matter what, it had not premiered in Cannes. That greatly discounted the number of marks that Tomorrow is Beautiful got in the judges' eyes. The second reason is merely my guess. I'll just say it, and everyone can read it with a pinch of salt.

"The content at the beginning of Tomorrow is Beautiful fit the judges' taste, but the problem was… do you remember the post-credits scene at the end of the film? The one in which a pistol was thrown through the entrance of the male protagonist's home?

"As for whether the judges would have liked that scene or not… you are all free to make your own judgment. Tomorrow is Beautiful might have had a better chance of winning the award if not for that scene.

"Finally, I have something interesting to share. Do you all know that another film was awarded the Jury Prize at Cannes in 1998? That was 13 years ago, and it was the same prize that Tomorrow is Beautiful won.

"That movie was called Life is Beautiful, or La vita è bella.

"Compare that to Tomorrow is Beautiful.

"Both movies are thirteen years apart, have similar merits and similar names, and were awarded the same prize. There seems to be a hidden connection between them both.

"The interesting thing is that, although Life is Beautiful was awarded the Jury Prize, its reputation among local movie fanatics was much better than the movie that was awarded the Palme d'Or in that year.

"All in all, we should be happy that Tomorrow is Beautiful was given an award at Cannes. However, we should not feel sorry for just winning the Jury Prize. The film is definitely worth more praise than we can imagine.

"Let us look forward to more and better works from Fei Huang Workspace, the light of the domestic film industry!"

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