Brother Dao Took the Entertainment Industry by Storm, Fans Beg Me Not to Kill Anymore-Chapter 461: “No Bait” Wins an Award! Everyone’s Effort, Everyone’s Glory!
The moment the results were announced, everyone was pleasantly surprised. Ning Jiaqi stood up, but first embraced his male lead, Xiao He.
Xiao He accepted Director Ning's goodwill, smiling as he hugged the director back, so the two of them appeared together before the international cameras.
"Thank you, thank you."
Ning Jiaqi never expected that he could ultimately win the Best Director Award with "No Bait".
After all those years of countless near-misses, the compromises of middle age, and the subsequent fame and fortune, Director Ning originally thought he could accept this reality with unruffled composure.
Yet what he had missed in the past, he had finally obtained.
Under the stage lights, the elder director took a deep breath, his face brimming with smiles. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂
And the surprise wasn't just this one—
"After rigorous discussion and deliberation by the jury, the Grand Jury Prize of this year's film festival is awarded to 'No Bait'!"
After Ning Jiaqi received the Best Director Award, what followed were the Jury Prize and the Grand Jury Prize.
The host on stage opened the card in his hand, a trace of astonishment appearing on his face, before he smiled warmly at the spectator seats and once again read out the name of the "No Bait" production team.
When the difficult-to-pronounce Chinese sounded once more, thunderous applause filled the entire venue, and the faces of everyone in the production team were filled with surprise.
Even Xiao He was momentarily stunned.
Perhaps many people only know about the Palme d'Or and don't know about the Jury Prize and the Grand Jury Prize. Actually, the ranking of their status can be most simply understood as Palme d'Or > Grand Jury Prize > Jury Prize, equivalent to champion, runner-up, and third place.
The Jury Prize is the third major award in the Main Competition section, its nature leaning more towards a consolation or encouragement prize. It's generally used to balance opinions within the jury, awarded to works highly praised and beloved by a portion of the judges, with a relatively high vote count.
As for the Grand Jury Prize, it is the second major award in the Main Competition section, its status second only to the highest honor, the Palme d'Or—the legendary "runner-up." It's equivalent to a quasi-best film standard, but such works might be slightly inferior to Palme d'Or winning films in terms of social value and universal recognition. It is the optimal choice second only to Palme d'Or works, with a high concentration of votes.
They are among the most prestigious awards of the entire Cannes Film Festival!
It's just that over so many years, with the champion ahead, who remembers the second and third place?
Yet regardless of their ranking, they are still the runner-up and third place selected from numerous works globally! They are still heights that many people, both domestic and international, cannot reach in their entire lives!
This indicates that "No Bait" might not be as profound in social value and overall significance as those straightforward and brutally realistic plots, but its narrative pacing, filming techniques, actor performances... and other aspects belong to the category of excellent works.
You can criticize it for not being straightforward enough in its satire, but you cannot deny its quality and ability to attract attention.
Because in recent days, it has been visibly evident that "No Bait" had the best premiere effect and the most positive subsequent audience reactions!
Compared to artistic film modes, everyone indeed still loves to watch feel-good narrative films with layers of progression and constant reversals!
And undoubtedly, Director Ning, this director who makes commercial films, truly managed to lead everyone to win a major award with this "No Bait"!
Although the Palme d'Or was already out of their reach, it no longer mattered.
A film intended to earn box office revenue in domestic and international markets—a film originally not planned to compete for awards—had successfully won an award!
At this moment, using a Versailles-style phrase like "unintentional actions yielding fruitful results" would be impolite.
But never mind.
Anyway—they won! An! Award!
This is the honor of everyone in the "No Bait" production team, the result of everyone's joint efforts!
During the final photo session, Xiao He followed the production team onto Cannes' highest stage for the first time.
"Come, our male lead—"
Ning Jiaqi pushed and nudged Xiao He, making him stand in the very center of the stage's production team, his pride completely unconcealed.
Perhaps because this place had a long history, many areas ultimately bore the marks of time, and the overall stage size was far smaller than stages in many domestic venues. So after Xiao He took his position, he didn't feel much anxiety or discomfort. Instead, he focused intently on observing the expressions of the people below.
This was a global stage, gathering elites from various countries. Among those seated were people of different skin colors, languages, and experiences, yet they had all continuously flocked here for the same goal.
They were the elites of their own countries, the strong within the same field, all striving for the same awards.
And at this moment, they sat below, while he stood under the spotlights!
This was his honor, the production team's honor, the honor of the Chinese people!
At this moment, Xiao He knew he was not inferior to anyone here.
—This world was theirs, and the future would also be theirs!
He had never been so certain!
...
After stepping off the stage, Director Ning didn't forget to navigate through the crowd to the area where Sun Gong was, then looked at Sun Gong with a beaming smile, saying casually, "Oh my, oh my, I really didn't expect this. It was originally just about participating, but then accidentally won an award! Look at this, it's really quite embarrassing."
Sun Gong obviously also hadn't anticipated that "No Bait" would actually win an award, and the most important major award besides the Palme d'Or at that!
He gritted his teeth secretly, his fingers clenching tightly, his heart full of displeasure.
And this feeling of displeasure reached its peak when Ning Jiaqi came over to show off.
But what was the use?
"Oh? I almost forgot to ask, did your production team gain anything this time?"
Ning Jiaqi deliberately leaned out, looking left and right with a curious expression, then suddenly realized, "Ah! I almost forgot, Director Sun, your team also won an award this time! What was it again..."
He thought carefully, then suddenly laughed, "Seems like... the New Talent Focus Promotion Award? Huh? That seems to be a newly added award this year! Oh my, your luck is really good, to coincidentally encounter the officials temporarily adding such an award. Otherwise, you probably would have had to go receive an off-site award... Let me think, based on your situation, you might even have been able to get a Humanitarian Award!"
In-site awards are naturally established by the official film festival organizers, while off-site awards are more varied, mostly set up by civil associations, media alliances, industry organizations, etc., and even related brands setting up their own venues. Generally, they just ride on the Cannes name. To put it bluntly, it's the difference between official awards and unofficial awards.
In fact, as long as you have money, even if you've never made a movie and aren't part of the industry circle, you could buy yourself a "International Ambassador for Humanitarian Promotion" while passing through here.
Money is all it takes!
Yet Ning Jiaqi's words still darkened half of Sun Gong's face.
Because although they did receive an official in-site award this time, anyone with a discerning eye knew this was just a title bought with money, merely borrowing the name of the Cannes officials, but practically no different from off-site awards.
Even the time the organizers reserved for them was very short. They basically just went up, received the award, and came down, without even time for a speech, purely going through the motions.
Such awards could fool domestic fans well enough, making fans think their production team happily won a major award, that their beloved brother had gained great honor, celebrating joyfully. But insiders know their own situation—isn't this just a gilded edge bought with money?
At most, their gilded edge was indeed solid enough, the money spent indeed sufficient.
Ning Jiaqi's words practically threw their dignity to the ground and trampled on it.
Sun Gong's facial muscles twitched repeatedly, his face finally forcing a smile, "Heh, hehe, congratulations to you too, congratulations."
"Thank you, thank you."
Ning Jiaqi, satisfied by Sun Gong's nearly vomiting expression, sneered inwardly, then turned and left with flair.
