22 First day of screenings

"Lyman, I bought several newspapers, take a look." René walked in with a joyful expression and placed the newspapers he was holding on a small cabinet between the two small beds.

Lyman slowly climbed up, crossed his legs, and found a comfortable position to lean against. He sat at the head of the bed, lowered his head, and picked up a newspaper to read. The newspaper was called Badtaste, a local media brand.

"Monsoon Wedding", "Time Out", "And Your Mother Too", "Hollywood Hong Kong", "Invincible", "Me Without You"...

Lyman's eyes scanned through the lines, feeling somewhat envious for reasons he couldn't explain. Today was August 3rd, and the Venice Film Festival would open tomorrow. The list of participating films was announced today. The media and newspapers were undoubtedly the first to unveil this curtain; they were the loudspeakers of the film festival.

Page by page, he read through the newspapers, most of which introduced various information about the films to be showcased the next day or made predictions about which awards those films might win. He went through them again, but just like before, he couldn't find any information about "Buried".

The window was open, and a slight cool breeze blew in, but it couldn't dispel the restlessness in his heart. Finally, Lyman held a thick stack of newspapers, looked lost, and placed them back on the bedside table with a sigh.

He had spent €30 on submissions and had even registered at the official registration office, but his film didn't make it into the official screening program. Was he disappointed? Perhaps a little.

Tick, tick, tick...

Accompanied by footsteps, Thomas walked in from outside and sat on the bed next to Lyman. Only then did he hand over a piece of food he was holding.

Lyman looked at him and squeezed out a smile, accepting it. It was a kind of pancake-like thin bread with various jams. To be honest, it didn't taste good and had a strange texture. The fact proved that Thomas' words were just a fantasy. He was not a Golden Son, and good luck couldn't always be on his side.

"Buried" didn't make it into the competition section, so winning an award was out of the question. Without even the qualification to participate, what competition could he talk about?

"Is it delicious?" Thomas asked as he spoke. He had specially packed it for Lyman after having breakfast downstairs. The taste suited his preferences.

"It's quite good." Lyman nodded and then finished the remaining pancake in a big bite.

"What should we do next?" René asked beside them.

"Did we rent the screening equipment?"

"I've made arrangements with the vendor. The rental is €100 per day, and I've paid a deposit of €5,000. We can pick up the equipment anytime and start screening our film." René answered Lyman's question attentively. The complete set of screening equipment was still somewhat expensive, and the vendor requested an advance deposit to cover potential damages, which seemed reasonable. After all, if the equipment broke and the person disappeared, the loss wouldn't be too significant.

"Should we screen our film today?" Thomas spoke up. "When I went downstairs just now, I saw many people heading towards Lido Island. Let's go there too. Tomorrow is the opening ceremony of the film festival, and I haven't seen how the Venice Film Festival is held."

Lyman chewed the food in his mouth and swallowed it in one gulp. "I haven't seen it either. Let's go together tomorrow."

"Great," René also agreed with the suggestion.

In the end, their film didn't make it into any section. Since they didn't have official endorsement, they could easily screen it somewhere on the roadside. There was no need to rush. Since they were already here, it would be good to broaden their horizons. Lyman also wanted to know how good the films that made it into the screening rooms really were.

Perhaps there was still a hint of dissatisfaction.

...

On August 4th, the annual Venice Film Festival opened as scheduled.

Early in the morning, the main venue of the festival, the Film Palace on Lido Island, was crowded with people. The preparations had started two days ago.

A bright red carpet extended from the entrance of the Film Palace all the way to the roadside. Barriers were set up on both sides of the carpet, and a large group of journalists wielded their cameras like an army, fulfilling their roles. Experienced journalists would raise their flashlights high and shout the names of the stars passing by on the red carpet, instructing them to pose for photos, capturing the moments on film.

At this moment, a black Lincoln stopped at the end of the red carpet, and an elderly man with gray hair stepped out of it energetically, walking onto the red carpet.

"Nanni Moretti!..."

The scene reached a small climax again. The media reporters, who had been silent or perfunctory earlier, suddenly went all out, and the flashes filled the air, as if they wanted to blind the old man on stage. They also shouted, "Look this way, Mr. Chairman." "Over here, over here..."

This old man was the chairman of the jury for this Venice Film Festival and it was his nth time presiding over the event in his lifetime. The local Italian media highly respected him.

Subsequently, more people took the stage one after another.

Directors and actors walked through in an orderly manner, and the intermittent bursts of camera flashes followed a certain pattern. The technical personnel in the film industry who didn't rely on their looks and didn't have personal chauffeurs were generally overlooked. The reporters would pretend, clap a few times, and move on. Only those who had news value or were local Italian film workers could unleash their weapons.

After about an hour and a half, most of the guests had arrived, and the opening ceremony finally began. Following the tradition of previous years, if you wanted to enter the Film Palace to watch the opening ceremony, in addition to the invited members, there would usually be tickets available within the circle. However, the exorbitant price of €5,000 per ticket was clearly not something Lyman, René, and the others were willing to bear. Therefore, they did not attend the main venue of the Film Palace with the stars, actors, and directors. Instead, they chose a nearby secondary venue, which cost €100 per person.

The opening film at this venue was called "Monsoon Wedding".

From the information provided, this film had a high chance of winning the Golden Lion award, second only to "Dog Days", which was highly regarded by the media critics. Of course, if it weren't for the attention of the jury, this film wouldn't have been selected as the opening film. After checking their tickets, Lyman and the others sat in the secondary venue next to the Film Palace, patiently waiting for the film to begin. "It seems like it's going to be exciting," Thomas said, holding the official film material in his hands.

Lyman smiled at his words.

With ten minutes before the screening, the crowd that entered the venue had filled the large theater. Looking around, it was completely packed. People of different races, including white, black, and mixed-race individuals, had come from various regions to attend the Venice Film Festival. This was a testament to the allure of the art of cinema.

After waiting quietly for ten minutes, the film began.

It was a film about the love life of an Indian woman, and from the beginning, the general plot wasn't hard to discern: In a relatively affluent family, the father, Latit, and his wife, Pimmi, were busy with their daughter Aditi's marriage. They wanted to organize a grand and luxurious wedding for their daughter but faced financial constraints, so they had to budget carefully.

At the same time, family members scattered around the world had traveled back to their hometown for the wedding, which also required Latit's attention. In just a few days, he was busy and overwhelmed.

Aditi was to marry Hemant, a network engineer working in Houston, USA. In this arranged marriage, they would see each other for the first time during the engagement ceremony and become partners shortly thereafter.

However, Aditi was in love with another talk show host, and their relationship was an extramarital affair. But she still fell deeply in love, despite the circumstances.

Aditi's cousin Ayesha flirted with a college student named Rahul.

Event planner Dubey was busy dealing with Latit while falling in love with the family's maid, Alice...

As the story unfolded, it made Lyman extremely uncomfortable. The characterization of the characters in this film, combined with Lyman's understanding of Indian culture, felt completely false. The director clearly elevated the status of Indian women and weakened society's tolerance for women who defy their husbands' orders. Even if it was necessary for the plot, it went too far and showed a complete lack of respect for Indian customs.

Lyman remembered a famous curse in India that went like this: "I hope you have a daughter!"

This showed how low the status of women was there. When getting married, the bride's family was expected to provide almost all the items required for the wedding, including a dowry, while the groom's family contributed nothing. There were even numerous cases of female infants being drowned at birth, as seen in the documentary "Matrubhoomi: A Nation Without Women". It was because of this severe male dominance and female subordination that today's India come to be where cases of sexual abuse are swept under the rug.

The story on the screen continued, further highlighting the glorification of the status of Indian women. But on second thought, Lyman seemed to understand the director's good intentions.

Indian society was filled with intense contradictions, and she was probably aware of that. This film seemed more like a reflection of her aspirations. She hoped that the status of Indian women would rise and even be equal to men. No wonder it was filmed this way; it turned out to be the thoughts of a female rights advocate.

Silently watching the film and listening to the speech of director Mira Nair, Lyman couldn't help but comment.

"Let's go," René, who was fighting off sleep, said. He couldn't bear to watch another Indian film any longer. Seeing the film coming to an end, he hurriedly urged them.

"Agreed," Thomas added in agreement.

As the three of them embraced the sunlight outside again, René couldn't help but say, "What was the film about? It made me so sleepy."

Thomas also yawned, "There were too many characters, and I couldn't remember them all. I couldn't recognize each face."

Lyman remained silent. These two were completely uncultured. They probably couldn't appreciate this type of art film. Putting aside the director's personal elements, the quality of this film was above average. The plot was smooth, the pacing was well-controlled, and the actors' performances were not superficial. It was still watchable. "Let's go back," Lyman said and took a step forward, walking along the road.

The other two quickly caught up.