On the closing day of the Cannes Film Festival, a friend was beside me and said, “It’s like I’m just getting used to and familiar with it all, and it’s coming to an end”. During our three brief days at the festival, in addition to watching the films themselves, we were surrounded by all kinds of rituals, ceremonies, reviews and juries.
戛纳电影节闭幕那天，朋友在我身边说：“我好像刚刚开始习惯和熟悉这一切，它就要结束了”。这短暂参加电影节的三天里，除了观看电影本身，所有的观众被仪式、礼节、评论和评奖所包围。每一部电影的播映观众都会鼓三次掌，一次在开头，为电影节作为艺术的殿堂。第二次在电影播映结束，为电影作为艺术本身。第三次，为所有参与电影制作的演职人员。除了这三次鼓掌之外，我认为观众的在场、他们给予电影节的期待，热枕，向往与憧憬也包含了在这三次掌声当中。
如果问我在戛纳电影节的现场观看电影和在影院和家里看电影有什么最大的不同。我的答案可能会是，我见证和参与了一部电影生命的最初时刻，在我看来电影节是电影生命的秀场，对于大多数电影来说，从电影节的首次展映，到影院上线，再到流媒体平台的上映。这一套流程的生命周期也只有短短一年。而电影节上观众和电影相遇的最初时刻，是电影制作团队能够看见影迷作为具象的个体的时刻，是在黑暗的的影厅里屏住呼吸感受被叙事和情绪拽离现实的时刻，是感受电影第一次荧幕播放的荣光的时刻。
On the closing day of the Cannes Film Festival, a friend was beside me and said, “It’s like I’m just getting used to and familiar with it all, and it’s coming to an end”. During our three brief days at the festival, in addition to watching the films themselves, we were surrounded by all kinds of rituals, ceremonies, reviews and juries. Typically, the audience applauded three times for each screening of a film, once at the beginning, for the festival as a temple of art. The second time at the end of the film’s broadcast, for the film as art itself. The third time, for all the crew and cast involved in making the film. I think the presence of the audience, their expectations, their aspirations and longings for the festival are also included in these three rounds of applause.
If I were asked what the most significant difference is between watching a film live at Cannes and watching it at home; my answer would be that I knowingly witnessed and participated in the first moments of a film’s life. For me, the festival is the showcase of a film’s life, from the first screening at the festival to the theatrical release to the streaming platform release. Usually, the life cycle of this process is just over a year. The first moment when the audience meets the film at the festival is the moment when the film production team can see the cinephile as tangible individuals； the moment when the audience first holds their breath in the dark hall and feel pulled away from reality by the narrative and emotions； the moment when we feel the glory of the film’s first screening.
Written for The Film Dispatch by Chongjin Gan.
