The expeditionary force began to dominate Southeast Asia by recruiting defeated soldiers

Chapter 729 The 1st Cannes Film Festival: My Experience

Lin Zhenhua pushed up his glasses:

"First, you need to solve the energy problem. To accelerate this train, which weighs about 400 tons, to 0.9 times the speed of light, the energy required is approximately... well, enough to power all the current hydroelectric and thermal power plants in Southeast Asia at full capacity for about 100 years."

"Furthermore," he continued, "even with the energy, you still have to solve the materials problem. At near the speed of light, collisions with interstellar dust would release energy at the level of a nuclear explosion. The vehicle's materials must be able to withstand energy impacts of at least hundreds of millions of joules per square centimeter."

"Old Wu, do you have this kind of material?"

Wu Xinjue was taken aback when suddenly asked the question, then began to think about it seriously:

"Currently known materials are all unsuitable... unless it's theoretically degenerate matter, or a shield using a strong magnetic field to confine plasma... but that would require a magnetic field strength that would necessitate a superconductor coil material..."

Zhou Xiaomei burst out laughing: "Stop, stop, stop! You three. We're going to see a movie, not build an interstellar train. From Guangzhou to Cannes, it's 800 kilometers, let's be realistic, okay?"

All four of them laughed.

The atmosphere became completely relaxed.

At that moment, the door to the private room was opened.

A middle-aged French man wearing a tweed suit, with his hair neatly combed and pince-nez glasses perched on his nose, poked his head in and said, "Excuse me, is there any room available? The air conditioning in my private room is broken, so I'd like to find another place."

"Please come in, there are still seats available," Lin Zhenhua replied in Gaul.

The man thanked her and came in, sitting down in the empty seat next to Zhou Xiaomei.

He was holding a copy of Cahiers du Cinéma magazine, with a still from a Charlie Chaplin film on the cover.

"Going to Cannes?" the man initiated the conversation, his tone friendly. "To attend a film festival?"

“Yes, sir.” Lin Zhenhua nodded.

"Film enthusiasts? Or film industry professionals?" The man looked them over curiously. The four young people from the East didn't have the air of artists; they seemed more like scholars.

“We are students,” Chen Siyuan replied, “We were invited to watch a film from our country that was being screened.”

"Oh?" The man raised an eyebrow. "You're from the Republic of China era?"

"United States of Southeast Asia"

The man's expression faltered for a moment, then brightened with interest: "Nanyang... I'm sorry, I don't know much about the Far East. I only know they produce rubber and tin there. You make movies too?"

That's a direct question, and even a bit offensive.

But all four remembered Ambassador Huang's words and remained neither humble nor arrogant.

Zhou Xiaomei smiled slightly and said in a calm tone: "Sir, Southeast Asia has a population of over 60 million. We have cities, villages, factories, and schools. We have joys and sorrows, history and stories. Film is a way for us to tell these stories to the world."

Lin Zhenhua added, "We have two films participating in this exhibition. One is about war and resistance, and the other is about adventure and friendship. We hope that through film, the world can see a more real and three-dimensional Southeast Asia."

The Gallic man was stunned.

He clearly hadn't expected to receive such a polite and confident response.

He adjusted his pince-nez glasses: "I am Jean-Pierre Lefèvre, a film critic for Cinema Gallic. I apologize if what I just said was a bit... stereotypical."

“It’s alright, Mr. Lefebvre,” Chen Siyuan said cheerfully. “It is precisely because of these stereotypes that we need to break them with our work. You are welcome to come and see our film and give us your feedback.”

Lefevere's eyes turned serious.

He nodded:

“I will. In fact, I’ve already seen your movies on the schedule, ‘Helios’ and ‘Tintin in the South Seas’.”

To be honest, I was very curious at the time. Now... I'm even more curious.

During the rest of the trip, Lefevere proactively introduced them to the film festival and gave them a lot of practical advice.

Before getting off the bus, he handed Zhou Xiaomei a business card: "If your film truly has something to express, as you say, I'm willing to write a review for it. Good luck, young friends from Nanyang."

It was already evening when the train pulled into Cannes station.

The sea breeze, carrying a salty and damp scent, swept over me.

The four of them carried simple luggage off the train. The platform was full of film festival promotional posters, reception staff holding signs, and noisy reporters.

In the distance, the Mediterranean Sea shimmered with golden-red light under the setting sun, and the silhouettes of palm trees were reflected in the evening glow.

“This is… Cannes.” Zhou Xiaomei took a deep breath.

"Let's find a hotel to settle in first," Lin Zhenhua said. "The film festival officially starts tomorrow."

They left the station and found the seaside hotel according to the address.

The hotel wasn't big, but it was clean and cozy. The landlady was a warm-hearted woman from Provence. When she heard that they were part of a film delegation from Southeast Asia, she specially prepared fresh figs and lavender tea for them.

After settling in, the four walked to the main venue of the film festival, the Cannes Casino.

As night fell, the building facing the sea was brightly lit, with a huge film festival promotional board standing at the entrance, and movie posters from various countries standing out under the lights.

They quickly found the Nanyang booth.

The small area was decorated simply and brightly, with the flag of Nanyang and the bilingual words "Nanyang United States Film Delegation" on the backdrop.

Two posters were pasted on the wall—

"Equatorial Flames": Dark tones, silhouette of a young Chinese man holding a gun, with a burning rubber plantation in the background, and the slogan "Fight for Freedom".

Tintin's Adventures in Southeast Asia: Vibrant color illustrations show Tintin and his Chinese adventurer companions, along with a proboscis monkey unique to Southeast Asia, sitting on a wooden boat against a backdrop of tropical rainforest and distant mountains, bathed in bright sunshine.

At the booth, two staff members from Southeast Asia were organizing promotional brochures.

Upon seeing the four young Chinese people stop, one of them, a man in his thirties wearing a beret, brightened up: "You are... the international students Ambassador Huang mentioned?"

"Yes. And you are?"

"My name is Liu Qiming, the assistant director of 'Equatorial Beacon Fire'." The man shook hands warmly. "This is our production assistant, Xiao Chen. Welcome, welcome! You've come at the right time. Could you help us check if this setup is alright?"

It turns out that the Nanyang film delegation was small, consisting of only eight people: a director, an assistant director, a producer, two actor representatives, two technicians, and a translator.

Liu Qiming said that the films submitted for this exhibition were all completed in Southeast Asia, from scriptwriting to filming to post-production, and received full support from the Nanyang National Film Fund.

“It was personally approved by President Zhang Chi.” Liu Qiming lowered his voice, but couldn’t hide his pride. “He said that the cultural front is just as important as the military front. What we are fighting is a battle to turn our image around.”

The four of them helped organize the brochures at the booth for a while and chatted a lot with Liu Qiming and others.

I learned that real veterans from Southeast Asia were used as military advisors during the filming of "Helios," and the average age of the "Tintin" animation team was only twenty-five...

It was late at night when I got back to the hotel.

The four of them couldn't sleep, so they sat on the small balcony of their room, facing the dark sea and listening to the sound of the waves.

“I used to think,” Zhou Xiaomei said softly, hugging her knees, “that a strong country is defined by steel production, electricity generation, warship tonnage, national literacy rate… these hard, unyielding numbers.”

She paused for a moment:

"But today, looking at that Tintin poster, and listening to Director Liu and the others talk about how filming took eighteen hours straight, and how they experimented more than thirty times for a single explosion scene..."

I suddenly realized that being able to make a good film, to tell your own story well, to be able to get others to sit down and listen—that's a kind of strength too. A…more delicate, more compassionate strength.”

Wu Xinjue nodded: "It's like metallurgy. When you refine iron ore into steel, that's hard. But when you make steel into exquisite utensils that people are willing and happy to use, that's soft. Both are necessary."

Chen Siyuan looked at the lights of the casino in the distance: "Ambassador Huang said we were there to see it. But I think we were there to witness it as well."

What kind of applause... or boos will we receive as we witness Nanyang step onto the world cultural stage for the first time?

The sea breeze picked up and brought a chill.

Across the Mediterranean Sea lies the continent of Afica.

Behind them, 8,000 kilometers to the east, lies the rising Southeast Asia.

Tomorrow, the screen will light up.

Their story will be seen by the world.