1979 Golden Age

Just when the domestic literary and art circles were looking forward to the arrival of the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards, the Cannes Film Festival, one of the three major European films, had already opened.

Isabelle Adjani won the Best Actress award, and two works were competing at the same time: "Quartet" and "Possessed"! I recommend "Possessed", which has scenes of Adjani and the devil having sex...

Starting from the Berlin Film Festival at the beginning of the year, this year officially kicked off the prelude to the export of domestic films. The Chinese film delegation also went to Cannes for the first time, bringing "Street Angel" and "Sanmao Wanderings" to screen. Screening is not a competition.

The first participating film will have to wait until next year's "The True Story of Ah Q".

Objectively speaking, although Westerners want to watch Chinese films at this stage, they themselves don't know what they want to watch.

Until the emergence of the fifth generation, they perfectly filled this demand, represented by Chen Kaige's "Yellow Earth" and Zhang Yimou's "Red Sorghum". When those foreigners saw it, they said, "Oh! Yes, yes, we love to watch this, so you shoot this!

What to shoot?

National, barbaric, backward, with a society with perverted feudal ethics, oppressed men and women, awakened and conservative struggles, if there is a background of flood, it will be more popular in the West.

The initial award may be accidental, such as "Red Sorghum".

The subsequent similarities are intentional, such as "Ju Dou" and "Raise the Red Lantern".

I don't discuss whether the movie is good or bad, just say that these directors and overseas investors are aware that making such a film will be popular at the film festival and have a high chance of winning awards - it is the West that defines Chinese films, and at the same time, it is also Chinese films that are rushing to let others define it.

By the end of the 1990s, Chinese society had developed, and it was too far away to shoot feudal ethics and floods, so the sixth generation came into being.

They shot those marginal groups in China during the period of social transformation. Hey, Westerners have found a new G-spot.

The fifth generation at least tried to transform, but the sixth generation plunged into it and became the shape of others, which has continued to this day. For example, Lou Ye made a movie that "reflects" the domestic epidemic and went to Cannes to flatter others.

A bunch of foreigners were so upset that they left the venue halfway and gave it a score of 0.

Lou Ye's original intention was to criticize various inhumane hegemonic behaviors in China, but in the eyes of foreigners, "Although your fathers, mothers, and children have died, and the corpse transport vehicles are like a long dragon, we can't order takeout for three months! Can't go out for three months!"

Foreigners don't think he is satirizing China, but rather satirizing themselves.

To this day, the discourse power of Chinese films has never kept up with the discourse power of the growing national strength. On the one hand, it is not competitive, and on the other hand, tracing back to the roots, the roots are in the 1980s.

...

Speaking of which, Chen Qi was writing scripts in Hangzhou while waiting for the awards ceremony, and occasionally invited He Qing, a little fat girl, to dinner.

In the blink of an eye, it was May 22, the eve of the ceremony.

It seemed that all the famous literary and artistic workers in the country gathered in Hangzhou at once.

Beijing Film Studio produced a group of people, namely "Lush Mountain Love" led by Wang Haowei. The Shanghai Film Studio was the most popular. The two hits "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" and "Night Rain in Bashan" were all theirs. The famous director Xie Jin also came.

Simply put, this ceremony was "Love in Lushan" competing against those two movies.

The rest were just runners-up.

There was no fancy stuff at this ceremony, no press conference, no celebrity meet-and-greet, no red carpet walk, it was more like a big connection of the literary and artistic circles. It's not easy for a group of people to meet each other at ordinary times. It's not easy to get together. You come to my place and I go to your place to see each other, and we visit each other.

Chen Qi vacated the previous guesthouse and lived in the hotel arranged by the organizing committee.

He also wanted to visit people, not big stars and directors, but a group of people who were very, very unpopular in the literary and artistic circles.

"I don't know what the leaders think. Bringing "Street Angel" and "Sanmao Wanderings" to the exhibition, those are works from decades ago. The French saw them and thought we were still in the old society!"

In the room, Xu Jingda was holding an industry magazine and talking about the Cannes Film Festival.

Mark Xuan smiled and said, "At least it's safe. Who knows if it will go wrong if we bring other movies? Hey, Lao Xu, it seems that China is interested in going overseas. Should we apply?"

"Apply for exhibition?"

"No, we'll participate! We dare not say anything about live-action movies, but when it comes to animation, haha, Chinese animation is not afraid of anyone!"

These two are directors of Shanghai Fine Arts Film Studio. They have participated in or directed works such as "Havoc in Heaven", "Shepherd's Flute" and "Nezha Conquers the Dragon King". The work they brought this time is "Three Monks".

"Let "Three Monks" go overseas? Is it possible?"

"Absolutely. Don't we know the level of this film..."

"Knock, knock, knock!"

As the two were chatting, someone knocked on the door outside. Xu Jingda went to open the door and saw that it was a strange young man. He introduced himself: "Hello, two seniors. My name is Chen Qi. I'm here to visit you!"

Chen Qi? !

Xu Jingda and Mark Xuan had naturally heard of his name, and they were both puzzled. Why did they come to us to make animations?

"Oh, please come in! Please come in!"

"Your visit surprised us!"

"Excuse me, I have seen your works no less than ten times, I really like them, I know you are staying here so I came to disturb you, please forgive me."

Chen Qi was very polite, and the two of them didn't want to chase him away, so they smiled and said, "Come and sit down, the award ceremony is a big reunion in the literary and artistic circles, but I didn't expect that you, who make live-action movies, would like cartoons?"

"Hey, cartoons are seriously underestimated. I have always felt that cartoons are suitable for all ages and are of great value. In a sense, they are more worthy of dissemination than live-action movies."

Chen Qi boasted a lot, and the relationship quickly became closer. The three of them talked about a lot of content in the animation industry at home and abroad.

Chinese cartoons started from "Havoc in Heaven" in 1961, to "Nezha Hao Hai", "Three Monks", "Afanti", "Snow Child", "Nine-Colored Deer", "Ma Liang", and then to the full-length "Ma Liang" "Calabash Baby", "Shuke Beta", "Rubik's Cube Mansion", "The Sloppy King", etc., we have really produced a series of excellent works.

Animated movies are even more popular overseas and have won many awards.

It's a pity that it declined in the late 1990s, and the last swan song was "Lotus Lantern". It took nearly 20 years for it to rise again...

Chen Qi came here to get close to him, and cartoons were a very important part of his plan. After chatting about all kinds of things, he asked about the real thing before leaving: "Can I ask you if I want to make a movie called "Nezha Haohai"? How long would it take for a movie of that length and difficulty to be even more difficult?”

"We prepared in May 1978 and completed it in August 1979, which took one year and three months." Xu Jingda said.

"So soon? Oh, I mean, I thought it would take a few years!"

"It depends on the specific drawing difficulty. The characters, clothes, backgrounds, and utensils of "Nezha Haohai" are actually quite simplified. "Havoc in Heaven" is more complicated. It took two years to draw the upper and lower parts alone. "

"How much does it cost?"

"..."

Xu Jingda and Mark Xuan looked at each other, and there was a faint movement in their hearts. Without giving any details, they gave an imaginary number: "More than a million!"

"Oh, that's it...well, I'll bother you two today, I should go!"

Chen Qi had an idea of ​​how long it would take to make a cartoon and how much it would cost, so he stood up and left.

Of course, he is not doing it now. He will do it after the company saves some money. While the elite painters like Shangmei Film are here, he can do a few more films before he can afford to take the trip.