Dreams of the Fragrant River

"DreamWorks has made a name for itself overseas, and "Shushan" has become the opening film of the Venice Film Festival!"

On September 3, the "Oriental Daily" published an explosive news on the front page of the newspaper. 【First Release】

Zou Wenhuai came to the office and sat down. Just as he picked up the coffee that the assistant had brought, the secretary knocked on the door and said, "Mr. Zou, Deng Guangrong is here again, do you see or not?"

Deng Guangrong was the one who later invested 40 million and asked Wang Jiawei to film "The True Story of Ah Fei", but the box office hit the street and was so angry that he was admitted to the hospital.

This person became famous for starring in "The Student Prince" in the 1960s. At the age of 17, he became a youth idol star and has been popular for ten years since then. Later, he changed from a movie to a company owner and opened a Da Rong Film Company, and the films he made have always been shown in Jiahe Cinemas.

Da Rong Film Company has never had a good schedule in Jiahe, and the establishment of Xinbao Cinema immediately attracted Deng Guangrong to cooperate with it. However, the "Yellow Peril" filmed by Da Rong Company last year was just released to Nanyang by Golden Harvest four months ago. Now it is time to split the account, but Golden Harvest has delayed Deng Guangrong's box office share for various reasons.

That's a total of more than 1 million yuan. Deng Guangrong's company shoots up to two movies a year. More than 2 million yuan told him that it was not a small sum of money. Naturally, he would come to Zou Wenhuai every day to ask for money.

Zou Wenhuai had a headache when he heard Deng Guangrong's name, took a sip of coffee and said, "Call him in."

After a while, a handsome middle-aged man in a white shirt walked in, greeted with a smile on his face, "Hello, Mr. Zou, I came so early, didn't I bother you?"

"No, no, please take a seat!" Zou Wenhuai also said with a smile.

The two chatted for more than ten minutes before Deng Guangrong said, "Mr. Zou, "Yellow Peril" has been released in Nanyang for more than three months, should the share of Darong Company be credited?"

"Isn't it here yet?" Zou Wenhuai pretended to be surprised, picked up the phone and said, "I will remind you."

Deng Guangrong watched Zou Wenhuai act with a sigh of relief, but he had to keep a smile on his face. It's always him who suffers when he's really stumped.

"Yellow Peril" tells the story of the influx of Vietnamese refugees into Chinatown in the United States. Although many scenes were filmed in Hong Kong, it was inevitable to go to the United States to film scenes, so the film was made with considerable investment. Almost drained the funds of the Darong Film Company. It is a pity that "Yellow Peril" was not very good at the box office after its release, and with the money earned in Taiwan and Nanyang, it was barely able to earn two or three hundred thousand.

For this reason, Deng Guangrong has not been filming for nearly a year, and only waits for all the investment in "Yellow Peril" to be recovered before opening a new film. Zou Wenhuai knew this situation and deliberately delayed Deng Guangrong's money.

Zou Wenhuai pretended to make a phone call, and chatted with Deng Guangrong and Yan Yuesi for a while. The latter could only leave in embarrassment, and then went to the distribution company under Jiahe to ask for money. As for whether he could get the money smoothly. That depends on luck.

As soon as Deng Guangrong left, He Guanchang walked in with a newspaper and said, "Deng Guangrong came to ask for money again?"

Zou Wenhuai nodded and said, "Yes, I come every day, and I have to hide from him."

He Guanchang said: "Then give him the money. It's only a million or so. If Deng Guangrong really wants to open a new show, he won't be short of that amount of money."

"I have already ordered the distribution company to pay." Zou Wenhuai sighed, "This Princess Jin and Xinbao are really messing around, and they are getting more and more outrageous."

When Princess Jin was just established, in order to obtain the source of the film, she did not hesitate to cancel the cinema subscribing system. As a result, Jiahe Cinemas and Shaw’s Cinemas had to follow the reform, and lost a lot of profits. Later, with the expansion of Xinyi City and the implementation of the large-scale studio system, and several other satellite companies of Princess Jin also stabilized, the film source of Princess Jin Cinema was too much to be used up, and this began to "peace" with Jiahe Cinema. coexist.

Now Xinbao Cinema is established. In addition, the decline of Xinyi City has led to a shortage of high-quality film sources. Princess Jin and Xinbao Cinemas increased the box office share of the film side at the same time, pulling away many independent film companies at once.

For Golden Harvest Cinemas and Oriental Cinemas, the actions of Princess Jin and Xinbao are purely vicious competition. But the Oriental Cinema Line doesn't matter, because DreamWorks' large studio system provides it with a stable source of films. There is no need to care about the division rules of other theaters.

However, the Golden Harvest Cinema Line is different. Most of the films it releases are from satellite companies, and the actions of Princess Jin and Xinbao have a great impact on it.

He Guanchang put the newspaper in his hand on the table and said, "Jiahe's biggest competitor is not the company from Princess Jin and Xinbao, but Kang Jianfei's DreamWorks."

Before Zou Wenhuai could read today's newspaper, he put on his glasses and glanced at the newspaper on the table, and immediately saw a few key words: DreamWorks, Shushan, Venice Film Festival, opening film.

"Is that the big cast that DreamWorks announced last year?" Zou Wenhuai asked in surprise.

He Guanchang nodded and said, "Yes."

Zou Wenhuai asked: "Isn't that the film that was cut in half, why did it suddenly become the opening film of the Venice Film Festival?"

He Guanchang said: "'Shushan' was cut in half because it was uploaded in the newspaper. I asked my friends at DreamWorks. The movie was indeed shelved for a time, and even the hero Zheng Shaoqiu left DreamWorks. Restarting the shooting plan, plus the time to rewrite the script, it took a total of 21 months to make "Shushan"."

After listening to Zou Wenhuai, he was silent for a long time and suddenly said: "Fortunately, "Shushan" is not at the Cannes Film Festival."

Zou Wenhuai's remarks are not to say that the Venice Film Festival is not as good as the Cannes Film Festival, but because the latter is held in May, and after being shortlisted for promotion, it can be released in the summer. The Venice Film Festival is held in September, and there is a good schedule until the end of December, so the box office gain of "Shushan" cannot be maximized.

Seeing Zou Wenhuai's relief, He Guanchang couldn't help reminding: "Japan will hold the Tokyo International Film Festival at the end of October."

The Tokyo International Film Festival was the first of its kind this year. Most Hong Kong film practitioners did not know the news at all. He Guanchang only heard a few days ago that the first Tokyo International Film Festival was planned to be held at the end of October.

Zou Wenhuai said, "Are you saying that DreamWorks will take "Shushan" to Tokyo for the exhibition?"

He Guanchang nodded and said: "The Tokyo International Film Festival has just held its first session, and films from all over the world will definitely be invited to participate to increase its influence. As the only Chinese film shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival this year, "Shushan" will definitely receive Invitation, and most likely will be awarded."

Zou Wenhuai pondered for a moment, then suddenly sighed: "We are calling here and there, but DreamWorks is sitting in the back and watching the tiger fight." Zou Wenhuai called his assistant, "Ask Lei Jue Kun and Chen Rongmei out for dinner, just say I have something important to discuss with them."

...

The century-old history of humiliation in China is in great contrast to the once prosperous and splendid Celestial Empire. This contrast brings a sense of inferiority to Chinese people all over the world. And he highly admires everything in European and American countries, and even admires and worships Japan, which is separated by water.

Human beings, as social animals, desperately long for approval from others. This need for recognition extends to the entire ethnic group, which is reflected in the Chinese people's desire to be recognized and praised by other countries.

Chinese-language films have received few international awards. But every award-winning film is bound to be sought after by all parties.

14 years ago, Hu Jinquan spent 5 years filming "Chivalrous Girl", which cost countless but suffered a box office hit.

This film, which few people loved to watch for the first time, was suddenly shortlisted for the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival after eating dust in the film library for 4 years.

Although it only received one technical award in the end, when "The Maiden" was re-released, it made a big box office because of this award.

Some say that after a film is nominated for an Oscar, it will add at least $20 million to the box office. But the two box office encounters before and after "The Heroine". But it is not as simple as the publicity effect of the award, it is endowed with a deeper national sentiment in it.

Over the past few decades, such a situation has occurred two or three times in the Hong Kong and Taiwan film circles. Once a film is shortlisted for an international film festival, it will inevitably be applauded.

At that time, Tang Shuxuan's "Mrs. Dong" was so literary. Originally, no theaters in Hong Kong agreed to show it. As a result, after being shortlisted for the Cannes Film Festival, major theaters immediately rushed to release it, and it actually won a lot of box office in Hong Kong, and made a lot of money when it was released in Taiwan.

It is precisely because of these precedents that Zou Wenhuai and He Guanchang are so nervous, because once "Shushan" wins awards at the Venice and Tokyo Film Festivals in a row, then this year's Christmas and New Year's files will not be played. It must be the world of "Shushan".

All Zou Wenhuai can do is to contact Lei Juekun, Chen Rongmei, Jiahe, Princess Jin and Xinbao to boycott "Shushan".

...

Founded in 1932, the Venice Film Festival is the first international film festival in the world, so it is also known as the "Father of the International Film Festival". Many great directors have become famous here for decades.

The Venice Film Festival does not allow individual declarations. So as early as the end of July, not long after the special effects of "Shushan" were completed, Shi Nansheng approached Tang Shuxuan to discuss. Then Tang Shuxuan submitted the registration recommendation of "Shushan" to the Venice Film Festival in the name of Oriental DreamWorks, and attached a 3-hour original version of "Shushan". (The procedure for participating in the Venice Film Festival is: the film company submits a film registration recommendation to the film festival, and after evaluation by the film festival experts. Qualified films will be invited by the film festival, and unqualified films can only be publicized in the external exhibition area at their own expense. ).

The theatrical version of "Shushan" was not finished at the time, and the original version of "Shushan" was driven out by Xu Ke and Tang Shuxuan who stayed up late for several days.

Both Xu Ke and Tang Shuxuan have great film skills. For example, Zhang Shuping's editing skills were learned from Tang Shuxuan in his early years. The 3-hour version of "Shushan" jointly edited by the two has a poorer rhythm and a lot more artistic connotation. This kind of film is not good. Suitable for screening in cinemas, but definitely suitable for international film competitions.

Five days after submitting the application recommendation, DreamWorks received an invitation from the Venice Film Festival jury, but it is still unknown whether it will be shortlisted.

"Mrs. Dong" directed by Tang Shuxuan was shortlisted in the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival, and "Goodbye China" was also exhibited in several major European film festivals in 1978~www.wuxiaspot.com~ So she still has a lot of money in Europe. With a little personal connections, "Shushan" was able to get a reply a few days after the registration, which was also the result of Tang Shuxuan secretly squeezing out the film from several judges.

Of course, Tang Shuxuan's relationship with those reviewers was limited to knowing each other and having dinner. It was impossible to know the results in advance. While waiting, Tang Shuxuan sent another 2-hour theatrical version of "Shushan" to the film festival, but there was still no news.

It was not until September 1 that the Venice Film Festival announced the shortlist. "Shushan" was not only listed in the main competition unit list, but also designated as the opening film of the film festival.

When the news came back to Hong Kong, "Oriental Daily" took the lead in reporting the incident on September 3 because of the information provided by DreamWorks, which immediately caused a sensation in Hong Kong.

In the 80 years since the birth of Chinese-language films, only a few films have been shortlisted for large-scale international film festivals, and the only film that can become the opening film of the film festival is "Shushan".

To this end, the already poor "Movie Weekly" tightened its belt to squeeze out funds, and specially sent a three-person team to Venice, and Shu Qi himself led the team to fly over.