I’m a Director, I’m Not Bad

Chapter 709 706 Our story begins

Chapter 709 706. Our story begins

Films coming to Cannes, as long as they are not particularly small independent film productions, usually have a press conference.

After all, being able to be shortlisted for the top three and get some recognition is quite important to many film and television practitioners.

But whether this press conference is self-deception or whether it is really that popular, I am afraid that unless you are a person who comes to the scene, it will be difficult to tell the truth from the false.

At least that's the case domestically.

At around 11pm on the 2nd, Chinese time, "Love Is Not Blind" held a press conference in Cannes. News that the conference was packed with people appeared in domestic news sections.

Putting aside the unlucky guy who works overtime and stays up late to catch up on the manuscript, at least many people who care about Cannes, or the film and television industry, know from these news... Xu Xin is once again "out of the circle" in a movie.

"Thirty-three Days of Lost Love"

West Film Studio has achieved its goal and released a trailer, scheduled to be released on June 2nd.

After releasing all the news to movie fans, the popularity of "33 Days" is not as popular as the previous "Hawthorn Tree".

Many people feel that... they seem to be familiar with it.

Isn’t it natural for Xu Xin’s movie to be popular?

Although I don’t know when it started, the impression of “Xu Xin = a hit” has fallen into everyone’s mind.

But at least, that's what many fans think now.

Even some of his fans have started to compare him with the old man when he first debuted.

Finally came to a sentence:

"Well, Xu Gouqing is better than a master."

In fact, this statement is seriously untrue.

But I can’t help but many people say this.

For new movie fans, Director Zhang... or the golden age of fifth-generation directors is too far away.

But Xu Xin is very close.

Therefore, when they heard that his film was well received in Cannes, everyone was quite indifferent.

Good is as it should be.

Not being good is the problem.

No, the news just came out on the 2nd, but at around ten o'clock in the evening on the 3rd, "33 Days" was full, and the seats were packed, and Qing Yishui'er's photos of foreign faces had already been sent back.

As for these domestic news, people from Xiying Studio also told Xu Xin.

But Xu Xin, who has always been very modest about his grades, did not say anything about "putting out fires" this time.

Because that's what he wants.

In the beginning, it was just a product produced by Xu Xin, and it must be a high-quality product.

Later, the film produced by Xiying Studio must be a high-quality film.

Getting rich first leads to getting rich later.

For the goal that everyone has in mind, on this road where we don’t know whether it will be thorny or glorious, people in the northwest circle must find someone who can carry the banner of the times.

And this candidate...

Apart from him, there is currently no more suitable choice.

Although this road may be difficult, it must be walked.

In the battle of faith, you cannot take a step back unless you are exhausted and die.

As Xu Xin's partner and solid backing, Xi Film Studio struck while the iron was hot and announced a piece of news early in the morning on the 4th amid the heat that didn't seem to cause much commotion.

"The Jury Club of the "Silk Road Film Festival" was established and began to recruit members from the whole society."

The emergence of this news actually did not cause too many waves.

At least, that's how it seems to those outside the circle.

As early as April, Xiying Film Studio had announced the regulations for the "Silk Road Film Festival" on its official website.

But otherwise there wasn’t much publicity.

Because the time has not come yet.

The charter only announced some standards for submission of works for review.

Putting aside some requirements with Chinese characteristics, such as "conforming to the correct values of SHZY" and so on, when it comes to the soul skeleton, it is almost the same as the international A-class film festival.

1. The film must be a completed film.

2. It has not been shown on the Internet or DVD.

3. Except for the short film unit, feature films must last more than 60 minutes.

The core is actually these three.

It can be said that the terms of the international A-type film festival are followed.

In addition, there is the setting of award types.

It’s also a dual-track system.

Main competition unit, Silk Road unit.

As the name suggests, the main competition unit is a competition unit that competes for major awards.

The Silk Road unit is actually the skyline of Venice, or an attribute of a unit in Cannes.

But...this name has a very romantic atmosphere from the Chinese people.

In ancient times, China relied on the Silk Road to connect with the outside world.

Nowadays, the Silk Road Film Festival follows the example of the ancients and has launched such a platform for some niche films or films with potential, as well as directors, filmmakers, etc., to showcase themselves to more people.

The specific charter of the Silk Road is actually quite concise, but there are a lot of things that need to be polished in the middle.

But one thing is that it does not clarify the nature of the film festival.

It is not specified whether it is a domestic or international film. However, according to the subsequent interviews Qi Lei received, everyone learned that the people at the Silk Road Film Festival are very pragmatic and do not have the monstrous reputation they wanted to achieve from the beginning.

Before fighting the outside world, you must first make peace with the inside.

They plan to start with the Chinese film market.

But because it is just a charter and the specific details have not been disclosed, the popularity is not high. At the same time, audience recognition is also relatively low.

After all...there are more and more awards of various sizes in China.

There is also an increasing lack of credibility.

Who knows if this film festival is just another face-saving thing?

But when they took advantage of Xu Xin's popularity this time and released this news...

All of a sudden, the audience in the circle noticed something different.

The news about Xiying Studio actually came very suddenly, but this suddenness was far less shocking than the headline.

What are they going to do?

Want to...recruit members from the whole society?

Are you kidding...what kind of international joke are you kidding?

Although I read the news carefully and found that the recruitment was for preliminary membership, which is the so-called "audition", this was shocking enough.

How to set up the member review mechanism?

If too many people sign up, how much work will you have to do?

Isn't this a joke...

You know, the review committees of several major domestic film festivals are currently closed to the public.

In other words, except for the official judges who are announced every year to select the films that have been shortlisted and decide who will win a certain award, the work of the jury during the submission and film selection stage is basically not disclosed.

No one knows how these people were selected or how they did it.

Everything is operated through a non-transparent process.

But there is a common understanding in this non-transparent operation, that is, these people must not be selected from the "public".

Just kidding? The public is the judge?

What should we do if our film source is leaked?

Although they also know that it is a bit hypocritical to think so... after all, the judges of every film festival must sign a strict confidentiality agreement, and the organizers of the film festival must also ensure the safety of the film sources.

But... the first reaction of many film practitioners when seeing this requirement is to resist.

Why should the public judge the quality of our movies?

They know shit about movies.

Whatever we film is what they see.

I don’t know how many people have such an idea in their hearts.

Then I looked at the recruitment standards announced by Xiying Film Studio...

Good guy, it’s really low.

Putting aside the clichés of "loving movies and being fair and impartial", the real core requirements are actually just a few points.

1. Fixed work and stable holidays.

In fact, this is easy to understand. If the work is stable and the holidays are stable, then the review during the period when the film starts to be included will not delay the work. At the same time, it can also ensure that your vote will be given stably within a certain amount of time.

2. Appreciation of script art. Applicants with relevant work experience will be given priority.

This is also understandable. For some movies, the ability to appreciate art is the minimum requirement for viewing.

But the third point is a bit unclear.

Third, the more movies you watch, the better!

No...can you be more straightforward?

What does it mean?

If you have watched a lot of movies, it proves that you have the ability to appreciate and understand our movies?

Do you want to be so hasty?

But in fact, Xiying Studio is really so "sloppy".

Like they're the most important... but also a real requirement that might be ignored by some of the people who are just joining in the fun.

Four, you love movies.

Just five words, but a separate line of requirements.

At first glance, it seems like nonsense, but this rule was specially written with the consent of Xu Xin, Qi Lei, Tian Shuanghe, and many others.

We got together because of our love for movies.

If you don't love this job, then there is no need to come.

Moreover, Xi Film Studio also made it very clear in the "recruitment" details.

Public judges do not work every year. With the increasing number of members, the jury will be selected by random drawing each year.

It may be you this year, it may be you next year, or it may not be you.

Ensure “fairness” for everyone to the greatest extent possible.

As for other things, I didn’t say that much. In the end, I just left an email address, as well as the template and requirements for submitting a resume.

To be honest, no matter how you look at it, this doesn't look too formal.

Although in April, many people knew that the "Silk Road" Film Festival was endorsed by Shaanxi Cultural Tourism.

But this kind of "recruitment" behavior, which can be said to be an unwritten term, is always unreliable.

Are they...really serious?

And not long after this doubt was born, on the afternoon of the 4th, an exclusive interview with Qi Lei proved its authenticity.

The interview is very long, but Qi Lei also made the core content of the intercept very clear.

When asked by a reporter, are you serious about recruiting film selection judges from the public? When asked why he did this, Qi Lei’s answer was firm:

"Because movies are made for the public. Our statement is very serious and is issued after careful consideration. We know that many viewers love movies from the bottom of their hearts.

If you look at the usual forums, Douban, forums and other places, there are many film and television entertainment sections where people are discussing how a certain movie is, how a certain actor is, and how a certain director is.

We need professional people to give professional opinions, but what we don’t want is for the selected films to be out of touch with the masses and not be recognized by everyone.

If this is the case, the credibility of the Silk Road Film Festival will be lost. Therefore, we chose to take the initiative to close the distance with the audience. Public review is a very important part for us. "

Who is Qi Lei?

The second-in-command at West Film Studio.

The direct person in charge of the issuing department.

The gold content of these words spoken by him himself is beyond doubt.

Although I don’t mention whether this interview script was prepared by Xiying Studio in advance...it doesn’t matter.

The important thing is...

For those ordinary people who really care about movies, this film festival called "Silk Road" seems to be really willing to provide the audience with an opportunity to review.

Although it is not clear what the rules and regulations are for its internal operations.

but……

"Brothers, why don't you go take a look? I just submitted my resume. Grandma, to be honest, it's really tiring to look for screenshots of my own film reviews. It doesn't matter if I don't summarize them. Once I summarize them, I find that I have been I’ve actually seen so many movies…”

The words of a friend from Baidu’s “Movie Bar” followed by more than 7 million users are like the best evidence of these people’s hearts.

yes.

It doesn’t cost any money anyway.

Just join in the fun.

or……

Go and have a look?

…

"Yes, I saw it. Weibo is also quite lively..."

Cannes.

Xu Xin was sitting in the coffee shop, flipping through his iPad, holding up the microphone of his Apple headphones and laughing:

"I see that many people have submitted their resumes with the intention of giving it a try. I'm afraid the workload of personnel work here is not small, right?"

"It's really not small."

Qi Lei said with a smile:

"But everything is difficult at the beginning. This year's judging panel has not yet been announced. If it were announced, it is estimated that more people would submit."

"The standards cannot be relaxed."

"Of course, although these resumes may be true or false, they at least prove that everyone still recognizes our film festival."

"Well, let them choose first. First select some people with real talents and knowledge, and combine them with the judges in our factory to form a public jury. Anyway, I estimate that there won't be many movies in the first year. Come and participate. But as long as we continue step by step, sooner or later we will be able to create a... film festival that is fair and just in everyone's mind."

As one of the organizers of the film festival, Xu Xin can naturally understand the concerns of those film practitioners following the emergence of this news.

Therefore, from the beginning, Xiying Studio has internally selected a 120-person review team.

These 120 people are all current or former actors, directors, and crew members of Xiying Film Studio.

It is not difficult for Xi Film Studio, which was once famous and fruitful, to find people with experience in the film industry. In addition to ensuring the quality of film selection, these people also play the role of "old and new".

Including Xu Xin, no one knows how many movies will be submitted. There are more than 3,000 movies in Cannes this year... but you must know that these are the top three in the world.

For a small Silk Road Film Festival, everyone estimates that 200 films will be the maximum number.

The 120-member jury, combined with a team of 30 to 50 public judges from the first film festival, will cross-examine these works, use an internal scoring system, and finally select the films that are recognized by everyone and win the final award. The jury.

This is the real process.

But it doesn’t mean that Xiying Studio deceived movie fans and audiences.

This kind of film selection team is a necessary process.

If calculated based on 30 people, in this film selection process, these private judges have already accounted for one-fifth of the group, which is really quite a lot.

Everything is to ensure that the first Silk Road Film Festival can give everyone a satisfactory answer.

And then, the original jury of 120 people will also be diluted in the selection year after year.

At this stage, it is only playing a leadership role.

This year’s film festival does not plan to invite international invitations, and the Silk Road Film Festival does not yet have such qualifications. But some directors will be invited to show their films.

At the same time, the factory is also working hard on supporting film promotion platforms.

For this year's Silk Road Film Festival, they will send invitation letters to many investors, inviting them to come and watch...

Xu Xin believes that the film festival must have a bright future.

Finally, he and Qi Lei hung up the phone while looking forward to the future.

After taking off his headphones, he glanced at the time.

It's almost 11 o'clock.

11 a.m. French time on the 6th.

Not to mention...the days of this trip to Cannes went by pretty fast.

At this time, Xu Xin suddenly received a message.

After taking a look, he looked surprised.

The sender turned out to be Jiang Kui.

"Are you free at noon? Have a drink?"

"..."

But soon, just when he was wondering, a message also came to WeChat:

"We're going to Paris."

Posted by Wang Sicong.

…

At the door of the Martinez Hotel, next to a very eye-catching pure white Aston Martin VANTAGE, Wang Sicong sent a message to Xu Xin after seeing Di Wei and Tang Yan coming out hand in hand.

Then, regardless of whether Lao Xu replied or not, he directly put the phone in his trouser pocket.

"Brother Cong."

Tang Yan smiled and waved at Wang Sicong.

Even wearing sunglasses, you can tell the excitement from her smile.

Obviously, she is looking forward to this trip to Paris.

It may also be because... as the reputation of "33 Days of Love" spreads these days, more and more foreigners recognize her and ask her to sign autographs and take photos.

But...it doesn't matter.

All in all, she was in a good mood.

Wang Sicong also smiled and raised his hand, and then extended the invitation very gentlemanly.

"Which of the two beauties will get in my car?"

They are now going to Nice and then on a plane to Paris.

In addition to these three people, there were three people traveling this time: Guo Ping, Xu Dafa, and Dingdang (Tang Yan’s assistant).

And Ji Rujing, who arrived yesterday.

Ji Rujing made an appointment with a photographer to take a set of photos of Tang Yan in Paris.

After all, the popularity of the movie is gradually rising, and Tang Yan wants to start digesting it.

Want to go together.

After hearing this, Tang Yan smiled and let go of Di Wei's hand.

She wanted to take a car with Sister Ji and the translator.

This time she went to Nice. Although she borrowed the guidance of the guide Xu and had a Volvo driver and vehicle to deliver her, the third row space of the Volvo XC90 was the same as that of other 7-seat SUVs.

Adequate, but far from comfortable.

So, Xu Xin waved his hand and arranged for two cars.

In one car were Tang Yan and Ji Rujing, plus a translator and driver. In the other car, the driver was pulling three assistants.

Three vehicles were originally planned.

But he heard that someone actually gave an Aston Martin to the young master for use...

All he could do was say "That's sloppy" and leave in despair.

Anyway, it’s only about fifty kilometers, so if we take the fast lane this time, we’ll get there in just one hour.

Seeing Tang Yan letting Seventh Brother sit in his car, Wang Sicong glanced at Di Wei and opened the passenger door in a gentlemanly manner.

"I haven't done an Aston Martin yet."

Si Wei joked and got into the passenger seat.

Wang Sicong closed the door for her and said to Tang Yan:

"Let's go?"

"Walk."

Before Tang Yan finished speaking, the door of Aston Martin opened again.

Si Wei complained:

"Brother Cong, can you act like a gentleman in the shadows next time? This car seat is burning your ass."

"Uh...haha, no problem."

Wang Sicong smiled and walked around to the main driver's seat. While opening the door, he said to the people who got into the car:

"Let's meet at Nice Airport."

After saying that, he got in the car and started the car immediately.

Then, without him having to do anything, Di Wei directly turned the knob of the air conditioner to the maximum.

A blast of hot air spurted out.

"Mistakes."

Wang Sicong explained with a smile while closing the windows on both sides.

Di Wei waved her hands indifferently.

This is the kind of virtue that goes into Cannes today.

It's cool in the shade, but very hot in the sun.

It'll be fine in a moment.

Then, Wang Sicong put the car into gear, and the 4.7-displacement V8 engine roared and sped out.

In the car, Di Wei was in a good mood, perhaps because she was going to Paris.

The sea breeze blowing, driving under the sunny sky today, and the blue coastline, it feels really extraordinary.

"How about I open the hood?"

After hearing Wang Sicong's words, she waved her hand:

"No, I just washed my hair this morning."

"Fine."

Seeing that even though she said this, her head was still half leaning against the window to blow the wind, Wang Sicong was not in a hurry to raise the window.

The two of them just turned on the air conditioner and opened the windows, driving along the Corosset Avenue in the direction of Nice.

After driving for about ten minutes, we came to the last intersection before leaving Cannes.

While waiting for the traffic light to turn green, Wang Sicong started playing with the car's CD.

With such scenery, it would be a pity not to listen to a song.

But at this moment, a bright red Ferrari suddenly appeared in Di Wei's sight.

Immediately afterwards...

"Buzz buzz!"

The Ferrari roared to life.

Wang Sicong, who was playing with the CD, subconsciously glanced up.

After seeing a Ferrari driven by a foreigner wearing sunglasses, he rolled his eyes angrily.

I wonder where the poor guy came from.

I drive a 2005 model 430 and I don’t know what my last name is?

Under normal circumstances, when seeing the opponent's lack of reaction, Ferrari should understand that the opponent is not racing.

Everyone goes their own way.

who knows……

"Buzz buzz buzz!"

"Didi didi~"

Not to mention Wang Sicong, even Di Wei frowned.

She turned her head and glanced at Wang Sicong.

Coincidentally, Wang Sicong was also looking at her.

Strange to say.

Sometimes, just one glance is enough to read each other's thoughts.

Then, just as Wang Sicong's left hand directly controlled the door control panel and raised the VANTAGE's windows, he noticed that Di Wei had directly turned off the air conditioner for him.

He suddenly became happy.

He put his hand on the paddle and started to hit the accelerator vigorously.

Then……

He turned and glanced at Di Wei again.

Next to me, the same roar of Ferrari reached my ears.

Who wins and who loses in this short-distance acceleration race...

To be honest, he didn't know very well.

After all, the performance of the two cars is really about the same.

but……

When a man decided to go racing, the female companion next to him not only did not stop him, but helped turn off the air conditioner...

this moment……

he knows……