Literary Master 1978

Lu Yao was deeply moved by Lin Chaoyang's support. He regarded him as a sympathetic confidant and was extremely excited.

Since the first part of "The Ordinary World" came out, except for some voices of support within the Shaanxi literary circle, most writers, critics, and screenwriters have given negative feedback to this novel.

Yesterday he went to Lin Chaoyang's house, and the two chatted for a long time, but more about the creative process and some ideas.

Lu Yao even deliberately avoided asking Lin Chaoyang what he thought of the first part of "The Ordinary World" because he was afraid that Lin Chaoyang's evaluation would be the same as those people's.

Lin Chaoyang's speech today really surprised and surprised him. Especially when facing such fierce public opinion, his support is even more valuable.

When Lu Yao was moved, the critics present had different expressions after thinking about it.

They are all professionals with high literacy and experience in the field of literary criticism, and they have their own judgment on whether a work is good or bad.

Some people with a moderate attitude think that Lin Chaoyang's words are reasonable. For a huge work like "The Ordinary World", it would be too arbitrary to deny the whole thing in only one third of the content.

Some people believe that whether a novel is good or not is not only related to the completeness of the story, but also directly related to the creative techniques.

"The Ordinary World" is already behind the times in terms of technique, and writing two more films will not make any difference.

But no matter what, Lin Chaoyang, the absolute protagonist of the seminar, said something like this, and it is impossible for everyone to criticize "The Ordinary World" again.

If that were the case, today's meeting would not be a seminar, but a meeting to make enemies with Lu Yao.

“Let me talk about Parasite.

Comrade Chaoyang just talked about "The Truman Show". In fact, both novels are set in the capitalist society of Hong Kong, but the reading experience is completely different.

"The Truman" is absurd and ironic based on fantasy. The first thing it brings to readers is a complete and highly readable story, which is how Truman ran towards freedom.

Underneath this layer of "sugar-coating" are the themes it wants to express: such as the excessive control and manipulation of media in capitalist society, the distortion of human nature, the entertainment of other people's suffering, etc.

But "Parasite" is different. It constructs the most basic contradictory unit of capitalist society and shrinks this society into two families.

The complexity and struggle of human nature are nakedly displayed in front of readers. Whether it is the creation of characters or the arrangement of plot contradictions, they are extremely delicate and natural.

It is this delicate and natural processing method that makes the story logically impeccable and highly watchable..."

After Lin Chaoyang, the critics continued to speak, and everyone tacitly agreed not to comment on the first part of "The Ordinary World" again. They still focused on "Parasite" as the topic of discussion, and the meeting went back to the old way.

Faced with this situation, Li Shifei and Wang Yu, as hosts, were helpless.

Their original intention was to use this seminar to restore some reputation for the first part of "The Ordinary World", but now it seems that this idea is simply delusional.

On the contrary, because of "Parasite", the first part of "Ordinary World" became even less popular.

Now Lu Yao could only sit there with a bitter look on his face. Every minute of the seminar was like sitting on pins and needles for him.

By the end of the day's seminar, Lu Yao was like a migrant worker who had been drained of energy. He was full of despair, but he still maintained his apparent strength and said goodbye politely to the critics.

Before going out, critic He Zhenbang who attended the meeting told Lin Chaoyang that he wanted to visit his home tomorrow.

Lin Chaoyang knew that the other party must be asking for something, so he nodded and agreed.

On the way back to Xiaoliubukou, Lin Chaoyang drove and Lu Yao sat in the passenger seat, drowsy.

After arriving at the place, he spoke to Lin Chaoyang, then walked into the yard and never came out again.

It wasn't until the next morning that he came to greet Lin Chaoyang in high spirits.

Seeing him carrying his luggage, Lin Chaoyang was slightly surprised, "What are you..."

"I'm back. I haven't finished writing the second part of "The Ordinary World" yet. I have to hurry up." Lu Yao said.

There was a stubborn light in his eyes, a firm belief that he was trying his best to prove himself.

Lin Chaoyang also knew that yesterday's meeting gave Lu Yao a lot of stimulation, so he patted Lu Yao on the shoulder.

"I won't say anything else. I hope you can finish "The Ordinary World" as soon as possible!"

Lu Yao's eyes were determined and he nodded solemnly.

"I believe that day won't be too far away!"

Lin Chaoyang drove Lu Yao to the Capital Airport to take a flight. When he returned home, He Zhenbang had been waiting for a long time.

Besides him, there was another guest at home, Tang Yin, who had known Lin Chaoyang for several years.

Lin Chaoyang apologized, explained, and chatted with Tang Yin for a while.

Only then did Lin Chaoyang know that after the establishment of the Lu Academy, Tang Yin was transferred from the "Literary News" to the Lu Academy as the dean, while He Zhenbang was only transferred to the Lu Academy as the deputy dean this year. Office engaged in literary criticism.

Lu Xun Literary Institute, the previous literary training institute, was renamed in 1984.

After exchanging a few pleasantries, Tang Yin explained his intention.

"The new training class of our college will start this month, and we would like to ask you to give lectures to those students."

As early as 1980, when Lin Chaoyang had just won the second National Excellent Short Story Award, he had given a lecture to the fifth class of students at the Institute of Literature and Art.

However, that was only a brief exchange. This time, Tang Yin and He Zhenbang hoped to invite Lin Chaoyang to systematically teach a course for the students.

Tang Yin knew that Lin Chaoyang would be in Hong Kong for a considerable period of time a year, and said that Lin Chaoyang's course could be compressed into two weeks.

Lin Chaoyang hesitated for a moment and agreed. It was not difficult for him to teach the students. After all, it was an acquaintance who invited him, so it was not easy to refuse.

The teaching time for this class of students was from February to July. Lin Chaoyang discussed with Tang Yin and He Zhenbang and finally set his teaching time in June.

Time passed quickly, and the Lantern Festival had passed for several days.

That night, after Lin Chaoyang coaxed Yan Yan to sleep, he began to count the days.

Tao Yushu had been away from home for more than half a month. Shouldn't the West Berlin Film Festival be closed by now? I don’t know if “The King of Children” can win an award.

He reversed the later Chen Kaige’s betrayal and turned from West Berlin to Cannes, and supervised and controlled the script. He has done everything he can.

The rest depends on whether Hadern, the chairman of the film festival, is as optimistic as he said.

The biggest problem in this era is the inconvenience of communication, Lin Chaoyang complained in his heart.

The next day after he complained, Lin Chaoyang suddenly received a call from Shi Fangyu from the Film Bureau at more than ten o’clock in the morning.

“Chaoyang, won an award! “The King of Children” won an award!”

Shi Fangyu’s tone on the phone was excited and full of joy.

Lin Chaoyang was also excited when he heard the words, and he asked: “What award did you win? The Golden Bear Award?”

Hearing Lin Chaoyang’s question, Shi Fangyu’s joy on the other end of the phone stagnated.

You really dare to think that the highest award of the three major international film festivals in Europe is cabbage? You can get it casually?

"No. It's the Silver Bear Award, the Silver Bear Award for the Grand Jury Prize at the West Berlin Film Festival!"

When it comes to awards, Shi Fangyu's tone is still hard to hide his excitement.

The highest award of the West Berlin Film Festival is the Golden Bear Award, which is awarded by the presidium of the film festival to reward the best film in the main competition unit of the film festival each year. There is only one in each session.

But there can be many Silver Bear Awards. Unlike the Golden Bear Award, which is a recognition of the comprehensiveness and integrity of the production of the entire film, it is used to reward a film for its outstanding performance in terms of script, director, and actor performance.

The Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Screenwriter, and Best Director awards are all Silver Bear Awards.

For example, in 2014, Liao Fan participated in "Black Coal, Thin Ice" directed by Diao Yinan and won the Silver Bear Award for Best Actor at the Berlin Film Festival.

And the Grand Jury Award is the most valuable among the many Silver Bear Awards at the West Berlin Film Festival, second only to the Golden Bear Award.

To sum it up in a more vivid way, it is probably equivalent to the queen of the feudal dynasty - under one person, above ten thousand people.

Shi Fangyu's excitement is understandable. "The King of Children" won the Jury Award at the West Berlin Film Festival, which can be said to have broken the history of Chinese films and became the first domestic film to win a heavyweight award at the three major international film festivals in Europe.

At this time, "The Truman Show" cannot be counted, because this film was registered for the quota in Hong Kong.

After a while of joy, Shi Fangyu explained to Lin Chaoyang the specific situation of the film's award.

This West Berlin Film Festival opened on February 10. "The King of Children" participated in the film festival. In addition to Tao Yushu representing the film company, Chen Kaige and Xie Yuan representing the crew, the Film Bureau also sent officials to the scene.

Just last night, at 7 o'clock local time in West Berlin, 2 o'clock in the middle of the night in Yanjing time, the film festival held an awards ceremony.

The Soviet film "Theme" won the Golden Bear Award for Best Film. In addition to the Jury Award, "The King of Children" also won a FIPRESCI Award.

The FIPRESCI Award is also called the International Film Critics Award. It is an external award often awarded at the three major European film festivals or other international film festivals.

It is not affiliated with any film festival unit, but is awarded by the International Film Critics Association, which is a recognition from professional film critics.

The gold content is not high, but it is highly valued in the film critic circle.

The fact that "King of Children" can win this award proves that international film critics are unanimously optimistic about this film.

After the award ceremony, the film bureau officials who accompanied the film festival contacted the country as soon as possible, but due to the time difference, they failed to contact the film bureau until this morning.

Shi Fangyu was naturally overjoyed to get the news. After spreading the good news, he remembered that Lin Chaoyang might not have received the news because it was inconvenient to make international long-distance calls, so he called him to inform him.

The two congratulated each other a few more times on the phone, and Shi Fangyu hung up the phone.

"King of Children" won the award, which is the achievement of the Film Bureau. He had to quickly contact several media to promote it well.

Two hours after receiving Shi Fangyu's call, Chen Huaikai dragged Jiang Huaiyan to Lin Chaoyang's house, as happy as Fan Jin passed the imperial examination.

"Haha! Chaoyang, you won the prize! You won the prize!"

Chen Huaikai's hearty laughter seemed to burst through the roof, and he was full of energy. For him, who has always been calm and introverted, such performance was indeed a bit out of the ordinary.

But anyone who saw it would understand, because he wanted his son to be successful.

You should know that Chen Kaige did not win ordinary awards. He traveled around Europe for Yellow Earth and won several awards.

But those awards combined are not as good as the Silver Bear Award of the West Berlin Film Festival. This is the value of the three major European film festivals!

As soon as Chen Huaikai learned that King of Children won the award, he did not bother to deal with the congratulations of the people in the factory. He rushed to Xiaoliubukou Hutong with Jiang Huaiyan, the first to congratulate him.

He knew that without the help of Lin Chaoyang and his wife, Chen Kaige would never have such a smooth road to winning the award.

"I must drink tonight! I won't go home until I'm drunk today!" Chen Huaikai said heroically.

After he finished speaking, he went to buy vegetables. At this time, two more people came to Lin Chaoyang's house, Zhang Yimou and Chen Jianyu.

After several months of creation last year, the script of Red Sorghum has been finalized. Before the New Year, Zhang Yimou went to Shandong to scout the location and set the filming location in Gaomi, Shandong, Mo Yan's hometown.

Recently, he is preparing for the crew and casting, shuttling between major professional colleges and troupes in Yanjing every day.

Today, he and Chen Jianyu were originally auditioning actors at Yanjing Film Academy, but before the audition was over, the news that "The King of Children" won the West Berlin Award was already spreading in Yanying School.     After receiving this news, Zhang Yimou was sincerely happy for Chen Kaige. At this time, he and Chen Kaige were still close classmates, colleagues, and friends.

After the audition was over, Zhang Yimou couldn't wait to come to Xiaoliubukou Hutong to talk to Lin Chaoyang about the award of "The King of Children".

After listening to Zhang Yimou, Lin Chaoyang was amazed in his heart. The news spread too fast. It was hard to imagine that this was the speed of communication in the 1980s.

It only took half a day, and even Yanying had spread it.

While he was amazed, Tao Yucheng ran into the yard with a laugh. No need to ask, he must have heard the news that "The King of Children" won the award.

"Chaoyang, you two are so awesome now! One Cannes Film Festival Jury Award, one West Berlin Film Festival Jury Award, your film company has become a professional award winner."

Tao Yucheng's tone was full of excitement, and the other people present couldn't help but feel shocked when they heard his words.

After being reminded by him, everyone realized that "The King of Children" was the second film that Lin Chaoyang and his wife participated in to win an international award.

You should know that before this, Chinese films had never won such an influential award in the international film industry!

Now they have won two at once, and the driving force behind the scenes is Lin Chaoyang and his wife and the Lin's Pictures they run. What a great achievement!

The eyes of the people present looked at Lin Chaoyang unconsciously revealed admiration.

Lin Chaoyang smiled and said, "The success of a movie is not the work of one person, everyone has contributed."

Chen Huaikai then said, "But you should take the first credit!"

Lin Chaoyang wanted to be modest, but Chen Huaikai continued, "I didn't participate in "The Truman Show" and don't understand it. If you hadn't checked the script of "The King of Children", it would definitely not be as good as it is now."

Everyone was very excited about the award of "The King of Children" at this moment, and they talked enthusiastically in a short while.

In the evening, Lin Chaoyang prepared a table of wine and food, and everyone drank and talked.

Zhang Yimou was full of envy for Chen Kaige's award. Chen Huaikai encouraged him and said, "Yimou will soon become a director. You have a talent for movies, and it's only a matter of time before you win an award."

Hearing his words, Zhang Yimou quickly said modestly that this was his first time making a movie, and he didn't dare to think about winning an award at all, but only hoped to make a good movie.

"If the movie is well made, the award will come naturally." Chen Huaikai joked.

Zhang Yimou agreed and laughed twice.

Seeing Zhang Yimou's lack of confidence, Lin Chaoyang was about to speak, but was called out by a phone call from the alley.

When he came back, everyone was curious about what news there was, but Lin Chaoyang didn't say anything and turned on the TV.

"Chaoyang, what's wrong?" Tao Yucheng asked.

Lin Chaoyang showed a mysterious smile on his face, "You will know in a while."

It was just past seven o'clock at this time, and Lin Chaoyang turned on the TV to CCTV-1.

Luo Jing, wearing a gray suit and with a green face, was reporting the news to the camera.

Lin Chaoyang thought to himself, this is the little Luo who has not evolved completely, why is he still reading the manuscript when reporting the news?

While he was watching TV, everyone was also watching him. Seeing that his eyes were always on the TV, everyone had a premonition in their hearts.

So, everyone just watched TV quietly, no one touched the wine or food, and even the voices of chatting were lowered.

Ten minutes passed quickly, and the last ten minutes of the "News Broadcast" generally reported international news.

Zhang Yimou was talking to Tao Yucheng in a low voice. Tao Yucheng knew that he was casting for "Red Sorghum" recently, so he asked him to go to the Central Academy of Drama.

In fact, even if Tao Yucheng didn't say it, Zhang Yimou would not miss the professional school of the Central Academy of Drama, not to mention that there was a relationship with Tao Yucheng.

"I'll go there tomorrow."

"Okay, I'll arrange someone for you then." Tao Yucheng said happily.

At this time, Luo Jing on the TV was still reporting the news slowly:

"According to our station, at the 37th West Berlin Film Festival, which just concluded, the film "King of Children" directed by Chen Kaige won the Grand Jury Award. This is the first time that a Chinese film has won a grand prize at a well-known European film festival."

Luo Jing's oral broadcast was very brief, just a dozen seconds, but it was a great honor for all those who participated in "King of Children".

"King of Children" won the award and was even on the "News Network"!

Chen Huaikai and others finally understood why Lin Chaoyang turned on the TV. They recalled the news broadcast of just a dozen seconds, and their hearts were filled with great joy and cheered.

While everyone was celebrating, Lin Chaoyang's expression was very calm.

In the future, "Red Sorghum" won the Golden Bear in West Berlin in 1988. Zhang Yimou returned to China and immediately appeared on CCTV, and occupied nearly a minute of time.

In comparison, it is normal for "King of Children" to win the Silver Bear and appear on it for more than ten seconds.

Lin Chaoyang patted Zhang Yimou on the shoulder.

"Yimou, this year it's Kaige, next year it's you, West Berlin is our blessed land!"

Lin Chaoyang's tone and expression when he said this were meaningful, which made Zhang Yimou's heart beat violently for a few times.

"I will definitely go all out!" Zhang Yimou said firmly.

Then he turned his eyes to the screen. The news broadcast about "The King of Children" winning the award ended, but his ambition for the West Berlin Film Festival had just begun in his heart.

The next morning, all major domestic official media reported that "The King of Children" won the Silver Bear Award at the West Berlin Film Festival.

The news of the film's award was still spreading in the film circle of Yanjing yesterday, and today the news spread across the country through television and paper media.

For a while, the domestic film industry was shocked.

Around 1984, Chen Kaige and other students of the 78th grade of Yanying filmed their debut films, such as "One and Eight", "Yellow Earth", "Hunting Ground Zasa", etc.

These works shocked the film industry with their distinctive artistic style and innovative image style. At the "Film Symposium on the 35th Anniversary of New China" held in September of that year, the film critics present proposed the name of "Fifth Generation Directors".

Since "Yellow Earth", Chen Kaige has been regarded as the best of the fifth generation of directors.

Now with the blessing of such a heavyweight award as the Silver Bear Award of the West Berlin Film Festival, it is undoubtedly to further consolidate Chen Kaige's position in the domestic film circle.

Let him leave behind the directors of the same generation who were once on par with him in previous years.

On the third day after the closing of the West Berlin Film Festival, which was the second day of the overwhelming coverage by the official media, Chen Kaige returned home with honors.

As soon as he got off the plane, he was surrounded by reporters who learned the news of his return to China at the Capital Airport. He was even more popular than movie stars.

In the next few days, Chen Kaige was surrounded by flowers and applause wherever he went, and he accepted a series of interviews from many authoritative media.

As the news spread, he not only became a popular figure at domestic film festivals, but also a well-known director by countless ordinary people.

The spring breeze is full of joy and the horses are galloping. I can see all the flowers in Chang'an in one day.

This ancient poem is the most appropriate to describe Chen Kaige's mood and situation a few days after winning the award.

Unfortunately, he was happy for only a few days. On the fourth day after returning home, he was kicked out of the house by Chen Huaikai.

"You have been back for three or four days, don't you know to visit your uncle Lin to express your gratitude?"

"Don't think that winning the award is so great. Without everyone's help, can you win the award?"

Chen Kaige recalled his father's lesson before leaving home all the way, and he was very angry.

He won a heavyweight award second only to the Golden Bear Award at the West Berlin Film Festival. Why can't he be happy?

Besides, isn't his contribution to the film winning the award the greatest?

Thinking of this, Chen Kaige's inflated mentality suddenly shrank a lot, and his mind recalled the fear of being dominated by his father and Uncle Lin.

Even if it's not the biggest, it's definitely not small.

He comforted himself and came to Xiaoliubukou Hutong. When he saw Lin Chaoyang and his wife, he immediately showed a well-behaved smile.

"When did Aunt Lin come back?"

"Last night's flight."

Tao Yushu returned to China a few days later than Chen Kaige, mainly because he had to deal with the overseas copyright transaction of "The King of Children".

Chen Kaige asked hurriedly: "How is the copyright selling?"

When participating in the film festival, awards are of course the key, but for most filmmakers, copyright transactions may be more important.

After all, making movies is an art of burning money.

When "The King of Children" first arrived in West Berlin, not many overseas film distributors were optimistic about it.

Tao Yushu contacted several overseas film distributors privately, and the buyout price they offered was pitifully low, with the lowest being only 10,000 or 20,000 US dollars, and the highest not exceeding 50,000 US dollars.

Although Tao Yushu was attending a film festival for the first time, he had some understanding of the ecology of the film festival.

The film distributors who were willing to give quotes in the first two days were just trying to take a gamble.

If the film won an award, it would most likely generate a considerable profit.

If the film didn't win an award, the money spent would be small anyway, and the loss would not be much.

After contacting several film companies in succession, Tao Yushu put aside the idea of ​​copyright transactions and waited for the film festival to close.

According to Xiao Yu's feedback from China Film, the chairman of the film festival, Hadden, was very optimistic about "The King of Children".

According to the unwritten rules of many film festivals, even if a film supported by a figure like Hadern does not win the most important award, it is definitely not a problem to win an award.

Therefore, Tao Yushu thought it would be better to wait until everything is settled. Although there is a risk of getting nothing, the worst result will not be much worse than being picked up by those film producers.

Facts have proved that Tao Yushu made the right bet!

"The King of Children" won the film festival jury award, and its value doubled overnight.

There was an endless stream of overseas film producers coming to make offers, and the offer to buy out the copyright was several times higher than when the film festival just started.

For three consecutive days, Tao Yushu signed 19 copyright transaction contracts, with a total transaction amount of up to 5.36 million US dollars.

This number is far different from the copyright transaction amount after "The Truman Show" won the award at the Cannes Film Festival.

On the one hand, the reason is that France has been a European film powerhouse in the past two or three decades, and can even compete with Hollywood in the United States. Therefore, the copyright transaction market of the Cannes Film Festival is much better than that of West Berlin.

On the other hand, in terms of the content of the two films, "The Truman Show" is obviously more popular with Western moviegoers.

"The King of Children" tells the story of contemporary social education issues in China, which is difficult to resonate with Western audiences, and the film producers are also aware of this.

But no matter what, the overseas copyright transaction amount of 5.36 million US dollars is a big harvest for Lin's Pictures.

According to the current exchange rate between RMB and US dollar, the amount of this copyright transaction exceeds 18 million RMB, and the return on investment of "The King of Children" has reached an astonishing 1500%.

If making a movie makes money, it is more exaggerated than selling drugs!

And this is not the final profit of the movie. With the release of the movie and the sale of copyrights in the future, the income of Lin's Pictures will continue to increase.

Winning an award will give them another cash cow!