Become famous another day.

"I don't know how to describe this feeling. At first I was very reluctant to play such a role."

Lu Yanhe said to Chen Ziyan.

"Then, when I thought about the fact that I could play the role of Chen Pinhe, it was like a revelation. All my resistance disappeared, like a floodgate opened, and the desire to perform came out like a flood."

Chen Ziyan: "You can actually find a breakthrough point from this angle, which only shows that you are awesome."

Lu Yanhe: "What I never expected was that one day I would come across a role that I thought was well-written but I felt I couldn't play."

"Because your basic nature is kind, you can't empathize with hypocrisy, and in my opinion, your acting is 100% experiential, and all the skills you have accumulated are prepared for experience. If you can't empathize with your character, you can't find a fulcrum to play a role well." Chen Ziyan said, "This is your shortcoming."

"That's true." Lu Yanhe nodded. "I have played many flawed people, but I can basically understand them. I can understand their selfishness, anger, and lack of self-control at a certain stage or moment. I can even empathize with them. But as for this kind of inherent selfishness and arrogance, as well as this kind of self-righteous complacency, no matter how good I am, I can only understand it rationally."

"That's great. If you can get this role, your acting range will be wider." Chen Ziyan said, "I'm quite curious about how you will play such a role."

Lu Yanhe shook his head: "There's really nothing to be curious about. I don't even know it myself."

Chen Ziyan: "One is Dingfeng No. 1, and the other is Wang Zhong's new film. These two films will definitely go to the film festival route in the future."

"Yeah." Lu Yanhe nodded. "It should be. From what I know so far, these two films are typical art films and are only suitable for film festivals."

“Then I hope that these two films will not be submitted to the Sitol Film Festival.” Chen Ziyan said with a smile, “In this way, maybe you can win another trophy from a top international film festival.”

Lu Yanhe said: "But, in fact, both of their films are more suitable for the Xitul Film Festival."

"Yes." Chen Ziyan nodded. "That's what I said. If I can give Sitol, I will definitely give Sitol. It has the greatest influence. Look at the Oscars two months ago and the highest film awards in several European countries. The most nominated and the most popular films were all nominated for Sitol."

The reason why Midoriya said that "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Tropical Rain" can both compete for next year's Oscars is because they are the most popular films at the West Tur Film Festival.

The attention paid by European and American countries to the SITOL Film Festival is the highest among the four major international film festivals.

As for Lu Yanhe's personal career, since he just won the Best Actor award at the Cité Internationale des Arts, the possibility of him winning a second award within ten years is extremely low, close to zero. In the history of the Cité Internationale des Arts, there has never been a situation where the same person has won the same award within ten years.

Even the top international film festivals care about these things.

Now, Lu Yanhe is deeply tied to Xitul. His first movie was at the Xitul Film Festival, his first Best Actor trophy was at the Xitul Film Festival, and his first top award at an international top film festival was also at the Xitul Film Festival. It can be said that Lu Yanhe's entire acting career, up to this stage, has been deeply tied to Xitul.

In the short term, Sitour will definitely not give him individual awards again and again. This is not conducive to the development of the film festival, nor is it conducive to Sitour's discovery of other film talents.
-
Lu Yanhe was tired of reading scripts and wanted to find something new to do.

He didn't want his life to be filled with only Linghe and film and television dramas.

So he went to ask Chen Siqi if there was anything he could do now.

When Chen Siqi heard that Lu Yanhe actually wanted to do something on his own initiative, she immediately said, "We are preparing for the International Film Critics Film Festival in June. If you have nothing to do, come and help with this."

Lu Yanhe said: "I can't devote myself to this work all the time. What am I going to do? When I go back to film, won't others have to clean up my mess?"

"Who said that?" Chen Ziyan said, "There is a job that you can be responsible for forever."

"What job?"

"Film selection." Chen Ziyan said, "We decided on the theme of the first Jump Up International Film Critics Film Festival, which is for everyone to sit together and discuss movies. Last year, the films we selected took into account both popularity and artistry. If the right films are selected, everyone's discussion will have the possibility of being spread. This year is the same. Linyu is worried about what kind of films to choose this year."

When Lu Yanhe heard this, he was somewhat tempted.

"Moreover, we have to write a theme for every film we screen, otherwise we'll leave this job to you," said Chen Siqi.

Lu Yanhe: "...Isn't it more appropriate to let Linyu do this? It was Linyu who wrote it last year. If you suddenly ask me to write it, Linyu will definitely not be happy."

"If you saw how miserable Linyu is now, you wouldn't think so," Chen Siqi said. "She came to complain to me yesterday, asking why she had to do this job alone this year. I said, because when selecting films, especially for a group of famous film critics, people who don't know much about film history really don't know how to choose."

Lu Yanhe nodded.

"How to make this group of already very professional film critics feel the professionalism of our film festival is a very important thing." Chen Siqi sighed, "Film selection is the most basic work. If the theme is not determined and the films are not selected well, then no matter how well we do in terms of form, in the eyes of real filmmakers, we are just nouveau riche."

"Is there a theme for this year's film festival?" Lu Yanhe asked.

Chen Siqi shook her head, "We didn't decide on a theme."

“I think we can have a theme for each session,” Lu Yanhe said. “In this way, whether it’s the film selection, or the discussion and post-screening exchanges, we can have something more clear.”

Chen Siqi: "At the beginning, we also thought about doing thematic discussions, but we were also worried that this approach would limit what people really want to discuss."

"We just set a theme, but we don't limit ourselves to talking about these things," Lu Yanhe said. "Of course, this also means that you have to choose a good theme, something that is truly meaningful to the film industry. For example, to give a simple example, debut is a very broad concept that is always discussed in the film industry. Of course, for a film festival, using this as a theme is relatively mediocre, because it will turn the discussion into a review."

Chen Siqi smiled and nodded, "Look, you speak very logically, you are the most suitable person to do this job."

Later, Linyu came over.

When she heard Chen Siqi say that Lu Yanhe could come to help, Linyu said directly: "Don't help, just let me get out of here. This job really requires a person to think quietly for a long time before it can be done. But now I not only have to record the regular programs of Yuehu TV, but also invite various film critics. I can't calm down to do this. Siqi, I strongly suggest that starting from this session, we will invite an influential filmmaker to do the list of films and the introduction of each screening film."

Chen Siqi turned and looked at Lu Yanhe.

"What do you think?"

Lu Yanhe took a deep breath and scratched his head.

"Why do I feel like I've dug a big hole for myself?"
-
Despite this, Lu Yanhe still took the job.

The first International Film Critics Festival was a great success, especially in the form of a book that recorded and compiled the speeches of the critics at the festival and was published around the world.

Compared with general film critics forums, this film festival undoubtedly raises the status of film critics to a certain height.

In particular, the publication of this book means that every film critic's article in it, as well as the record of the entire film festival process, have been preserved in a concrete form. Whether in a bookstore or in a library, it has the possibility of being read by film lovers over a longer period of time.

Therefore, the holding of the second session is both natural and highly anticipated.

How to choose the film list for the second session?

Lu Yanhe looked at a list that Linyu had already made.

Lin Yu is actually trying her best to balance film history classics and less popular masterpieces.

Lu Yanhe could see that Linyu wanted to use this film festival to bring to light some masterpieces in film history that were unknown to most people, and even had the ambition to let people see their value.

To be honest, if the International Critics Film Festival can do this, it will be its unique value.

Lu Yanhe believes that this point should be retained.

His eyes suddenly lit up.

Why not write to the filmmakers he respected and ask them to recommend a film that they felt had not earned its place in film history?

Firstly, this way, Lu Yanhe will have many choices to decide this year's film list. Secondly, this recommended list can also serve as an easter egg for this year's film festival, allowing some unpopular and niche films to attract more attention with the help of this film festival.

So, Lu Yanhe did what he said and sent emails to people he had worked with, knew, and admired.

In the body of the email, he explained the purpose of this action very seriously, and asked the other party to recommend only one movie, no more, and if possible, it would be best to attach the reason for the recommendation.

Lu Yanhe even sent such an email to the artistic directors of the four major international film festivals.

As a result, the first person to call was Li Zhibai.

"What are you doing? Why don't you just call me directly? Why do you have to send me an email?" Li Zhibai complained.

Lu Yanhe: "Of course this has to be more formal. If I just call you and tell you something, you probably won't think about it seriously and you might just give me one at random."

Li Zhibai: "Then you underestimate me too much, and I won't give you any of them at random."

Lu Yanhe smiled.

"How's Buried Alive?"

"Oh, don't talk about it. It's damn hard." Li Zhibai sighed, "I thought this movie would be difficult to act in, but I didn't expect it to be this difficult."

Lu Yanhe was not worried that Li Zhibai would not perform well.

Li Zhibai is very good at acting——

Not only Lu Yanhe and Yan Liang knew this, Luo Yuzhong also praised him.

When filming "The Legend of Sword and Fairy", Luo Yuzhong said that it was rare to see a handsome guy playing a handsome guy in such a relaxed manner, without any image burden, and at the same time being handsome and full of life.

Although, this does not have much significance for "Buried". In "Buried", there is misery, fear and panic.

But with Li Zhibai's expressiveness, there will be no problem at all as long as he finds the psychological support for the performance.

To be honest, the performance difficulty of "Buried Alive" only seems difficult because it is a one-man show from beginning to end - in fact, whether it is the difficulty of the role or the complexity of the emotions, it is relatively easy to grasp and complete.

Lu Yanhe asked: "Have you met Zebi?"

"We met once." Li Zhibai said, "He was talking about you the whole time. It seems like this guy has become your big fan."

"Don't be ridiculous. He's just a businessman." Lu Yanhe laughed. "Who did they find to be the director?"

"Don't you know? There was a guy who made independent films before, named Bob Xavier. I had a good chat with him." Li Zhibai said, "I thought this director was someone you knew."

"Parameter is in charge of this movie. I have already asked you to play the role. It is impossible for the director to listen to me." Lu Yanhe said, "Otherwise, this movie will not be under their control."

"But Bob and Zerby don't have a very good relationship," Li Zhibai said. "They both had a conflict in front of me."

"What's the conflict?"

"For the editing rights of this movie, at least that's what I heard." Li Zhibai explained, "Bob wants the final editing rights, but Zerby disagrees and doesn't even want Bob to participate in the final editing."

Lu Yanhe was a little surprised when he heard this, but there was nothing strange about it.

"Basically, the final editing rights of Hollywood's films will not be given to the director, unless he is a top-tier director." Lu Yanhe said, "For a movie like Buried, although the investment is small, it is positioned as a genre film, a genre film that can make a big difference with a small investment, so Parameter will definitely not give up the final editing rights."

"I didn't mind. It had nothing to do with me. But when I saw them arguing like this, especially when Bob cursed Zerby several times behind his back because of this incident, I thought of Liu Manbo. Although I agreed to shoot his second movie and help him find investment, I also said that if I was not satisfied with the version he edited, I would find someone else to re-edit and do the post-production. Although he agreed with understanding, was he also very angry behind my back?"

"That's definitely the case. There's no doubt about that." Lu Yanhe said bluntly, "Any director who has the final cut taken away will definitely be dissatisfied."

Li Zhibai: "Then do you think that my decision to continue filming his second movie was a mistake? It's possible that I'm wasting my time and energy, and the movie will be ruined. I'll also be hated by Liu Manbo because of the final editing rights."

"These are two different things. As for Liu Manbo, even if he is not happy about his final editing rights being taken away, he also knows why. If he is a decent person, even if he is not happy, he should know how many opportunities you have given him. He would not just want to hate you because of this one thing."

"But I still want to say something. There is no other way in this situation. If you have the resources, you don't want to be a producer, don't do your own projects, and just be an actor. But if you want to have some initiative, then don't think about being someone who is not hated. You will definitely offend some people. Being a pushover will only satisfy others and make yourself suffer."

Li Zhibai: "So you don't think my decision is wrong?"

"I don't know whether your decision is right or wrong in the end, but I think your decision itself is right. There is a possibility of failure in any decision. You saw Liu Manbo's talent, you saw the good points of the second play, and you believed it had the potential to be successful, so you made this decision, right?"

"Of course." "So, others may question you from the sidelines and think you made a foolish decision, but as long as you know why you made this decision and are willing to admit the result of failure, other people's opinions are just for reference." Lu Yanhe said, "A person who never makes a decision will never make a mistake, but he will always be like that."

Li Zhibai breathed a sigh of relief.

"I feel relieved when you say that," he said. "To be honest, I have been tossing and turning over this matter for a while, worrying that I am thinking too well or too naive."

"From my experience, people who are not naive at all can only play it safe in the entertainment industry, which means they will always be mediocre." Lu Yanhe said, "You are not a mediocre person."

"Oh, am I still a genius in your eyes?"

"of course."

"Forget it. I guess I'm only a genius in your eyes. If I'm really a genius, why don't those directors I like come to me to film?"

"Isn't this normal?" Lu Yanhe said, "Am I a genius in your eyes?"

"Does this need to be said?"

"Then you see that several big directors have approached me to film." Lu Yanhe said, "Except Wang Zhong, but actually at the beginning, when I played Wang Zhong's films, I was just a supporting role. The same was true for the dramas directed by my teacher Luo Yuzhong and Chen Lingling. I played supporting roles."

Li Zhibai was stunned.

“Now that you mention it, it’s true.”

"We all face a problem. Li Zhibai, we are very popular and have fans supporting us, but the more this is the case, the harder it is to work with big directors because they cannot control us," Lu Yanhe said, "especially when our acting skills have not been recognized and we have not established a firm foothold in the film industry."

Li Zhibai: "Now that you say that, I am really surprised. Why haven't those big domestic directors come to you to act in movies even though you have reached this stage now?"

"There are basically no particularly good roles and scripts now, and they won't easily come to me." Lu Yanhe said, "This is what Sister Zi Yan told me. And, there is another point. I haven't been in the same circle with them. They won't tailor roles for me. But in their movies, there is basically no character of my age as the first protagonist."

Li Zhibai: "Most of them are supporting roles."

"Yes." Lu Yanhe said, "Or it's a double male lead, anyway, for one reason or another, I'm actually not that popular in the domestic film industry. I'm very popular with film companies, but not necessarily with directors. It's the same with you. After you and Liu Bige filmed "Fake Death", the situation may be a little better because you have a representative film. However, if you want to continue to play the male lead in movies, you can only act in some commercial films, or let the film company tailor it for you."

Li Zhibai: "I understand what you mean."

"It's a pity. Nowadays, most of the films made by big domestic directors have men over 35 as the main characters. If we want to make good films, we can only find scripts and do projects ourselves. So I told you before that your willingness to make decisions is right no matter what. If you can't do projects yourself, most of the time, no matter how famous you are, you are being picked, and there is not much room for selection."

Li Zhibai: "I hope to be able to act in a different kind of film, not necessarily one with much depth or that can win awards, but just don't always ask me to date different girls."

This is Li Zhibai's biggest worry.

Lu Yanhe didn't know whether to laugh or cry after hearing this.

He thought of a very famous actor in Hollywood named Matthew McConaughey.

This famous "playboy" actor's pay is always high whenever he plays this kind of role, and all the film companies are vying for him.

However, even with his fame, he was still restricted by genre. The more money his romantic love movies made, the less Hollywood wanted him to make other types of movies. In the end, no other movies except this type would be offered to him.

After he refused to star in a romantic film, no film company approached him to act in it, and he even decided to "leave Hollywood for two years."

Fortunately, he later transformed successfully and won the Oscar for Best Actor for "Dallas Buyers Club".

The dilemma faced by Li Zhibai is quite similar to his.

Of course, Li Zhibai is relatively better. In the Chinese market, it is not so serious that if you don't play a certain type of role, you will have no role to play.

Lu Yanhe strongly supports Li Zhibai's efforts to break through his own limitations.

This was also the reason why Li Zhibai decided to support Liu Manbo so quickly and why Lu Yanhe did not suggest him to give up when working with him for the second time.

Li Zhibai should do as much as he can now while he can.

If you don’t make any efforts or try and make mistakes when you are very popular and famous, when will you try and make mistakes?
-
At the end of April, Lu Yanhe handed over the film list he had compiled, including a list of "niche gems" recommended by various filmmakers, to Chen Siqi and Linyu.

They were both pleasantly surprised.

Along with the list, they were given preliminary authorization from these companies to screen the films at the International Critics Film Festival.

Lu Yanhe took care of all the authorization issues himself.

Everyone still buys into it.

Chen Siqi said: "Look, you saved us a lot of time by doing this."

Lu Yanhe: "It's too difficult. I won't do it next year. I think Linyu's suggestion is right. We can ask other filmmakers to do this list next year."

Chen Siqi said: "You can consider it."

If the feedback for this year's film list is good, filmmakers who receive this invitation next year may not be unwilling to do so.

This is also a reflection of the industry's influence.

The more such invitations there are, the more implicit influence value they contain.

At this time, the Jose Film Festival also announced this year's list of shortlisted films.

The Chinese-language film "This Journey" has been shortlisted for the main competition unit. The film, starring Meng Li and Ji Miao, is an art film.

"Burning Fire" was shortlisted for the screening unit.

Longyan Pictures is preparing to have "Burning" make its world premiere at the Jose-La Roche Film Festival and is looking for overseas buyers at the Jose-La Roche Film Festival.

Mrs. Huang contacted Lu Yanhe immediately and invited him and the crew to attend the premiere of "Burning" at the Jose-La-Nicolas Film Festival.

At that time, Lu Yanhe had indeed not yet joined the crew of the sequel to "The Mist", so time allowed.

It just so happened that "Math", endorsed by Lu Yanhe, is also one of the sponsoring brands of this year's Netherlands-Spanish Film Festival, and they also hoped that Lu Yanhe could attend.

Lu Yanhe communicated with Chen Ziyan and decided to go.

In addition to these, "Love Letter" won two awards at the Jose Antonio Film Festival last year. If Lu Yanhe has time, he should go to support it.

After knowing that Lu Yanhe would attend, Wu Yang, the artistic director of the Jose Antonio Film Festival, immediately sent Lu Yanhe an email, asking him if he would be willing to serve as the award presenter at the closing ceremony of this year's film festival.

Lu Yanhe also agreed.
-
"Diary column?"

In early May, Lu Yanhe welcomed a rare visitor whom he had not seen for a long time.

Xin Zi Xing.

"Yes." Xin Zixing nodded. "The new version of Yemai.com has been launched. The entertainment section is one of our key contents. We will definitely not miss the Jose-La-Señora Film Festival. I also solemnly invite you to return to Yemai.com."

Lu Yanhe couldn't laugh or cry.

Before, Lu Yanhe did have an account on Yemai.com.

At that time, he was deeply involved with Yemai.com. He would post his reading notes, movie-watching impressions, and even some recorded clips on Yemai.com.

So, although many people have forgotten it now, Lu Yanhe’s initial popularity was due to his very strong "literary and artistic" attributes, which made him different from many popular young stars in the circle and gave him his own style.

"Where are the former high-ranking officials of Yemai.com?" Lu Yanhe asked curiously, "Including your former colleagues."

"I know the abilities of those who can obey my arrangements and accept the revision of Yemai.com, so I have kept all those who can stay. I have already driven away some of those who deliberately opposed me and sang the other tune, and I will terminate the contracts with the rest within three months."

Xin Zixing now speaks of these things in a nonchalant manner.

Lu Yanhe nodded thoughtfully and said, "Sister Zixing, I can return to Yemai.com, but I want to sign a cooperation agreement with Yemai.com that has a lot of requirements."

Xin Zixing smiled and said, "As long as you are willing to continue cooperating, any agreement is fine. Don't worry, as long as I am in Yemai.com, this will be one of your important positions. Of course, if one day I am driven away, I also hope that you will leave without mercy."

Lu Yanhe smiled.

"You're actually very suitable for Yemai.com," he said. "It's a pity that your talent is only used for variety shows."

Xin Zixing nodded.

"By the way, I came here this time to tell you something more important. In my opinion, Shijin Group should further expand its layout in the entertainment industry. They will most likely acquire a video platform, or directly set up one on their own. You, Sister Zi Yan, and Si Qi now basically occupy several important links in the entertainment industry. The only thing you lack is channels. I don't know if there is room for cooperation between you and them in this regard, so I tell you first, you can make your own judgment. If necessary, I can help you to make connections and test the waters."

Lu Yanhe understood what Xin Zixing meant.

He nodded.

"I'll go discuss this with Sister Zi Yan and Si Qi."

How important are channels?

In short, the biggest problem facing Chinese-language films going overseas right now is not the lack of funds or content on the production side, but the lack of distribution channels overseas, especially their own distribution channels.

Now Linghe is making film and television dramas, and Chen Siqi is also working on Jump Up Theater. They are all OK on the content side, but these contents are to be exported to Yuehu TV, Northern Lights Video, Ice Field Video and overseas streaming media.

If these platforms don't pay for it, these contents will not generate any profit returns.

Although Lu Yanhe's cooperation with them was quite smooth, it was the same as if Lu Yanhe himself wanted to use a Linghe. It would definitely be better if they could have a platform in their hands.

It is basically difficult to have a platform of your own. The major video platforms in China, including cinema chains, are actually backed by big capital.

It is very difficult for self-employed people like Lu Yanhe to control a video platform unless they choose to cooperate with the capital camp. It is an extremely remarkable thing to be able to invest in it and become one of the shareholders with some say.

The news that Xin Zixing mentioned was actually telling Lu Yanhe that perhaps this was an opportunity for Lu Yanhe and Linghe to intervene in the management and control of a certain video platform.

Lu Yanhe immediately went to talk to Chen Ziyan about this matter.

Chen Ziyan said, "I will go and test the waters with Yang Zhouli in my personal capacity. For now, it is better to be cautious. They are going to enter the entertainment industry and they will definitely be interested in you. If you can join their camp, it will definitely be a huge benefit for them, but it may not be a good thing for us."

Whether it is Lu Yanhe, Linghe, or "Tiaoqishang", there is a very important reason why they are so successful in the industry, that is, they do not belong to any faction or any capital camp. Therefore, all parties can cooperate with them and are willing to maintain such a cooperative relationship.

Once Lu Yanhe becomes a member of a certain capital camp, he becomes an enemy of other camps.

It is still an enemy that must be struck and eliminated as soon as possible.

Because this enemy seems invincible and cannot be defeated by normal tactics.

"No matter what, you personally cannot openly have a deep-seated alliance of interests with them," Chen Ziyan reminded.

Lu Yanhe nodded in agreement.

At this time, another piece of news came in. Shijin Group acquired Lan Tianqi's "Little Eyes", and Yang Zhouli will go to the Jose-La-Señora Film Festival in May to buy the film.

Yang Zhouli personally called Lu Yanhe and invited him to attend the "Shijin Night" they will hold at the Jose-La Roche Film Festival. (End of this chapter)