Back to 80: My literary life.

Chapter 676: A gathering in a foreign country

They met each other by chance in Rome, so they greeted each other and Fang Minghua naturally congratulated them in advance.

"Teacher Minghua, you are complimenting me. You have also seen the films shortlisted for this year's film festival. They are simply better than the other." Jiang Wen said in a rather unconfident tone.

In 1994, not only the Venice Film Festival, but the entire world film industry was filled with excellent films.

"The Shawshank Redemption", "Schindler's List", "Pulp Fiction" and "Natural Born Killers". Chinese films also include classics such as "Ashes of Time" and "Sunny Days".

Why are so many excellent films released in this year?

Some people say that from the invention of film and movie projector by the Lumière brothers, the "father of modern cinema", to 1994, which is exactly the th anniversary of world cinema, this is a great gift from filmmakers for this birthday.

This statement is inevitably a bit far-fetched, Fang Minghua would rather believe another reason:
In this year, movie special effects were not as popular as they are in later generations. Directors focused more on the craft of storytelling, which resulted in a number of excellent films that were appreciated by both the elite and the masses and loved by audiences all over the world.

This year's Venice Film Festival alone has films such as "Natural Born Killers", "Viva Love", and "The Breast and the Moon".

As this was her first time directing a film, Jiang Wen was inevitably a little nervous.

Fang Minghua smiled after hearing this.

"Don't worry, we will definitely not return empty-handed, not only you, but also our Chinese-language films."

This time, three Chinese-language films have been shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival, from mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan!
"Have you met Wong Kar-wai from Hong Kong and Tsai Ming-liang from Taiwan?" Fang Minghua asked.

"Yes, I did. I even told you that after the award ceremony, you were going to treat us to a meal to congratulate us," Jiang Wen said with a smile.

"That's good. Let's set the time for tomorrow afternoon at 6. As for the location, the Hotel Danieli where we are staying is a good choice. There is a barbecue buffet restaurant there. How about we have barbecue together? I'll make a reservation when I go back tonight." Fang Minghua said.

"Don't worry. It would be so embarrassing if we didn't win the award." Jiang Wen said quickly.

"I told you I would definitely win the prize." Fang Minghua laughed.

As expected, Chinese-language films won big at this year's Venice Film Festival.

Not only were three films nominated, but they also won awards:

"Vive L'Amour": Golden Lion Award for Best Film! International Film Critics Association Award!
"Sunny Days": Best Actor (Volpi Cup) Xia Yu
"Ashes of Time": Outstanding Artistic Contribution Award (Best Cinematography Award) Christopher Doyle, Andrew Lau, and Alex Fong.

Filmmakers from the great Eastern country appear on the podium again and again.

At six o'clock in the afternoon of the next day, Fang Minghua invited everyone to dinner, and everyone arrived as scheduled. He invited three film creation teams to the hotel's self-service barbecue restaurant.

There were more than ten people in total, and they gathered around a big table and ate and drank on the open-air balcony next to it.

Venice has a Mediterranean climate and is quite hot in the summer, but now it is September and it is cooler at night, especially when the sea breeze blows, everyone feels extra cool.

In a small foreign town, eating Korean barbecue and drinking local Palatine ice beer, although we didn't know each other before, the same language and writing as well as the same love of movies brought us closer.

Wong Kar-wai is wearing sunglasses and still looks cool.

He raised his beer glass and said to Fang Minghua: "Mr. Fang, let me toast you. Thank you for writing such a good script for me. I almost gave it to Tsui Hark, and now I'm at a big loss."

"Director Wang, you actually gave away such a good script?!" The speaker was Tsai Ming-liang, a Taiwanese director. He had been to Hong Kong to make a film and met Wong Kar-wai, so he spoke in a casual manner.

"You don't know, Mr. Fang set a trap in the script he gave me, and I almost fell for it!" Wong Kar-wai explained.

"What's going on? Tell us about it." Everyone immediately became interested.

"When Mr. Fang gave me the script for Ashes of Time, it was written strictly according to the passage of time. As a result, the entire script became a bland account. This is not my style of filming, Wong Kar-wai. It happened that Tsui Hark came to my house that day, so I gave him the script: Don't you also like to make martial arts films? This script is for you."

"As a result, Tsui Hark discovered the clues and re-adjusted the timeline of the plot in the script, which immediately became exciting. I quickly grabbed it back."

After listening to Wong Kar-wai's narration, everyone laughed. They didn't expect that such an alternative martial arts film would have such an experience.

Fang Minghua raised his glass and clinked it with the other's. He then explained, "Director Wang, I'm not trying to set you up. I'm only providing you with the most basic material. You're the director, so you can shoot it however you want."

"Brother-in-law, you just want to set a trap for others." Li Li, who was sitting next to Fang Minghua, leaned close to his ear and chuckled.

Fang Minghua glared at her. "Honest child! Why do you say that about your brother-in-law?"
"Mr. Fang, can we continue to cooperate in future films?" Wong Kar-wai said.

"Okay." Fang Minghua agreed happily.

Although King of Sunglasses likes to show off and the things he takes are a bit vague, the artistic quality is still quite high.

Chinese films can't always be commercial films, right? That would be too monotonous.

Jiang Wen, who was sitting on the other side, felt warmed when she heard this.

He also wanted Fang Minghua to help him write the script.

Known as the number one screenwriter in mainland China, he is now beginning to shine in Hong Kong. Which director wouldn't want to get close to him?

So while everyone was chatting and drinking, Jiang Wen came over and toasted Fang Minghua with a beer glass.

"Teacher Fang, can you write a script for me too?"

"Why, what do you want to shoot again?"

"Teacher Fang, to be honest, I like one of your novels and want to make it into a movie, but I don't think I can grasp the essence of the novel yet and I'm afraid it won't be a good film."

"Is it The Sun Also Rises?"

"Yes, that novel! I'm very interested in it, but the content is obscure and I can't quite handle it."

Fang Minghua smiled slightly: "It's okay, I'll keep it for you. Just come to me whenever you want to take a picture."

"Thank you so much! Teacher Fang, I'll toast you another glass!"

The party didn't end until ten o'clock in the evening, and then everyone went their separate ways.

Fang Minghua and Li Li saw Jiang Wen and the others off and returned to their hotel.

"Hey, brother-in-law, Wong Kar-wai and Jiang Wen both want to work with you, so why doesn't Tsai Ming-liang want you to write the script?" Li Li asked curiously.

"You can't write about the movies he made," Fang Minghua said with a smile.

"why?"

"His movies are just like the award-winning 'Viva Love'. They both have gay elements, which I can't accept," Fang Minghua explained.

Hearing this, Li Li's originally happy expression suddenly changed.

"Lili, I'm sorry." Fang Minghao realized that his words had inadvertently hurt Li Li's sore spot, and hurriedly apologized.

"It's nothing, brother-in-law. Take a rest. We have to rush to Rome tomorrow."

There are no direct flights from Venice to Yanjing or San Francisco, so both of them have to go to Rome to take the plane.

Early the next morning, the two took a train to Rome, ending their trip to Italy.

Li Li's flight to San Francisco was ahead, and Fang Minghua sent her to the customs channel.

"Brother-in-law, don't forget to write a novel for me." Li Li reminded.

"I can't forget it. You can see it when you return home during the winter vacation."

"I can't wait until winter break to come back."

"Okay, okay, I'll write it when I get back and send it to you in the United States. Is that okay?"

"Thank you, brother-in-law. I'm leaving now," Li Li waved happily. After taking two steps with her luggage, she suddenly turned around and looked at Fang Minghua.

"Brother-in-law, I plan to divorce Chen Ji'an after I return to San Francisco."

(End of this chapter)