Huayu: Director started with art films

Chapter 119 [Leader of the domestic film industry]

As Popular Cinema became available in major newsstands, many book fans who had been waiting to buy it also rushed to the newsstands to buy it as soon as possible.

A residential area near Sanlitun.

A young girl was riding a bicycle on the road. When she saw a female companion in front of her, she excitedly shouted, "Xuan Lili!"

The girl called Xuan Lili looked back and saw that it was her classmate Xu Jinglei. She said excitedly: "Xu Jinglei, you came at the right time. Please give me a ride."

"sure."

Xu Jinglei stopped her bicycle and asked with a smile, "Where are you going?"

"Go to the newsstand out front."

"Go to the newsstand, what to buy?"

"Buy Popular Movies. I heard that the cover character of this issue is the young director Li Yishu who won the Golden Lion Award last year."

"Is he the director of 'That Mountain, That Man, That Dog'?"

"You know him, too?"

Xuan Lili fell in love with this talented young director because she likes watching movies and had seen this movie in the cinema before. Later, she learned some general information about this young director through a program that CCTV had previously reported on and some gossip magazines.

But back then there was no Internet, let alone encyclopedias, so it was almost impossible to learn about a celebrity.

Even for a young director who has made great achievements in the film industry, it is still very difficult to obtain the other party's real information except for some rumors spread by gossip magazines.

At the end of the October issue of Popular Cinema, there was a photo of a shadow, and below it was written that the cover character of the November monthly magazine was the Venice International Film Festival Golden Lion Award-winning director Lee Yi-seok.

This is the first time that the young director Li Yishu, who won the Golden Lion Award, has been publicly interviewed in a magazine, except for a documentary called "Cross-Strait" produced by CCTV.

Those who like his works, whether it is "That Mountain" or "Love Letter", also learned through word of mouth for more than half a month that the main interview subject of the November "Popular Movies" monthly magazine is Li Yishu, which naturally attracted many movie fans and book fans to go to the newsstand to buy it.

Xu Jinglei said: "Of course I know, I even bought his novel Love Letter!"

"You bought it too? I bought it too, but my parents wouldn't let me watch it, so I hid at home and watched it secretly."

Xuan Lili's face was filled with joy. Although there was no school rule against bringing extracurricular books these days, Xuan Lili's parents were very strict, so she didn't dare to bring them to study for fear that the teacher would tell her parents.

"I'm fine. My parents don't care much."

Xu Jinglei said with a smile: "By the way, I am learning painting from someone. I heard from a senior sister that this novel seems to have been adapted into a movie abroad."

"Is it true?" Xuan Lili looked confused. She really didn't know about this.

"It should be true. It seems to have been published in the newspaper before, but I don't know the details."

Xu Jinglei said, patting the back seat of her car: "Get in the car, and go to the newsstand and you'll know, right?"

"Uh-huh!"

Xuan Lili also sat down on it.

The two girls rode their bikes and took a bus straight to the newsstand not far away.

Newsstand entrance.

As soon as Xuan Lili got off the car, she saw the "Popular Movies" magazine hanging on the bookshelf by the newsstand owner. She recognized the young man on the cover of the magazine at a glance. It was the photo of Lee Yi-su after he won the Golden Lion Award last year.

Because Xuan Lili cut out this photo of Li Yishu from the newspaper and pasted it in her book.

"What do you want to buy, little girl?"

"Give me a Popular Cinema."

"Okay."

The newsstand owner pulled out a brand new copy of Popular Movies and handed it over.

After Xuan Lili paid the money, she came to the side with Xu Jinglei and started watching.

On the cover, there is a photo of Lee Yi-su winning the award, and at the top, the title is [The Unknown Secret of a Genius Director], with several subtitles beside it, [21-year-old Golden Lion Award winner], [Overseas movie box office breaks $1.5 million], [Break the No. box office record in Formosa region]

"My goodness!"

Xu Jinglei looked at the words 1.5 million US dollars and was stunned: "Did Li Yishu's movie sell that much at the box office?"

"I, I don't know either." Xuan Lili swallowed. She liked the young director Li Yishu very much, but she didn't know that his movies could sell so many box office tickets abroad.

"Quick, open it and take a look!"

Xu Jinglei was excited and overwhelmed. She didn't expect this young director to be so talented.

"Oh~"

Xuan Lili reacted and quickly flipped the page, finding the interview with Li Yishu.

The article is very long. In addition to interviews with Deputy Editor-in-Chief Zhao Ni and Li Yishu, it also includes Zhao Ni's evaluation of the young director.

After reading the interview, Xu Jinglei said with a burning gaze: "He is really amazing! Not only was Love Letter made into a movie in Japan, it also earned more than 150 billion yen at the box office."

"Yeah, more than 150 billion. I've never heard of such a large number in my life."

"That's Japanese yen, not worth much. Converted to just over 1 million U.S. dollars."

"Is more than 1 million US dollars not enough?"

Xuan Lili said excitedly: "Do you know how much foreign exchange our country has now? I remember my father said before that our country is short of foreign exchange. In 1990, there were only 1 to billion in total. Now Li Yishu has made million US dollars in Japan with just one movie. If she makes a few more movies, won't it increase our country's foreign exchange?"

"Ah? Is that all?"

Xu Jinglei was stunned. She was a high school girl who, apart from learning painting and calligraphy, knew little about national affairs and naturally had no idea how much foreign exchange the country had.

Although the figure of 20 to 30 billion US dollars is still out of reach for Xu Jinglei in her lifetime, she even dares not think about it.

However, compared to Li Yishu's "Love Letter", which sold $1 million in Japan, and "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog", which sold tens of millions of dollars in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and other regions.

In such a comparison, the country's two or three hundred billion in foreign exchange seems to be really too little.

"Yes!"

Xuan Lili clenched her right hand tightly and said excitedly: "Li Yishu is really amazing!"

"It's very powerful."

Xu Jinglei nodded, then noticed that there was more content below the article, and quickly said, "Lili, take your hands away, there's more below."

"Oh, let me see."

Xuan Lili looked down and saw Zhao Ni, deputy editor-in-chief of Popular Cinema, commenting on Li Yishu. She couldn't help but read aloud, "When I waited for Li Yishu in the office, it was really hard to imagine that this young director was so young. His excellence..."

"My first film won the Golden Lion Award, the biggest award at the Venice Film Festival, one of the three major international film festivals in Europe. It also sold tens of millions of dollars in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Japan and Southeast Asia."

"The movie-watching trend among veterans in Taiwan that CCTV reported last year was inspired by this Golden Lion-winning film, That Mountain, That Man, That Dog..."

"The second film was a remake of his own pure love novel, Love Letter, which sold an astonishing 150 billion yen in Japan, equivalent to more than 1 million US dollars..."

"..."

"It is really difficult to evaluate such a young director who is only 22 years old this year. His directorial career has just begun. Within a year, he has conquered the Venice Film Festival in Italy and millions of fans in Japan with his excellent film works... He himself was called "a rare genius director in a century" by the Japanese media..."

"Director Lee Yi-su will attend the Cannes International Film Festival next year with his film Farewell My Concubine, and there will also be a groundbreaking martial arts epic Sword Rain, which will be released simultaneously in 12 countries around the world on December 25."

"This is the first time that a Chinese-language film has been released in more than 70 countries around the world at the same time. Director Lee Yi-su himself defines "Sword Rain" as a groundbreaking martial arts masterpiece because it has created a martial arts style and photography technology that is different from the past..."

"It is a perfect combination of film technology and martial arts. It is reported that it will be released nationwide on December 12. Fans of director Lee Ye-soo around the world will enjoy this epoch-making martial arts masterpiece together."

"It is reported that when Popular Cinema is published in November, Director Lee Ye-su will go to Japan to attend the Tokyo International Film Festival. I hope this young director will continue to use his film talent to win awards at international film festivals and achieve good results that will make the Chinese people proud!"

"Director Lee Ye-su has demonstrated outstanding achievements in both film art and business. I believe he will become a leader in the domestic film industry in the future."

(End of this chapter)