Huayu: Director started with art films

The next morning.

Li Yishu took Yu Feihong, Jiang Qinqin and others for a tour in Bern, the capital of Switzerland, and bought some local specialties.

There is actually nothing interesting to see in the city. The most famous place in Switzerland is probably the Jungfraujoch in the Alps.

However, Li Yishu still took everyone to the old town of Bern. The large number of ancient medieval buildings and the Gothic church were also an eye-opener for everyone.

It was not until noon that we had a Swiss meal on the roadside and then returned to the hotel. After a short rest, at two o'clock in the afternoon, we took a pre-arranged bus to the Locarno Film Festival.

Although the Locarno Film Festival is not very famous, Li Yishu still felt that it was very lively when she arrived at the festival. There were many tourists and filmmakers coming and going in this lakeside town of Locarno.

Fortunately, Li Yishu had already arranged for someone to book a hotel, otherwise they might not be able to find a room.

In a fairly good-sized local hotel.

The assistant led everyone to check in at the hotel.

Li Yishu had just taken the room key when she suddenly saw a group of people with Asian faces walking in. There were about six or seven of them, both men and women.

"Supervisor Li!"

The leader of the team seemed to recognize Li Yishu and immediately ran over, bowed respectfully and said, "Hakimi Mas, it's an honor to meet you here."

The rest of the group also came over and bowed respectfully: "Hakimimas!"

This scene surprised Yu Feihong, Jiang Qinqin and others.

Including other guests in the hotel, they all looked confused?
What is this doing?
Gangster?

Lee Yi-su did remember that there were several Japanese films among the films nominated this year, so it seemed that these were the filmmakers who were nominated, so he replied in English, “Hello.”

The man mumbled a lot of things, and the woman who seemed to be a translator stood up and said, "Hello, Director Li, I am Tsukamoto Shinya, the director and star of the movie "Tokyo Tekken". It's an honor to meet you here. I am your most devout fan. The movie "Fireworks" is really great!"

[The following translation exchange]

Li Yishu looked at the other person in surprise: "Have you seen "Fireworks"? "

This movie hasn't been released yet. It will be publicly screened after participating in this year's Venice Film Festival. I didn't expect that the other party had already seen it.

Tsukamoto Shinya nodded and said, "Yes, I had the honor of seeing this movie directed by Director Li during my third film review at Toho Co., Ltd."

"That's it..."

Li Yishu nodded slightly. It seemed that this person was also a director signed or cooperated with Toho. She smiled and extended her hand: "Hello, Director Tsukamoto."

Seeing his idol wanting to shake hands with him, Tsukamoto Shinya was so excited that he could not help himself: "Hello Director Li, it's an honor to meet you. I'm so excited. You are the most talented director I have ever seen, the true godfather of Asian movies..."

In fact, Li Yishu always accepts compliments with a smile, but this Tsukamoto Shinya's compliments feel awkward, just like the exaggerated performance style of Japanese comedy movies. While he was talking, his facial features were moving around and he looked very excited.

He didn't know whether the other party was really excited or just pretending to be excited.

"Okay, I'll go watch the filming of Tokyo Fist when I get a chance."

After saying a few perfunctory words to the other party, Li Yishu took the key, said something to the crew behind her, and strode towards the elevator.

The others reacted and hurriedly followed.

Because there were too many people, we had to be divided into two groups.

The first group to go upstairs are all the leading actors or creative staff of the crew.

Jiang Qinqin couldn't help but ask curiously, "Brother Yishu, why did that little devil look so excited just now, as if he was about to cry?"

She didn't speak English well and couldn't understand Japanese, so she had no idea why those little Japanese devils were so excited.

Before Li Yishu could speak, Yu Feihong, who is very good at English, smiled and said, "Because those people are all fans of Director Li."

Jiang Qinqin was surprised: "Ah? Brother Yishu, they are all your fans."

"I guess so." Li Yishu nodded.

Wang Zhiwen had just asked the translator, and while sitting in the elevator, he smiled and said, "Director Li, I knew you were very famous abroad. I didn't expect that when you came to Switzerland, there were actually Japanese directors participating in the competition who were your fans. It seems that the newspapers say that you are the godfather of Asian movies, and you really deserve the title!"

The nickname "Godfather of Asian Cinema" was first published in Time magazine.

The impact in European and American countries is not that big. After all, Asian affairs have little to do with them. At most, they pay a little attention to it. Asia has produced a very capable film godfather.

But across Asia, the stir it caused was huge.

The sensation caused, especially in East and Southeast Asian countries, lasted for a month, and a large number of newspapers reported on Li Yishu's life and resume.

Although filmmakers in many countries do not think that Lee Yi-seok deserves such an honor, the year when Lee Yi-seok was deified happened to be the year when he won three Golden Globes and became famous all over the world.

If anyone thinks he is unworthy, there are supporters who will bring up the identity of a European triple-gold grand slam director. If you have the ability, go get a triple-gold grand slam. If you have the ability, go make a movie with a global box office of over 4 million US dollars. If you have the ability, go make a movie in Hollywood...

Gradually, as Lee Yi-su won the Cannes Director Award and the Venice Silver Lion, and various awards, the title of Godfather of Asian Film was completely attached to him.

But for mainland audiences, although Li Yishu, the godfather of Asian films, makes them feel proud, they don’t have an intuitive feeling.

Wang Zhiwen felt it directly today.

"Brother, you are too polite. This is just an empty title."

Li Yishu waved his hand modestly, but the smile on his lips still revealed his true thoughts.

He has made movies for so many years, won so many awards, and put in so much effort, all for the sake of being able to show off a little!

To use a phrase that was later used on the Internet, it means "showing off one's power in front of others."

Wang Zhiwen smiled and said, "Director Li is too modest. I used to read Popular Movies and they often wrote about how popular you were abroad, but I didn't have a direct impression of you. Only after I went abroad did I have a direct feeling of you."

Director Huang Lijia nodded vigorously at the side. He only knew that Li Yishu had won many overseas awards and acted in many box office hits. She definitely had the ability, but she was still too young. He didn't think Li Yishu really had such a high status abroad.

Generally speaking, things smell good from a distance but stink up close.

And because of the thinking of people of this era, they always feel that they need the support of foreigners to highlight someone's awesomeness.

At this moment, Li Yishu was lifted up and became the amazing person that everyone admired.

In response, Li Yishu just smiled and said nothing more. Just as the elevator arrived, she was the first to walk out of the elevator.

Everyone came out one after another, each holding their keys to find their rooms. Li Yishu lived in room 807, and across from her lived Jiang Qinqin and Yu Feihong.

After sitting in the car for an entire afternoon, everyone was tired and decided to go downstairs to eat at seven o'clock in the evening. After saying hello to the restaurant and making a reservation for dinner at seven o'clock, they all rested in the room.

But no one expected that at seven o'clock in the evening, when everyone went to the restaurant downstairs to have dinner, a large number of people with Asian faces came one after another.

"Hello, Director Li, I am Lin Haixiang, the director of "Umihoozuki", and it is an honor to meet you."

"Hello, Director Li. I am Takashi Ishii, the director of "The Five Bloody Gangs". I am your loyal fan and I especially like your films..."

"..."

Seeing Li Yishu sitting on the chair, facing the Japanese who were bowing one after another,
Everyone was annoyed.

Jiang Qinqin was even more excited and pulled Yu Feihong over and started asking her what these people were talking about.

I learned that these were all Japanese directors, actors, and assistants who came to attend the film festival. They all complimented Lee Ye-seo, calling her an idol, a movie godfather, and a goal to learn from...

Jiang Qinqin was so excited that she wanted to take out a big loudspeaker right now to tell everyone how awesome her brother Yishu was.

Wang Zhiwen, Huang Lijia and other main creative staff also expressed their admiration.

Director Li is really awesome!
Looking at the situation, if you don’t know, you might think it’s a meeting with the leader.

The staff in the hotel restaurant, other tourists, including filmmakers attending the film festival, were all curious about the scene before them.

If you ask around, you'll find that ordinary tourists may not know who Li Yishu is. After all, apart from people who pay attention to art films, few people know who the directors of these films are.

But it was different for the participating filmmakers. They knew too well the value of the name Lee Yi-su, a triple gold Grand Slam winner at the three major European film festivals. They didn't expect that she would stay in the same hotel with them.

Naturally, they all came enthusiastically to meet the godfather of Asian films.

Several foreign reporters took photos of the scene and they have already thought of several headlines.
"Asian Film Godfather Lee Meets His Most Loyal Godchildren"

"The Director from the Mysterious East and His Devout Followers"

The Charm of European Directors with Three Golden Globes

Jiang Qinqin noticed this scene and quickly pulled Yu Feihong and said, "Sister Feihong, can you ask those people for a copy of the film?"

"Okay, I'll go ask."

Yu Feihong also wanted a copy. Her man was so respected, so she naturally wanted to keep a copy of the film. She immediately stood up and walked over, chatted with the foreigners for a few words, and after learning that they were reporters, she told them the purpose of her visit.

A reporter said decisively: "No problem, but we hope to interview Li!"

"This..." Yu Feihong hesitated and said, "I'm not sure whether Director Li will agree, but you can leave your contact information and I will contact you when the time comes."

"Great!"

Several people quickly took out their business cards. They were all European journalists who specialized in reporting on major film festivals. They were naturally aware of Li Yishu's value. If they could conduct an exclusive interview with him and send it back to the agency, the sales would definitely be good.

More than an hour later.

Li Yishu and others finally finished their meal and returned to their room upstairs.

Because it was still early and due to jet lag, everyone gathered in Li Yishu's room to chat.

Talking about what happened just now, everyone was very excited.

Jiang Qinqin, in particular, was extremely active. The person she admired most was Li Yishu. Although she had seen many people take the initiative to greet Li Yishu when she was in Cannes before, none of them was as shocking as today.

During the meal, everyone lined up to meet Li Yishu, bending and bowing.

This made Jiang Qinqin, who was not very fond of the Japanese, realize that the Japanese did have some skills. At least the skillful posture of bending and bowing was something that ordinary people could not learn.

At around 9:30, Li Yishu took the initiative to say, "Okay, it's getting late. We still have to set up the venue tomorrow morning and communicate with the organizer. Time is tight and the task is heavy. Everyone should go back and rest early."

Everyone nodded and left one after another.

Only Jiang Qinqin and Yu Feihong stayed.

"Director Li, I met a few reporters in the restaurant..."

Yu Feihong blabbered on and on about the reporter wanting to interview him.

Hearing this, Li Yishu thought about it and nodded, "Okay, the interview is no problem, but you have to wait a few days."

He has a lot of things to do these days. In addition to meeting with the organizers of the Locarno Film Festival, he also needs to talk to them about opening a channel that is more convenient for mainland filmmakers to register for the competition.

The Locarno Film Festival is still a little too niche. Apart from the fact that Chen Kai won the Silver Leopard Award that year, it became popular in China for a while, but was then overshadowed by Zhang Yimou winning the Berlin Golden Bear Award.

Over the past seven or eight years, the three major international film festivals of Berlin, Cannes and Venice have become increasingly famous in mainland China. Not only has the Locarno Film Festival become a niche film festival, but even very few movie fans know about it.

In addition, there is a lack of channels to register for the competition, so many independent filmmakers who want to register don’t know how to start. Li Yishu came here this time to talk to the Locarno Film Festival to see if the Art Entertainment Group can become the only channel for registration in China.

In other words, the Art Entertainment Group becomes the registration point, and any film that gets its nomination can be submitted for registration at the Locarno Film Festival. As for the nomination, it must be discussed, and at least one film must be nominated every year.

As for Li Yishu, she will try her best to promote the Locarno Film Festival in China and even in Asia.

Thanks to Lee Ye-su's current fame in Europe and the gimmick of being the godfather of Asian films, the Locarno Film Festival was very attracted by this mutually beneficial plan.

Although film festivals must maintain the most basic fairness and justice, human relationships and social conventions are naturally indispensable.

China is a huge market.

It is developing rapidly nowadays. If the Locarno Film Festival can be popular in the Chinese market, it will be able to obtain more funding in the future.

For example, brand sponsorship, advertising cooperation, and Asian filmmakers bringing their films to the exhibition...

You have to know that you have to pay to exhibit your film.

It is equivalent to renting a screening hall and publicity channel for a film festival.

In addition, more funding from the Swiss government can be obtained.

The more famous the film festival is, the better Switzerland's international image will be, and more tourists will come to visit. (End of this chapter)