Huayu: Director started with art films

“Everyone has a hometown in his heart, maybe it’s a person, maybe it’s a dog, or maybe it’s an event.”

"In short, you put all your emotions into trying to keep her, but you can't do it."

"I think everyone has a hometown in their heart called 'the past' that they can't let go of or go back to."

Abraham said with emotion: "You filmed "The Postman in the Mountain" so well. I can still recall the endless rice fields and the scenery that looks like your Chinese ink paintings."

Listening to the other person reminiscing about the past, Li Yishu would occasionally interject a few words, and the chat atmosphere was very good.

After about seven or eight minutes, when it seemed that they were almost done reminiscing about the past, Abraham hesitated and said, "Li, I came to you this time because I actually have something I want to discuss with you."

Are you going to say it?

Li Yishu asked with a smile, "What's the matter?"

"This one……"

Abraham hesitated, but still gritted his teeth and said, "Li, you are no longer the rookie director you were before. Now you are a world-renowned four-time Grand Slam director, and you are also the chairman of the film festival in your country..."

"Chairman Abraham!"

Li Yishu interrupted, "If you have anything to say, just say it. We have known each other for so many years, I don't think there is any need to wait so long."

"Okay, here's the thing. The organizer contacted me and asked me to tell you about today's film festival review. Of course, you will definitely win a prize. I've seen your movie in advance and it's very well made, but..."

"The purpose of the Venice International Film Festival is to encourage more young directors. Li, you are no longer the rookie director who just arrived. You have won gold medals from the four major European film festivals, completing your first Grand Slam of four gold medals. You are also a great director at the godfather level of Asian films..."

In fact, given the status of the Venice Film Festival, there is no need to explain anything to Lee Yi-su.

But considering Lee Yi-su's current popularity in the Asian market, as well as his influence and appeal in the Chinese film market, if it is clear that there is a shady deal, it is natural to hope to talk to Lee Yi-su in advance.

"I understand!"

Li Yishu smiled and said, "President Abraham, I have always been grateful to the Venice International Film Festival. I won my first trophy in Venice, so I respect the decision of the Venice Film Festival organizers and support their decision!"

If Abraham hadn't come to him, he might have been a little unhappy afterwards, but this unhappiness would be useless now.

Apart from his first time attending the Venice Film Festival, Lee Yi-su was selected more or less by luck. He also did some public relations for subsequent events such as Cannes, Berlin, etc.

Among them, the Berlin Film Festival was the one in which Li Yishu invested the most. Not only did he spend nearly two million US dollars, he also successfully got Morgan Freeman to vote for him on the grounds of investing in the filming of "12 Years a Slave", and he also had the solid voting base of Xu Suo.

With two fixed votes already in hand, the remaining seven judges and the chairman only need to get three more.

Abraham didn't expect Li Yishu to be so easy to talk to, and he felt even more uncomfortable inside. He watched the movie "Fireworks", which was quite good.

If we look at it from a normal judging perspective, Fireworks would definitely be the most likely to win the Golden Lion Award.

Thinking of this, Abraham said with a little guilt: "Li, I have fought for you, but you also know that I am only the chairman of the Film Critics Week section, and I do not belong to the same organization as the Venice Film Festival."

"I understand, Chairman Abraham. I still remember the Film Critics' Week Award you presented to me that year. I still take out this trophy and look at it often."

Li Yishu smiled, then changed the subject and said quietly, "In fact, I have always been very grateful to the Venice Film Festival. After all, I became famous here. I have already won the Golden Lion and Silver Lion. If there is still one regret, it may be the Best Director award."

Hearing this, Abraham pondered for a moment and nodded: "Don't worry, I will fight with the organizers and will not let you return empty-handed!"

"Thank you, Chairman Abraham."

Li Yishu smiled. Although the other party agreed to help, as he himself said, the Critics' Week unit is an award promoted by the Italian Film Critics Association and has only a cooperative relationship with the organizers of the Venice Film Festival.

Whether or not you can win the Best Director award depends on the organizers and the jury.

The public relations still have to continue, but it has to be shifted from the Golden Lion Award to the Best Director Award.

Maybe I felt guilty.

On September 9, the third day after the opening of the film festival, Abraham brought a large group of film critics from various European countries to attend the premiere of Lee Ye-su's "Fireworks".

In addition, there were a large number of reporters and film producers from various countries, making the scene extremely lively.

Most of the "Fireworks" crew didn't feel there was anything wrong with this scene, because they thought it was normal. The scene of movie premieres in Japan was similar to this, and the venue was bigger and more lively.

But Kitano Takeshi is different. He has come to Europe to participate in several film festivals. When he came to Venice with the movie "Sonata", the premiere day was extremely miserable. Except for a few Japanese reporters who came in, there were only a few tourists who came to watch the movie in the afternoon.

It was nothing like the morning of Lee Yi-su's premiere, when so many film critics and reporters came to support the event.

Kitano Takeshi was filled with emotion, he is indeed an internationally renowned director!
Li Yishu had no idea what Takeshi Kitano was thinking, but she stood at the door of the exhibition hall with a smile, and together with Izumi Sakai, she received reporters, film critics and film producers from various countries.

Although he no longer holds out hope for the Golden Lion Award, he still has to maintain an attitude. After all, he also invested in this film, a major investor, so he naturally hopes to sell it for a good price.

"Director Li!"

At this time, Liang Chaowei came over with a few people.

"Weizai is here." Li Yishu shook hands with Liang Chaowei with a smile, then looked at the two men and one woman beside him.

"Director Li, let me introduce you. This is Chen Yingxiong, the director of our film "Tricycle Driver"."

Liang Chaowei introduced a young man next to him who was not tall and had a mustache and looked to be around 30 years old.

Li Yishu extended her hand politely and said with a smile, "Hello, Director Chen."

"Hello, Director Li."

Chen Yingxiong held Li Yishu's hand and said excitedly in English: "Director Li, I am a fan of your movies. My favorite is the movie "The Mountain, the Man, the Dog" you shot. It is so good."

The name Chen Yingxiong sounds very Chinese, but he is actually Vietnamese.

Li Yishu smiled and said, "Director Chen, you are too polite. I am also very interested in your film "The Rickshaw Man". When you premiere, please remember to send me an invitation letter."

"No problem, Director Li."

Chen Yingxiong nodded quickly. It was definitely a great honor for a new director like Li Yishu to come to the Venice International Film Festival for the first time, which was a great honor for him.

After the two chatted for a few sentences, Chen Yingxiong took the initiative to introduce the man and woman next to him. The man was Li Wenlu, the male protagonist of "Tricycle Driver", and the woman was Chen Yanxi, Chen Yingxiong's girlfriend and also the female protagonist who played the male protagonist's sister in the movie.

After a few greetings, Li Yishu called over Takeshi Kitano, introduced him as the male lead, and then had someone bring Liang Chaowei, Chen Yingxiong and the others into the theater.

It was not until around 8.40: am that almost everyone who was supposed to come had arrived, and Li Yishu led everyone back to the theater. After a brief opening speech, the world premiere of Fireworks began. Li Yishu's expression was calm. This was not his first time to come to Venice for a movie premiere, and he had already known the result in advance, so naturally his emotions would not fluctuate too much.

But Kitano Takeshi was different. He was looking at the expressions of the people around him excitedly and trying his best to listen to the whispered conversation between several film critics sitting nearby.

This movie can be said to be Kitano Takeshi's first film broadcast after he became paralyzed on half of his face. It is also his proof that even if he cannot make more expressions, he can still be a good actor.

The 113-minute film is considered relatively short at international film festivals.

Less than two hours later, after the movie ended, Abraham was the first to stand up and applaud, and a group of film critics who were with him also applauded.

Li Yishu took Kitano Takeshi and other main creative staff to the stage to express his gratitude. He said enthusiastically: "Thank you very much for coming to the premiere of the film. This is my third time attending the Venice Film Festival. People who know me may know that I won my first trophy in Venice. I am honored to have won the Golden Lion Award and the Critics' Week Award that year..."

Watching Li Yishu speaking nonstop on the stage, Izumi Sakai's eyes revealed deep admiration. If she hadn't come to Europe, she really wouldn't have known how popular Li Yishu was in Europe.

During these days, while visiting Venice, Izumi Sakai and Li Yishu often met reporters, film critics and tourists from all over the world who asked them to take photos and interview them.

This made Izumi Sakai feel proud. If it weren't for her personality, she would probably announce to the world in a high-profile manner: her man is the great director Lee Ye-su!

After more than ten minutes of communication, Li Yishu warmly saw everyone off.

Before Chen Yingxiong left, he specifically stated that his movie would premiere the day after tomorrow, and he would personally send an invitation to the hotel where Li Yishu was staying tomorrow.

Li Yishu naturally agreed with a smile. It just so happened that he had to take Izumi Sakai to the film festival more often these days.
After returning to China, he will go back to Hengdian to shoot a movie, go to Hong Kong to be a judge for the Miss Asia finals for a day, and attend the premiere of the Shanghai International Film Festival in October.

I'm afraid I won't have that much time to spend with Izumi Sakai.

Fortunately, Izumi Sakai is a well-behaved person who doesn't fight or compete. When the time comes, I'll arrange for someone to take her around Hengdian.

Speaking of which, Lee Yi-su is still very busy this year. It is estimated that she will have to wait until after October before she can relax a little and concentrate on the filming of "Red Cliff of Three Kingdoms".

This also made him glad that he had assembled a team of directors to shoot this big production, and he himself served as the chief director to coordinate the overall situation.

"Li!" Abraham came over with a few film critics and asked with a smile, "Do you have time recently?"

Li Yishu smiled and said, "As long as Chairman Abraham asks, I will make time for an interview even if I don't have time."

"That would be great."

Abraham laughed, "We at the Italian Film Critics Weekly would like to interview you, what do you think tomorrow?"

"no problem."

Li Yishu readily agreed. European film critics have a great influence, especially among film producers. Any movie recognized by film critics will almost certainly be bought by various film producers.

Although Li Yishu has no shortage of familiar international film producers now, why not participate in an interview if it can improve the reputation of the film?
Farewell to film critics such as Abraham.

Li Yishu returned to the theater and began to instruct assistants and others to clean the theater, and asked Kitano Takeshi to prepare for the next round of screenings.

Many tourists and fans who wanted to see his new film had gathered at the door.

I was busy until twelve o'clock noon.

The number of people near the Cinema Palace began to decrease, so Li Yishu asked a few people to stay behind and took the rest of the people to dine at a nearby restaurant.

Today is the movie premiere, so Li Yishu can't just leave. She has to go back to the theater in the afternoon and visit some nearby exhibition halls.

“How was the movie?”

In the afternoon, Li Yishu held Izumi Sakai's hand and began to wander around the entrances of various exhibition halls in the Film Palace.

Finally, he saw a film that interested him, "The Cold Festival", starring Isabelle Huppert, who played the role of "La Dame aux Camélias".

"The Lady of the Camellias" is the famous work of the great European writer Alexandre Dumas, and it also has a considerable influence in China. Although "The Lady of the Camellias" was not released in China at that time, the video tape was still circulated in the country.

Li Yishu, who is a student of the directing department of Beijing Film Academy, naturally watched this film and was deeply impressed by the heroine in the play. Later, she also watched many movies starring her.

"I can do anything." Izumi Sakai smiled. She was not very interested in watching movies. She was happiest when she was with Li Yishu.

"That's it, then."

Li Yishu took her and strode to the door of the theater, just as he was buying tickets at the counter at the door.

Suddenly a brown-haired woman came over and asked tentatively: "Art Lee?"

When she heard someone calling her English name from behind, Li Yishu subconsciously turned around and saw that it was the movie's heroine Isabelle Huppert.

Li Yishu took the initiative to extend her hand: "Hello, Ms. Huppert."

"It's really you!"

Isabelle Huppert said in surprise: "Just now I felt like it was you, but I didn't expect it to be true. I am a fan of yours. I really like the movie "Central Station" you shot."

Lee Ye-seo smiled and said, "Thank you. I also like your filming of 'La Dame aux Camélias'."

"Those were movies from more than ten years ago. I didn't expect you've seen them, Li?"

"Classic films never go out of style. When I was in school, I analyzed this movie with my classmates."

The two of them were chatting and laughing.
When Li Yishu mentioned that she met Isabelle Adjani at the Locarno Film Festival in Switzerland, Huppert's face turned a little ugly.

Li Yishu is good at observing people's expressions. Seeing that she looked unhappy, she immediately changed the subject and started talking about her new film.

Like Adjani, Yu Pere is also a French national.

Even though they are of similar age, both are good-looking art film goddesses, and they share the same name, their relationship is very ordinary.

People in the same industry are enemies, let alone two people with the same positioning.

In the French media, the two often clash with each other.

Li Yishu was not clear about this, but when she was chatting with Isabelle Huppert, she expressed her disdain for Anjelica Huppert, which made her guess that the two might have a bad relationship.

It's quite interesting to think about it. Both of them are named Isabel, which is a bit like the dispute between two female stars named Bingbing in China after the millennium. (End of this chapter)