Huayu: As a child star, I just want to be famous

Chapter 456: A century of film history, a competition of status within the industry
"Okay, this will make the layout bigger."

Tie Zong praised,
“We still have to learn to unite people.”

"That's right. I'm not as petty as the guy on the other side."

Mr. Tie rolled his eyes at him and said, "You can't say this to anyone."

"Of course, I'm doing this in front of Aunt Tie."

"You can't even say it in front of me."

"Yes, yes." Chen Linfeng nodded repeatedly.

He approached the China Railway Corporation mainly because of the company's huge influence in the Chinese Cultural Association.

There are two main in-laws behind the Golden Rooster Awards, one is the Film Association, and the other is the Literature Association.

The Film Association is holding a new leadership this year. The chairman is Mr. Li Xuejian, the honorary chairman is Tang Guoqiang, and the other deputies are all big directors, such as Chen Kaige and Feng Xiaogang.

Because Chen Linfeng had developed so rapidly in the past few years, he was barely selected and served as a deputy, ranking last.

Last year, he had been working hard in this direction, and his efforts had finally paid off.

When Chen Linfeng contacted, he did so in the name of the Film Association. Li Xuejian and Tang Guoqiang also knew about it and agreed to it.

There is no one who disagrees with this good thing of expanding influence.

Of course, what Chen Linfeng used was just a name.

He did not inform the people in charge of daily operations in the association at all and just did things without their knowledge.

In fact, this is a bit taboo.

Therefore, Chen Linfeng found the China Railway Corporation to endorse him, and then brought in the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles to help.

When the time comes, we will say that we are here to judge on behalf of the Golden Rooster Awards. As long as we get the job done smoothly and get some credit, no one will be able to say anything.

It is useless for Chen Linfeng to ask for such credit. He just needs to be treated fairly and justly in the selection.

After listening to Chen Linfeng's overall plan, the China Railway Corporation felt that it was quite appropriate, but the matter could not be completely left out of other people.

"Remember these people. Contact them when you get back and ask them to participate in the event as well. It will be safer."

Chen Linfeng understood what she meant, "Thank you Auntie Tie, you are so thoughtful."

Mr. Tie smiled and said, "You are my junior, so I have to make sure you don't go the wrong way. As long as the process is fair, just and open, there will be no problems. Okay, you can continue with your work."

On the way home, Chen Linfeng carefully pondered the words "fairness, justice and openness" and felt that they were very meaningful.

However, it cannot be too "fair", otherwise it will just be a way of dividing pork without offending anyone.

In his opinion, fairness, justice and openness in the selection process will make it more authoritative.

Chen Linfeng was not prepared to completely listen to his elders regarding this minor disagreement.

He wanted to start a new one by leaving some people aside because he didn't want to make it like the previous mainland awards.

People always have to have their own ideas.

In mid-April, Zhang Yimou, Chen Linfeng, Han Shanping, Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen, Feng Xiaogang, Fang Long, Li Xuejian, Chen Daoming, Tang Guoqiang, Gu Changwei, Jia Zhangke, Ning Hao, Cheng Er...

About 20 industry leaders gathered together to discuss the planning and principles of the selection of the -year film history classics.

Xie Tieli was the nominal initiator, Zhang Yimou and Chen Linfeng were advocates, Chen Kaige, Jiang Wen, Feng Xiaogang and others were members, and the rest were important members of the organization.

Han Shanping, Zhang Jun and other leaders of the film studios and film academies serve as helpers and play a supervisory role but do not participate in specific affairs.

Everyone's positioning and division of labor are very clear, and the right to speak is also differentiated.

Zhang Yimou prefers to stay out of the spotlight and let another advocate host it.

Therefore, Chen Linfeng, the youngest person at the meeting, became the main speaker.

“Our voting principles must include two aspects. One is the professional perspective. The awards and reputation of the work will be important considerations.

The other is influence, works that occupy an important position in film history. No matter what, such works are indispensable.”

"What does it mean to be influential?" asked Chen Daoming.

“This is easy to judge, for example, the first film in Chinese history, Dingjun Mountain.

Another example is "The Battle of Shangganling", "A Great River with Wide Waves" has become the historical memory of the Chinese people.

Another example is "Havoc in Heaven", which is a permanent monument in the history of Chinese animated films.

The "Armageddon" series is the pinnacle of military war films.

There is also "Hero", the movie that opened the era of Chinese blockbusters and a work that cannot be missed in modern Chinese films.

There are many examples, and these factors must be taken into consideration.”

Everyone was silent. The examples Xiao Chen mentioned were not something they would have thought of at first.

They were misled by the Golden Horse Awards list and their primary considerations were award-winning classics such as "Farewell My Concubine" and "Red Sorghum".

We strive to achieve an award and professional reputation that cannot be criticized.

But on second thought, indeed, when it comes to film history, these films cannot be ignored no matter what.

Everyone's eyes unconsciously turned to Zhang Yimou.

Lao Mouzi made a lot of money, and there was a must-have option right from the start.

Then, many people immediately thought of "Your Name", which was just released in China and is currently being shown overseas.

Is it considered to be a huge influence for the first domestic movie to break 10 billion or 20 billion?

It’s really hard to say.

They were a little suspicious whether Xiao Chen had some ulterior motives in this.

But what they said was justified and their reasons were sufficient, so no one could say anything.

The two original works said by Chen Linfeng were unanimously recognized by everyone present.

Then, after discussion, the selection process was divided into three steps:
First, we will determine the selection criteria and invite filmmakers to participate. Second, we will vote to select 500 films for the preliminary round.

Third, expand the scope of judges, select the best from the best, select 200 outstanding films, and finally select 100 classic film and television works of the century.

We added an extra level because we thought 100 films would not be enough, so some that were felt a pity were put among the 200 films.

The most crucial thing is actually to select the judges twice.

There are too many filmmakers from several generations in China.

Just the number of candidates in the two rounds makes it difficult for everyone to reach a consensus.

After a long discussion, 200 people were selected as the primary candidates. In the second round of voting, the number was expanded to 1000, and many filmmakers from Hong Kong Island were invited to this round.

In other words, filmmakers from Hong Kong and Taiwan will vote based on the 500 selected films.

This avoids the problem of selecting a bunch of niche works from local regions that many Chinese people have never heard of, which would be too ugly.

In this way, the personnel selected in the primary election are crucial.

The differences among people became even greater.

The older generation of directors all hope to choose from among experienced filmmakers.

In this way, the excellent works they shot in the past will be more likely to be included in the list.

Many people don’t necessarily aim to be in the top 100, but having a few more in the top 200 or 500 is also good.

After all, judging from the scale, it will definitely be a grand event.

Maybe, when we talk about a movie in the future, we will have to judge its quality by whether it is on the list or not.

In other words, Chen Linfeng and Zhang Yimou were cunning and at the beginning they just looked for people to collude with them one by one.

By the time the news spread and many veteran directors wanted to join the organizing committee, it was already too late.

As for these few, the information was obtained through Xie Tieli. They are all just important members of the organization. Even with their seniority, their say is not as strong as that of others.

For example, Director Xiao Chen, who talks the most.

Of course, those who disagree with the older generation of directors are the fifth generation and later directors who are still making movies.

Like Feng Xiaogang, most of his films were shot around 00 or later.

If we ask the old guys to choose, his works will probably be in a very bad situation and maybe not even a single one will be selected.

And according to the influence factor mentioned by Xiao Chen, he feels that he can still try a few works.

The younger the filmmakers, the more they care about box office influence.

Therefore, he is the one who most supports Xiao Chen's opinion.

Then there is Jiang Wen, whose works were also shot relatively late, and their influence is mostly concentrated on young groups.

Of course, we also hope that young filmmakers will choose.

But it’s the opposite for Chen Kaige. There is no need to worry about "Farewell My Concubine", it will definitely be selected.

He knows clearly what the reputation of this movie is like, but he still has several movies in the past that he can talk about.

Therefore, he hoped that the judges would have more experience. Of course, since there was a guarantee, he did not have this idea too strongly.

Chen Kaige is considered a neutral person.

This caused differences in everyone's opinions.

However, among those present, due to the initial operations of Chen Linfeng and Zhang Yimou, young directors still accounted for the majority.

They all feel that the preliminary candidates should be filmmakers who are still active in the industry.

If you stop filming, you will definitely lose your sense of the current era.

Maybe if you talk about a movie made in recent years, they have never even heard of it, so they are not suitable to be judges at all.

Of course the older generation disagrees, but it’s of no use.

In the final vote, the principle of selecting people from younger filmmakers (those born after 50) was set.

The applicant must have produced works in the past five years.

There must be people for directors, actors, and behind-the-scenes staff.

There also needs to be a balance among all age groups. We can’t just say that everyone is a young person and then all of them are in their 40s and 50s. That would be meaningless.

Of course, the number of people in their 20s will definitely be reduced. To be precise, there are only a few, and there are no teenagers at all.

These two age groups are too young.

Chen Linfeng said this was age discrimination and was suppressed.

At most, we can allow Liu Xixi, the Chinese queen, to join, but forget about the rest.

Chen Linfeng didn't ask for much, just to leave a place for Xixi.

People like Xiaolong and Shu Chang, he can't promote them even if he wants to.

All I can say is that his small group in the Arctic Ocean still needs to be developed.

Next, the selection of judges will need to be done at another time.

Today's discussion was basically all about determining principles and rules, but few important things were accomplished.

Chen Linfeng has also gotten used to it, and there is nothing wrong with holding more meetings and communicating more.

However, he had already thought about the situation in the next few days, and he didn't know what the situation in the industry would be like.

Is this the preliminary list of 200 people? This is a competition for status in the circle.

Forget it, let others worry about this. Most of his friends are not old enough anyway, so he doesn’t need to worry too much.

(End of this chapter)