Exciting 1979!

Chapter 447 Shocking Venice, Where the hell is my Italian cannon!
The biggest regret about the film "The Witness" is that it is a short film and therefore cannot compete in the main competition.

Moreover, the short film section is no longer available; films can only participate as part of the exhibition.

However, Venice attached great importance to this film and Wei Ming. "The Legend of Sealed Book" was selected for the main competition at the last minute. Moreover, it is rare for animated films to be selected for Venice. This was largely due to the influence of "The Witness" and Mr. Why. Of course, the BBC also played a role.

Therefore, even though "The Witness" was only a screening film, the film festival gave it extremely high treatment. When Wei Ming was in Sichuan, the original formal invitation letter had already been sent from Venice to Beijing.

Moreover, it was said that the team from "The Witness" was invited to Venice.

Wei Ming's new team was preparing to continue their journey to southern Sichuan when they received this message from the Ministry of Culture through Emei Factory while passing through Chengdu.

However, the leadership did not want Wei Ming to go abroad at this critical juncture, and Wei Ming himself was too lazy to leave the film crew for so long for a short film, so he remained unmoved.

However, he did send a telegram to Hong Kong, asking Ah Long to convey to Xu Jinjiang that if he and Xia Wenxi had time and were willing, they could represent the "Witness" crew at the Venice Film Festival, with all expenses covered by DreamWorks.

This way, we can at least give an explanation for the film festival's warm invitation.

While Wei Ming and the others were resting in Chengdu, the actors who had come from Yanjing also arrived; they had come ahead of time to experience life there.

The main character, Li Baotian, didn't come. His experience mainly revolved around the identity of a musician. Wei Ming, on the other hand, needed him to maintain a sense of being out of place in the countryside, so he now mainly hangs out at the Central Conservatory of Music.

Three people came: Ge Cunzhuang and his son Ge You, and Wu Jing. Coincidentally, they played three generations of a family in the movie: Principal Wang Baoding, Village Chief Wang Jianshe, and Student Wang Shitou.

Ge Cunzhuang originally had rich acting experience and could easily play this kind of role, but this was his son's first time playing an important role. In terms of importance, not counting the children, he was second only to the male lead.

Ge You had only three years of experience working in the countryside in Changping before, and his experience mainly consisted of feeding pigs, cleaning pig manure, and postpartum care for sows. He lacked other skills.

So Mr. Ge personally brought his son to the filming location to experience life, specifically to learn from those village officials who had absolute authority in the village.

Since the filming location has not yet been finalized, Wei Ming plans to have them go to the village where his maternal grandmother lives to learn, with his maternal uncle providing assistance.

Wu Jing was in the same situation. He had never lived in the countryside, so his father took the initiative to suggest that he go to the countryside to experience life. Moreover, Wu Jing's father did not come himself and simply left the family to their own devices. Taking care of a child during the summer vacation was a real hassle, and he even regretted that Wei Ming had not taken him away sooner.

Wu Jing didn't understand this at all. He asked his brother Wei Ming, "Why do I need to experience life? I've acted before, and everyone says I act well."

Wu Jing's role actually has less screen time than Xi Zi's "Pi Pi," but Wu Jing's acting talent is also not as good as Xi Zi's, so experiencing life is still very necessary.

Wei Ming explained with a smile, "Jingzi, because you are a city kid, you may not know what life is like for rural kids. In order to make the performance more realistic, you have to learn their living habits. You have to know that there are no TVs in the countryside, there are no traffic lights at the village intersections, and the language of Sichuan kids is different."

Wu Jing asked curiously, "Brother Wei Ming, why are you shaking your head like that?"

Wei Ming laughed even harder, patting his short hair: "Don't follow my example. You should learn from Grandpa Ge and Uncle Ge. Xizi will come to keep you company in a few days."

Xi Zi also studied martial arts at Shichahai a while ago. He's a childhood friend of Jing Zi. He's already started filming "Under the Bridge". Everyone is waiting for Teacher Xi's schedule. After "The Shepherd's Class" is finished, it's time to film Red Boy in "Journey to the West".

The village primary school in the movie has more than 20 primary school students of different ages. The four child actors with important roles, two boys and two girls, were all found by Wei Ming from Yanjing. They are children with certain acting experience, including Xizi, a movie star.

Although rural children are more simple and honest, and can be used immediately without needing to experience life, they are too primitive and have never been exposed to the outside world. They may not have a concept of performance, and the communication cost will be very high. Even after a lot of training, they may still not be able to perform the feeling that Wei Ming wants. They may even feel disconnected when they are with professional actors.

The task of escorting the Ge family father and son and Wu Jing was assigned to Mi Jiashan. He happily accepted the task because Wei Ming had given the role of the female lead to Pan Hong.

In the original story, Mr. Zhong's wife and children abandoned him, but fortunately he had a kindred spirit in music, Mr. Yu, who unfortunately also passed away.

The movie didn't make it that complicated. His wife was his confidante, but she eventually passed away, leaving Mr. Zhong all alone. So, he eventually adopted Pipi.

This wife doesn't have many scenes; she mainly appears in flashbacks. However, she is Teacher Zhong's lifelong ideal woman, and Wei Ming even wants to save her for Sister Lin.

However, considering that Sister Lin has already landed two major roles in "Du Shiniang" and "Middle Age," let's give the role to Teacher Pan instead.

Before leaving, Wei Ming handed a letter to Mi Jiashan, asking him to pass it on to his maternal uncle.

During their absence, they found information on all women in Sichuan named Xu Shujie who were 32 years old or older. The detailed information was all in Wei Ming's thick letter. When Mi Jiashan touched the thick letter, he thought it contained money.

But this is more important to the Xu family than money.

When Xu Cunmao received the letter, he understood that it was now his turn as the eldest brother to fulfill his responsibilities.

Currently, the feed mill's business is only in one county. Next, he plans to expand to the entire city and the entire province, while simultaneously running the business and using this information to search for his sister.

In his letter, Xiaoming also said, "There's a high chance that my aunt changed her name, and there's also the possibility that she left Sichuan. If we still can't find her, we'll look for other ways. I heard that a technology called paternity testing has been introduced in China. Even if my aunt herself can't remember, as long as we find someone suspected, we can confirm whether it's her or not with just a single hair."

Xu Cunmao had never heard of this technology before, but he trusted his nephew and said that if it existed, then it must exist.

This technology is called DNA paternity testing. Currently, it is only used for solving major criminal cases and will not be used for paternity testing for several years.

However, Wei Ming has overseas connections; his uncle is in charge of screening, and he is responsible for confirmation.

~
In Hong Kong, Vivian Chow and her mother are watching the weekly show "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?".

This is the second episode that has officially aired, and it became a huge hit after the first episode.

Every episode, countless families in Hong Kong would sit in front of their TVs and answer questions alongside the contestants, then complain about how stupid they were and how they would feel if they were in their shoes.

In the first official round, the best scorer was someone who failed on question 14 and could only take home the prize money of 6 yuan for answering 10 questions.

In this episode, a remarkable individual successfully solved the fourteenth question after using up all the other tips and tricks. This individual was a bespectacled, well-mannered office worker with a university degree.

At this point, he was unaware of the answer to question 15. Answering question 14 correctly had almost exhausted his luck. He knew that the last question would definitely be more difficult, more obscure, and more misleading.

So at this crucial moment, he chose to stop, take 50 yuan, and no longer challenge for 100 million yuan. He said that with this 50 yuan, plus the recent drop in housing prices, he could buy a house of his own.

This move will inevitably spark widespread discussion in society. Many people may criticize him for being foolish, which will then inspire more people to participate in the program.

What Zhou's mother was most concerned about was the housing prices mentioned by the contestant. Compared to the peak period, they have now begun to decline, and the day when she and her daughter own their own house is getting closer and closer.

Liu Rulong also plans to buy a property for himself and Aying next year, since his mother is going to have a baby and the family will be larger.

By this time, he had already received Wei Ming's telegram and relayed its message to Xu Jinjiang.

The junior student hesitated, feeling that it wasn't appropriate to spend Professor Wei's money on a trip abroad.

Ah Long advised, "Ah Ming isn't stingy. How about this, Ah Ying and I will go with you. She's also very interested in Milan fashion, so consider it our belated honeymoon."

Xu Jinjiang was also intrigued; he really liked Italian sculpture. He finally nodded and said, "I'll ask Xia Wenxi again."

~
When Wei Ming and his friends returned to Chengdu for the second time, August was almost over. Wei Hong also returned to Chengdu, planning to tell her brother before heading back to Beijing for the start of the new semester.

After personally seeing Wei Hong off, Wei Ming convened a meeting of the film crew to analyze the results of the past month of location scouting.

As it turned out, Fanshan Village, which Long Xiaoyang had initially recommended to them, was still the most suitable.

In addition, there are some landscapes from several small mountain villages that can be used as supplements to the main scene.

In different parts of Sichuan, they also found suitable locations to serve as county towns and townships, but these two scenes were not very important, accounting for less than a quarter of the film's total screen time.

Wei Ming said, "Then let's go with Fanshan Village. The village committee welcomes us warmly and is willing to give us their full support. Next, we're going to transform this village into what it was like in the 1960s. Old Feng and Young Feng, it's all up to you." The two promised to complete the mission, and they also remembered some of the slogans from back then.

Wei Ming then said to Han Sanping, "Let's also pay for them to pave the road into the village. It doesn't need to be paved too well, just fill it with some soil. It should be in line with the style of the times."

Next, they will be moving into Ya'an as a group. The main scenes will need to be renovated by everyone, and there are also three actors who are experiencing life at their grandmother's house.

In addition, Wei Ming also plans to select child actors from the local rural areas. At least his two cousins ​​can play the roles. They are not important roles and have few lines, but they will be provided with food and a fee of one yuan per day of filming.

Of course, Wei Ming still plans to use professional actors for most of the roles with lines. However, for minor roles, there is no need to transfer actors from Beijing Film Studio. He can just find actors from Emei Film Studio or other arts groups in Chengdu.

So Mi Jiashan introduced Wei Ming to another good friend, an actor from the Sichuan People's Art Theatre.

"Director Wei, this is Zhang Guoli."

Next year, Mi Jiashan will be filming a TV series called "The Winding Stone Path". The male lead will be Zhang Guoli, and the original female lead will be Sister Lin.

Later, Zhang Guoli also starred in the once-popular TV series "The Troubleshooters" starring Mi Jiashan. The two had a very close relationship.

Zhang Guoli held Wei Ming's hand tightly, his smile humble and obsequious, more like Heshen than Ji Xiaolan.

"Teacher Wei, I have long admired your name; it is truly an honor to meet you today!"

Zhang Guoli is 27 years old and has just become a father. In a few months, Zhang Mo's half-brother, Zuming, will also be born.

Old Zhang hadn't acted in any movies or TV dramas before, but luckily he knew Mi Jiashan, which gave him this opportunity.

He's no longer playing a major role in the script, but he has a very upright appearance, so playing a young cadre shouldn't be a problem for him.

Wei Ming shook hands with him, welcoming him to the film crew.

During the preparation period, Wei Ming also made some adjustments to the script to better suit the current situation, adapting them to local conditions and the changing times.

However, there wasn't a primary school that met his requirements, one built on high ground, so they had to build this one themselves, which was quite an interesting experience.

During their trip, Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaogang encountered a giant panda in the wild while cutting bamboo to build a house. Unfortunately, they were not like Wei Jiefang and were unable to bring one back.

Fortunately, it wasn't eaten by the panda.

Due to plot considerations, the primary school couldn't be built too well or too sturdily. However, he told the villagers who came to help, "When I leave, I will help the village build a sturdy and beautiful primary school."

It is also earthquake resistant.

The primary school in Dagou Village, where my maternal grandmother lived, was rebuilt with money funded by Wei Ming, and my younger cousins ​​all went to school there.

Pingping is nine years old and Fangfang is seven. They are both good-looking, but their upbringing has made them a little timid. Wei Ming arranged for Wu Jing, who is a bit timid, to live and play with them to help balance things out.

September arrived quickly, and Wei Hong officially started school, becoming a third-year student. Zhou Huimin, who was a year younger than her, had also moved up to Form Four and would be able to go to university in four years.

By this time, Liu Rulong, Xu Jinjiang and their entourage had already arrived in Venice and were warmly received by the chairman of the organizing committee.

Of course, there was also some regret amidst the enthusiasm, because Mr. Why, who enjoys a great reputation in the international literary world and is now expected to become a pioneer in the film industry, did not come.

Director Wang Shuchen, who represented Shanghai Animation Film Studio and "The Legend of Sealed Book" at Venice, could also clearly feel that the organizing committee's enthusiasm for him had waned after learning that Wei Ming was not coming.

The screening time for "The Legend of the Heavenly Book" was later arranged, while the short film "The Witness" was scheduled after the opening ceremony, and a large number of people attended.

Wang Shuchen naturally participated as well. He knew Liu Rulong; back then, Liu was just a college student interning at the Shanghai Animation Film Studio, but he had heard that Liu had now made a name for himself in Hong Kong.

After watching "The Witness," he eagerly talked to Ah Long about the process of how the short film came about.

This ten-minute short film not only amazed him, but also directly shocked the entire Venice Film Festival.

This shooting style and narrative technique are completely unprecedented.

Even though it was only ten minutes long, it had a tremendous impact on the filmmakers attending the Venice Film Festival, prompting them to reflect deeply.

Europe is not small, but it's not insignificant either. Word spread quickly, and many filmmakers who hadn't originally planned to attend Venice came. Even Jean-Luc Godard, a French New Wave director, and Jean-Jacques Annaud, a rising French director, came uninvited, just to see "The Witness."

Gilles Jacob, the artistic director in charge of selecting films for Cannes, said after watching "The Witness" that if the film were to participate in Cannes, it would undoubtedly win the Palme d'Or for Short Film.

The organizers heard everyone's voices, and a short film was shown almost every day during the film festival, once or twice a day, and each time it was sold out. Xu Jinjiang and Xia Wenxi, two Asian faces, suddenly became popular in Venice.

Surprisingly, just a few days after the opening, the most popular film in Venice was a ten-minute short film.

What's even more unexpected is that, in order to save Wei Ming money, Xu Jinjiang and Xia Wenxi, these two shining new stars, only booked one hotel room.

~
In early September, the male lead, Li Baotian, also arrived. He brought a teacher from the Film Academy's Sound Recording Department, named Hu Weili, who was 45 years old and still relatively young at the time.

Anyone familiar with Hong Kong films should know this music legend. His scores can be found in countless classic works such as "Flirting Scholar", "The Deer and the Cauldron", "Tai Chi Master" and "The Butterfly Lovers".

Hu Weili was specifically invited by Wei Ming. He is skilled in folk music, and Wei Ming hoped that he could help him complete the film's score. During the filming period, he lived and ate with the crew to find inspiration.

This is a film closely related to music; many of the emotional outbursts and releases are complemented by music.

Wei Ming could adopt some of the music directly, but he had to adapt it to local conditions. So, before this gentleman resigned and went south, Wei Ming had to make use of him.

Hu Weili once wrote a song called "Rural Folk Song" when he was young, which was selected as a textbook for music academies across the country. He also composed the film score for Cui Wei's "Mountain Flowers". So it is not surprising that Wei Ming found him.

However, just as he arrived, Wei Ming was about to leave.

"What? You want me to go to Italy? Where the hell is my Italian cannon?!"

Wei Ming was about to start filming when he suddenly received a call from a colleague at the Ministry of Culture, asking him to go to the Venice Film Festival to receive an award.

Yes, regarding the award ceremony, the Venice Film Festival organizing committee directly informed the Chinese side that Wei Ming would win an award and hoped he could appear in Venice.

After careful consideration, the organization felt that with the Hu Na incident, the strong reaction from China would inevitably draw ridicule from abroad. If they continued to keep Wei Ming from leaving the country, foreign powers would surely make a big fuss about it.

So they decided to send Wei Ming abroad. He can fly from Chengdu to Shanghai, then from Shanghai to Hong Kong, and then to Venice. Everything has been arranged for him.

"And we have to hurry, or we'll miss the closing ceremony." Han Sanping relayed the instructions from his superiors, and he, along with Chen Kaige and the others beside him, stared in envy.

They won an award? And it was the Venice Film Festival, the world's oldest international film festival, and they received invitations from multiple times – that shows how important it was!
Zhang Yimou and Feng Xiaoning, the two participants, felt more honored, as they also contributed to the film's success.

Feng Xiaogang wanted to shower Wei Ming with all the praise in the world, saying in one sentence: Teacher Wei is absolutely awesome!

Wei Ming looked troubled: "Then the start date will have to be postponed by a week. Ugh, this is so annoying. That extra week's budget is all money!"

……

(Today's guaranteed minimum)
(End of this chapter)