Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 358 New York
Li Qiutang doesn't mingle in the arts and culture scene, nor does she attend film festivals, but she still participated in this year's New York Film Festival as a special guest.

The New York Film Festival may not be considered a major film festival, but because it is backed by North America, the world's largest film market, it still attracts many filmmakers and movie fans every year.

"In Time" will be re-screened at the New York Film Festival, where director Li Qiutang will share his creative experience with film fans.

Ironically, while In Time failed to expand its theatrical release in the United States, it has been re-screened at film schools and festivals around the world every year since.

Each year, the re-release of the film can bring Li Qiutang an extra income of at least 500,000 to 600,000 US dollars, and sometimes up to one million US dollars.

These re-screening events usually invite Li Qiutang to give a lecture or hold a sharing session, but Li Qiutang often declines.

The reason he went to New York this year was twofold: firstly, the timing was right, he wasn't busy at the time, so he decided to go; secondly, the "Mojin: The Lost Legend" crew needed to hire many international teams to assist them, so he came in advance to meet with a few people.

It's definitely not because the Lucy crew was filming in New York, it's definitely not for that reason.

"In Time" was re-screened on the afternoon of the third day of the film festival. The screening room was not large, but it was not small either, with a capacity of about 100 people.

After the screening, Li Qiutang went on stage to share her thoughts and engage in discussions.

Li Qiutang has always avoided discussing politics. When discussing the film, he tried his best to keep the topic within the realm of art, but the ideology and political implications of "In Time" were too strong, and Li Qiutang could hardly avoid it.

The boundaries between what can and cannot be said are very blurry, and Li Qiutang is very careful in sharing.

He said, "There is a poem from ancient China that I would like to share with you."

The simultaneous interpreter's heart skipped a beat; what he feared most had come to pass!
"When prosperity comes, the people suffer; when decline comes, the people suffer."

Li Qiutang continued, "I don't know if the future will be better, but I do know that there will always be people who are not doing well."

A young American movie fan in the audience asked, "Why is the protagonist still alone in the end? He clearly has so many companions and a beautiful girlfriend, so why is he left to go down the mountain alone in the end?"

Li Qiutang retorted, "Don't you think you're not alone?"

The audience erupted in applause and laughter.

Li Qiutang's voice, amidst the applause, said: "In the end, who among us isn't alone?"

Li Qiutang was secretly pleased. After three years, someone finally asked me this question.

"In Time" is considered an important milestone in the industrialization of Chinese films, but Li Qiutang denied this claim at the New York Film Festival.

"In Time is a very special product. An important indicator of film industrialization is the refinement and standardization of the production process. The In Time crew still follows the conventional Chinese film approach in terms of management and production. I only made some improvements, but it is still not enough to be called industrialized."

However, Li Qiutang also stated that he opposes excessive industrialization and viewing movies as products produced on a factory assembly line.

"I heard that there is a staff member on Hollywood film crews who is responsible for wiping water droplets off the actors' clothes."

When Li Qiutang said this, the guests in the audience laughed, and the Americans also found it unbelievable.

For Li Qiutang, Marvel's superhero series is the best example of film industrialization, but he supports Marvel's division of labor and management, while he dislikes the content of Marvel movies.

"They wear state-of-the-art space armor, yet they're performing animal fights from 2000 years ago. Human combat methods inevitably evolve with the evolution of weapons, but Marvel hasn't offered any new ideas for action filming."

The following day, Li Qiutang was invited to New York University to engage in more professional and in-depth exchanges with the faculty and students of the film program.

On the third day, Li Qiutang met Douglas Hans Smith, whom he had come to invite, at a pizzeria.

Li Qiutang was the visual effects supervisor for "Independence Day" and an Oscar winner for Best Visual Effects. She didn't know Douglas before; Chen Guofu introduced him to the company.

Douglas's wife was from Taiwan and also worked in film. Chen Guofu introduced Douglas to Li Qiutang indirectly.

The special effects work for "Mojin: The Lost Legend" was very demanding, and it definitely needed a senior special effects supervisor like Douglas to help out.

Li Qiutang told Douglas about "Mojin: The Lost Legend" and her requirements for special effects. After listening, Douglas said, "If I understand correctly, you are going to make a 'Tomb Raider' movie."

"You could say that." Since it was all about tomb exploration, Li Qiutang didn't intend to correct him.

Douglas had previously taken on outsourcing work for Chinese projects, but had not served as visual effects supervisor for Chinese production teams. He was not opposed to working overseas and readily accepted Li Qiutang's invitation, saying that he would go to Hong Kong after finishing his current work.

"No, no, no. Our crew isn't in Hong Kong, it's in Beijing. We're a mainland crew." The foreigner thought Li Qiutang was a Hong Kong or Taiwan crew the whole time.

Douglas wondered, "Do films from mainland China really need such massive and complex special effects?"

Li Qiutang said, "The Chinese mainland film industry is developing very rapidly." He did not intend to criticize the other party's ignorance, because this is a perception shared by many American filmmakers.

They genuinely believe that the center of Chinese cinema is still in Hong Kong and Taiwan, and that Chinese film production is still very crude.

"You'll understand when you come to my film crew."

Douglas apologized for his rudeness and then invited Li Qiutang to visit his company.

Li Qiutang worked until the end of the month before she could find time to go to the set of "Lucy".

"Wow!" Liu Yifei turned around and saw Li Qiutang standing next to Luc Besson, and exclaimed in surprise.

“Surprise.” Li Qiutang opened her arms.

Liu Yifei went up to her boyfriend and threw herself into his arms: "You didn't even tell me you were coming."

Li Qiutang put her arm around her shoulder: "What a surprise! I'm here for the film festival, and I just stopped by. How's it going on set?"

"Great. It's not like this is my first time working with a foreign production team, what problems could there be? How many days are you staying in New York?"

"I'm leaving the day after tomorrow."

Liu Yifei rolled her eyes: "Boring."

Li Qiutang toured the film set. Luc Besson had to cater to Li Qiutang well. The budget for "Lucy" was 40 million, and Qiu's family contributed 30 million. EuropaCorp's other film, "District B13," although it didn't receive investment from Qiu, Zhang Zhao promised to provide some money to buy it in the domestic market as a batch film. Currently, Qiu is also inspecting another EuropaCorp film, "Transporter 4."

These are all real money and silver for Europe, and they are relatively stable.

Li Qiutang also wanted to learn the eight-hour workday system from European and American film crews, but this system simply wouldn't work in China.

That night, Liu Yifei did not return to the film crew's hotel, but instead stayed at Li Qiutang's Hilton.

Absence makes the heart grow fonder; the two hadn't seen each other for almost a month, and their longing for each other was palpable.

Li Qiutang placed a pillow under Liu Yifei's waist, and Liu Yifei also placed a pillow under her head. Li Qiutang looked at her and gently stroked her face with her hand: "I can't get enough of looking at you, you're so beautiful."

"You're so annoying." Liu Yifei hooked her foot around her boyfriend, letting him lie on her chest.

(End of this chapter)