I'm just trying to ride the wave of popularity!

Chapter 89 These Shameless Fools! (First Update)
China has three authoritative film awards.

These are the China Golden Rooster Awards, the Hong Kong Film Awards, and the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards.

in……

The China Golden Rooster Awards are the most authoritative and professional film awards in mainland China; the Hong Kong Film Awards were established primarily to encourage Hong Kong filmmakers and inspire their creative spirit, thereby fostering more excellent films in Hong Kong; and the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards are open to all Chinese-language films and filmmakers without geographical restrictions, making them arguably the largest in scale.

In 2003, the 40th Taiwan Golden Horse Awards continued to be a vibrant and diverse event, a sacred place for Chinese-language films that countless Chinese filmmakers dream of attending.

As of September 9, a total of 55 films had been submitted for the award, but the number of nominated films remains limited to around 16, making the competition fierce.

but……

This is quite awkward for Taiwanese films.

This year's submissions for Taiwanese films were even worse than last year. A total of 55 films were submitted, but only 10 were from Taiwan, while Hong Kong had as many as 30. The dominance of Hong Kong over Taiwan has become a reality.

of course……

Not many films from mainland China were submitted; out of 55 films, only 5 were from mainland China.

Of course, it's not that there are few applicants.

Instead, apart from five mainland film companies, including Huasheng Brothers and Tianyu Media, which are eligible to apply, films from other smaller companies are basically eliminated in the first round unless they are exceptionally outstanding.

Although Taiwan and mainland China have had very close ties since the turn of the millennium.

However, the judges of the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards have a consistent practice of inviting mainland stars to Taiwan to support the event, and then using mainland films and television to elevate local films.

Commonly known as...

Raise a cup of coffee.

……

In the Golden Horse Awards jury office on Taiwan Island.

Judge Zhong Jianming silently reviewed one mainland film after another.

Unlike other filmmakers in Taiwan, Chung Chien-ming not only has no discrimination against mainland Chinese films, but he is also very clear that since the millennium, the Taiwanese film industry has fallen into a stage of resting on its past achievements, reaping the benefits, being complacent, and even stagnating.

The shift from Hong Kong and Taiwan being the two dominant forces in the film industry to Hong Kong being stronger and Taiwan weaker is a very real testament to this.

Of course, although Hong Kong cinema has remained vibrant in recent years, it has been impacted by the influx of Hollywood films and has shown signs of decline.

The markets in Taiwan and Hong Kong are simply too small.

The only way for Chinese films to truly resist the impact of the booming Hollywood industrial films is to connect with the mainland market!

Moreover, many filmmakers in mainland China are actually very talented...

He found the idea of ​​some judges wanting the mainland market while also using mainland films as stepping stones to their advantage deeply distasteful!
The Golden Horse Awards should be a truly open, fair, and impartial film award!
Therefore, this year, Chung Chien-ming has been constantly suggesting to Chairman Lin Pang-shun that the selection system for the Taiwan Golden Horse Awards be reformed!
At the very least, mainland Chinese films shouldn't be denied the right to even be seen by the judges, except for these five film companies.

To this end, he even specially established a mainland film group and personally went to the mainland to collect information on various films that premiered in 2003 or were currently premiering, deliberately avoiding films produced by the five major mainland film companies, in order to discover those films with potential but lacking resources.

Around 8 PM!
Zhong Jianming received a call from the Yanjing Film Group in his office.

"Director Zhong".

"you say……"

"I saw a movie called 'Lin Daiyu vs. Lu Zhishen' on the mainland cinema website... I'll send you the source of this movie. It's currently premiering, and I'm at the premiere..."

"Ok?"

....................................

[Feihe Cinema]

Screening room.

Sitting in the corner, Ding Shujiao stared intently at the big screen, gritting her teeth.

As a director and a film critic in the "Mainland Film Group," Ding Shujiao has watched countless horror movies.

Although she is a woman, she has a very passionate love for horror movies...

Whether it's gory horror films from Europe and America, atmospheric films from Thailand, or Japanese thrillers...

She would attend every critically acclaimed horror/suspense movie.

Of course, after seeing it so many times, I gradually became immune to it.

but……

Until a few days ago, when she accidentally saw the application materials for a movie called "Lin Daiyu vs. Lu Zhishen" submitted to the Golden Horse Awards, she quickly reviewed the submission and thought it was a mess of bad movies. However, she accidentally saw a few clips from the movie. The next moment, she realized that something was wrong with this movie!
In the screening room.

I don’t know if it’s an illusion.

The temperature in the entire screening room gradually began to drop.

It's only September now, and although it's autumn, the average nighttime temperature is still over 9 degrees Celsius.

But for some reason, the screening room got colder and colder.

She instinctively shrank back, her gaze remaining fixed on the scene of "Lin Daiyu vs. Lu Zhishen" on the screen.

Movie……

It's still playing.

After the psychic game, the protagonist Xiaoming's girlfriend Annie also began to act abnormally.

After recovering, he often sang eerie Cantonese opera alone in his room, or stared blankly out the window, seeing Biggie seeing an old man off to work...

However, what she was seeing was not normal, because Biggie's house and her house were completely different places, and the old man that Biggie gave away was Biggie's father, who had passed away many years ago. It was all her hallucination...

In the screening room.

From time to time, eerie and chilling Cantonese opera sounds drifted into my ears, sometimes loud and sometimes soft, as if a female ghost was whispering in my ear from a distant, deep place.

Coupled with Annie's occasional chilling, eerie smile, Ding Shujiao's scalp gradually began to tingle...

This film not only uses the shifts in time and space, combined with everyday scenes such as toilets, rooftops, and living rooms, to create a visual and perceptual impact on the audience, but its ability to penetrate the audience's auditory senses is even stronger! In particular, the background soundtrack seems to carry a chilling aura, gradually seeping into the pores, the bone marrow, and finally into the very organs!

At the edge of the screen, appearing and disappearing intermittently...

Having watched countless films, Ding Shujiao was now completely enveloped by the "Chinese-style" sense of horror created within her...

One after another, people die!

The constant recurring hints of death and the oppressive feeling of no one surviving intensified Ding Shujiao's senses!

of course!

The appearance of the bespectacled character named Hairy undoubtedly added a bit of breathing room to this gloomy, suffocating atmosphere of fear.

This also gradually revealed the true nature of the evil spirit and Chu Renmei's background...

The scoundrel Bu Wantian wanted to marry the daughter of Guangzhou's top money lender, but Chu Renmei always adhered to the traditional three obediences and four virtues, leaving him with no reason to divorce her. He also didn't want to confront her directly, as it would damage his highly respected reputation in the village...

So Bu Wantian used a trick to deceive everyone. He pretended to lie to Chu Renmei, saying that he was in debt because of his opium addiction, and asked her to help him pay off his debt.

Therefore, he set up a scheme to make Chu Renmei and his younger brother have sex, and then arranged for the villagers to witness this shameful affair. On the grounds of being immoral, they beat Chu Renmei to death, wrapped her body in a tattered mat, and carelessly dumped it in the wilderness...

……

When Ding Shujiao saw this scene, an indescribable sorrow welled up in her heart.

Behind this horror film lies a heart-wrenching tragedy.

Watching and watching...

She suddenly covered her mouth!
When I saw the black-and-white footage, when I saw the young actress who played Chu Renmei being framed, being hit with stones, her head bleeding profusely, yet she kept her lips tightly pressed together, remaining silent, an indescribable surge of anger and agitation welled up inside me. Then, these emotions began to be accompanied by a trace of sympathy...

This is a realistic story wrapped in the guise of a horror film!
The film breaks down and fragments the raw, bloody realities of life, gradually weaving them into its narrative.

She felt both fear and pity...

at this time……

She suddenly needed to use the restroom!
She took a deep breath, stood up silently, and walked step by step through the crowd toward the nearby restroom.

After leaving the screening room and walking towards the restroom, it was obvious that the temperature had increased considerably.

However, after entering the adjacent restroom, Ding Shujiao's heart, which had initially felt relieved, suddenly tightened.

Because the toilets in the Feihe Cinema screening room are very old and have not been maintained for many years, the lighting in the toilets is not only dim, but also flickers.

The rusty faucet next to it was also dripping water!
Weird!
Normally, the sound of the faucet dripping isn't very clear, but for some reason, after entering this bathroom, the sound of the faucet dripping became very clear.

Damn!

Suddenly, an image flashed into her mind: Chu Renmei suddenly appearing, soaking wet, her long hair covering her face, the sound and image of water dripping from the hem of her clothes.

As the image formed by these senses gradually became clearer, she couldn't help but shudder.

Everything is fake!
This is a movie!

This is a movie!

I've seen a lot of horror movies, and that kind of thing simply doesn't exist in real life!

Believe in science!
She reminded herself of this, then quickly went to the bathroom, and finished using the toilet...

Just as she was about to turn back...

She glanced up at the ceiling instinctively.

Next!

Her pupils constricted sharply!
She saw something on the cracked wall...

It has individual strands of hair!

..............................

“Turn that dry ice-like cold air down a bit… It has to be discreet, understand? Let it seep in through the cracks…”

"Mr. Zhou, isn't what we're doing a bit too unethical?"

"This will give the audience an unforgettable movie-watching experience..."

"Oh!"

In the office next to the screening room.

Zhou Yang, observing the film's plot, picked up the phone and quietly instructed the staff members not far away.

Zhang Muxue looked at this scene, hesitated slightly, and finally said.

"By the way, is the women's restroom properly furnished...?"

"It's all set up. The dripping sound effect you mentioned, we'll match it to the dripping sound..."

"The tap might not be turning off properly."

"It won't close properly, it's constantly dripping water..."

"Okay, that's fine then!"

"..."

Just as Zhang Muxue finished speaking...

Sudden……

Then I saw it in the screening room.

A woman, still shaken, rushed out from the direction of the bathroom...

(End of this chapter)