Entertainment: 1990

Chapter 371 The Russian Dividend
Two days later, the crew of "The Hegemon of Western Chu" arrived as scheduled.

"Director Zhang, over here!"

At the entrance of the pre-booked hotel, Jiang Wen had her right hand in her pocket and her left hand raised high towards the bus.

Seeing Jiang Wen standing in front of Zhang Yan and Wang Jinghua, Zhang Yimou on the bus was very puzzled. It was normal for Zhang Yan to come out to greet them, but why was Jiang Wen here as well?

So after the bus stopped, he was the first to get off and asked curiously, "Jiang Wen, what are you doing in Tianjin?"

“Jiang Wu has signed a contract and realized his dream. I came to see him and also to discuss with Director Zhang about going to Europe to win an award.” Jiang Wen said, putting her arm around Zhang Yimou’s shoulder: “Director Zhang, you are a senior in this field. Please share your experience with us.”

Zhang Yimou was clearly a little uncomfortable being put on the arm by him so familiarly, but he couldn't shake him off, so he could only frown and say, "It's not like you haven't been there before."

“That’s different.”

As Jiang Wen spoke, she craned her neck to look into the car and asked in confusion, "Why hasn't Gong Li gotten off yet? Is she hiding her lover in the car?"

Seeing that Zhang Yimou did not respond, Xian Qiran took the initiative to explain: "Gong Li still has some things to take care of in France, so she did not join the tour group. She said she would return to China in a couple of days."

Jiang Wen was somewhat disappointed upon hearing this. Although Gong Li's fame in Europe was not as great as Zhang Yimou's, she was still considered one of the top stars in Dongda University.

"That's fine."

He smacked his lips, reluctantly saying, "Director Zhang, we'll borrow it for now, and return it to the crew intact tonight."

As he spoke, he prepared to pull Zhang Yimou into the car.

Zhang Yimou didn't refuse, but said helplessly, "At least let me put my luggage down."

"Isn't that hard to say?"

Jiang Wen looked back at the crew and pointed at Guan Zhilin, saying, "That beautiful lady, please take good care of Director Zhang's luggage and also share in his good fortune—alright, let's go."

Zhang Yimou sighed and said with a wry smile, "You're just a living bandit."

Seeing Zhang Yimou get into the back seat, Jiang Wen patted the roof of the car and urged, "Mr. Zhang, don't just stand there, hurry up and drive, let's go."

Zhang Yan ignored him, exchanged a few words with Xian Qiran, and was introduced to the creative team of "Xi Chu Ba Wang" by him.

Then he handed over the task of receiving the film crew to Wang Jinghua and calmly walked around to the driver's seat and got into the car.

After watching Zhang Yan drive away, Guan Zhilin asked Xian Qiran curiously, "Is that handsome guy the big guy? He doesn't look like such a fierce person."

Rosamund Kwan is now a well-known mistress in Hong Kong. Sin Ki-yin, fearing she would cause trouble, deliberately put on a stern face and warned, "Some things can't be seen from the surface. Everyone should restrain themselves and not cause any unpleasantness."

The male protagonist, Lü Liangwei, and the others nodded silently. It had only been two months since the incident involving Mad Dog Chen Qingquan. Although there were rumors that the matter had nothing to do with Zhang Yan, since they were on someone else's turf, it was better to believe it was true.

Rosamund Kwan secretly pursed her lips. Although Sin Ki-yin didn't say it outright, the warning was clearly aimed at her.

She wanted to defend herself, but firstly, Sin Ki-yeon didn't give her any room to explain, and secondly, ever since she shouted in 87, "I could never be a mistress, my parents were broken up by a mistress," and then resolutely became a mistress herself, no one believed her anymore.

In the car.

Just as Zhang Yan started the car, he heard Zhang Yimou ask, "What happened to your hand?"

"It's nothing serious, just consider it a lucky charm."

"For good luck?"

“Even a minor injury is still an injury – look at our boss Zhang, he risked everything to win the award, and he fell in love at such a young age. Compared to him, my little injury is nothing.”

Jiang Wen spoke with a straight face, almost as if he were saying that this was a man's badge of honor.

"Get lost. Can't you live a day without bragging?"

Zhang Yan turned around and cursed, "He got bitten by a dog while teasing it. If it were up to me, the rabies vaccine should be injected into his fingernail, and he should also experience the Ten Great Tortures of the Qing Dynasty."

He still gave Jiang Wen some face, mainly because the 'dog theft' was something that would easily lead to further investigation, and neither of them wanted to reveal the reason behind it. "Damn, you're so mean! Why didn't you just fill the syringe with chili water?"

"You don't know anything! It should be done with medicine. This is called dipping the whip in iodine and disinfecting it while you're beating it."

Listening to their heated exchange, Zhang Yimou couldn't help but recall the time when they were filming "Red Sorghum," when he often got so angry that he and Jiang Wen had passionate verbal sparring matches.

However, he was far inferior in terms of verbal sparring, unlike Zhang Yan, who was a worthy opponent for Jiang Wen.

"Director Zhang."

After arguing for a while, Zhang Yan got tired of Jiang Wen and took the initiative to steer the conversation to the main topic: "Actually, the main reason Jiang Wen sought your advice this time was because she heard that some people in Europe were protesting, feeling that the three major European film festivals had been too preferential to Dongda Film Festival in recent years."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wen stopped talking and turned to look at Zhang Yimou seriously.

Zhang Yimou was not surprised at all and nodded, saying, "I encountered this in Europe recently, and even some of the judges had similar opinions."

After a pause, he continued, "In the past two years, the three major European film festivals have indeed been filled with Tokyo University elements. If we include Hong Kong and Taiwan, Tokyo University's films won the Golden Lion twice in 92 and 93, won two Golden Bears (a tie), one Palme d'Or, one Best Actor and one Best Actress."

There were also five or six other second-tier awards, with Eastern elements almost dominating half of the three major categories. It's understandable that European filmmakers might have reservations about this.

Zhang Yan and Jiang Wen were aware of these things. They had considered these factors beforehand, but they did not expect that after "To Live" won the award, the anti-Eastern sentiment among European filmmakers would suddenly become so strong.

Zhang Yan continued, "So, according to you, Director Zhang, will the Venice Film Festival also be affected this year?"

"The probability is not small."

Zhang Yimou hesitated for a moment before saying, "There are some things I will only say here, and I will not admit them after I get off the bus—in fact, for the past two years, some people in Europe have been hoping that we will follow in the footsteps of the Soviet Union, so they have deliberately given us a higher regard on the literary and artistic front."

But two and a half years have passed since the collapse of the Soviet Union, and things have remained very stable in China, so... Of course, our domestic art films are still very strong and certainly deserve awards.

This explanation made things clear.

In 92 and 93, filmmakers from Southeast University frequently won awards. In addition to their own excellent skills, they also benefited from the collapse of the Soviet Union.

After all, the collective defection of the literary and artistic front was one of the important reasons for the collapse of the Soviet Union.

The problem is that despite reaping these benefits, Dongda University hasn't experienced the kind of real turmoil that Russia did, which has made them a bit impatient.

Add to that the fact that other local filmmakers have had their interests encroached upon, and the factor of aesthetic fatigue, and it's no surprise that discordant voices will emerge.

Upon hearing this, Jiang Wen leaned back and said, "Since that's the case, why bother making any more preparations? Let's just stop preparing and see what happens!"

If it were just local protectionism, stirring up public opinion in a confrontation might have some effect, but with the addition of this ideological stuff, rash action might backfire.

Furthermore, judging from Zhang Yimou's words, he clearly doesn't want to get involved in this mess anymore.

"That's not necessarily the case."

Zhang Yimou shook his head and said, "This kind of voice is not the mainstream after all. If the film is of high quality, it should still have some chances this year. However, the Golden Lion Award... after all, it has been awarded to Dongda Film for three consecutive years, so there will definitely be a lot of pressure."

I reckon your film is in a similar situation to "To Live"—you might not get the biggest slice of the pie, but you won't leave empty-handed either.

"You mean you want to win an acting award, and then get a slightly lower one..." Jiang Wen said, then suddenly slapped her thigh and exclaimed, "Damn it, I should have acted myself!"

As he spoke, he grinned and raised his hand high.

"That's pretty good."

In Zhang Yan's view, winning a director award and an actor award are pretty much the same—both are used for publicity and to gain attention. For ordinary people, an actor award might even attract more attention.

Since the idea of ​​waging a war of words had been abandoned, the lunch was much more straightforward.

(End of this chapter)