This director is so innocent.

Chapter 160 An Unsuccessful Start

"Splash—"

Heavy rain poured down, accompanied by lightning and thunder.

After leaving the movie palace, Su Jin and her two companions were stopped by heavy rain and decided to return to the underground trading market.

See what good movies are available so I can buy them and distribute them as bulk films.

But after walking around, I was somewhat disappointed.

The good ones are too expensive, starting at two or three hundred thousand US dollars.

The cheaper ones are cheaper, costing only ten or twenty thousand US dollars, but those are obviously scams to fools.

Once outside the cinema, the rain had stopped.

In the evening, I met with Gong Li and we discussed the arrangements for tomorrow's opening ceremony.

"Sister Li, how confident are you of winning the Best Actress award?"

"I'm not sure."

"Not even a little bit confident?"

"Pretty much. I heard that the jury is very optimistic about 'Crossing the Line' by Brazilian directors Walter Salles and Daniela Thomas."

Set in the chaotic city of São Paulo, "Crossing the Line" follows the daily lives of four half-brothers and their single mother in a family from the lower class.

The film reflects many problems in Brazilian society: religion, violence, crime, racial discrimination, single-parent families —

Sandra Corveroni, who plays the mother, is a 45-year-old non-professional actress.

"And what about me!"

"You—there is definitely no hope for the Palme d'Or. The Cannes Film Festival, as France's national award, has not won the Palme d'Or for twenty-one years, which is a great loss of face for the French gentlemen."

"This time, it was a hard-won opportunity to have a high-quality local film selected; we'll definitely work to get it the Palme d'Or."

"What about the Grand Jury Prize and the Jury Award?"

"I doubt they have a chance. You know Sean Penn, the chairman of the jury? He's a political fanatic, and coincidentally, two of the films nominated this year have very strong political undertones—"

"Does he have a chance at Best Director?"

"It's hard to say. The Invisible Guest fits the theme of Cannes very well. I'm also the lead actor. Jacob thinks highly of you, so he might just give you the award."

They chatted for a while longer before returning to their rooms to rest.

As for why I didn't ask Sun Honglei, the Best Actor winner.

No need to ask, it's definitely hopeless.

The most compelling scenes in "The Invisible Guest" are mostly performed by Gong Li, while the male lead is essentially just a tool for the crew.

May 14th was a sunny day.

The 61st Cannes International Film Festival, a 12-day event, has officially begun.

According to official statistics, more than 30,000 film industry professionals applied to attend the Cannes Film Festival this year.

They include 1000 directors and screenwriters, 4000 distributors, 5000 producers, and over 4000 others.

A well-known journalist.

Just like last year, Su Jin and her entourage got up early, did their makeup, took photos, sent the photos back to China, and released a press release.

The red carpet ceremony began at 6 p.m.

The opening ceremony was hosted by French comedian Édouard Barr.

Dressed in a black tuxedo, Bale maintained his signature quirky style from his films, his witty remarks frequently eliciting laughter and applause from the guests.

However, this year's Cannes red carpet was sparsely populated with celebrities.

Not only did the photographers who had been waiting on both sides of the red carpet for more than two hours get bored, but even the number of movie fans outside the Palais des Festivals also decreased significantly.

Many foreign media reporters commented that this was one of the most boring opening ceremonies in recent years.

A red carpet is called a red carpet because it must be accompanied by stars. The Cannes red carpet has always been a stage for international superstars to show off their style.

However, the seasoned photographers who were bracing themselves for the best shots on both sides of the red carpet had to put down their lenses this time.

Aside from a few international supermodels invited by the sponsors and their very familiar local stars, there were very few international big names until the appearance of 72-year-old film legend Dennis Hopper, which brought the red carpet to its first climax.

This "white-bearded old man" remained under the flashing camera lights for nearly ten minutes.

In fact, many Hollywood stars have arrived in Cannes in recent years, but they have never regarded the opening ceremony as their "home ground".

For example, Jack Black, the Hollywood comedy star who was showing off his kung fu skills on the beach in front of the Carlton Hotel that morning, was not invited to the opening ceremony.

It's clear that he wants to reserve his "red carpet debut" at this film festival for "Kung Fu Panda".

He is the English voice actor for Po.

As a result, the only four Hollywood actresses became the most eye-catching stars on the opening red carpet.

Cate Blanchett, who just turned 40, plays the female lead in "Indiana Jones 4".

Julianne Moore appeared alongside the cast and crew of the opening film, "Blindness".

As a judge, Natalie Portman deliberately kept a low profile next to her senior and "leader" Sean Penn.

Eva Longoria, the wife of French basketball star Tony Parker, is quite popular.

In fact, there are generally four types of guests who walk the red carpet at the opening ceremony.

First are the creators of the opening film, second are the jury members, third are the stars invited by the film festival sponsors, and fourth are the local French stars.

Despite this, none of the internationally renowned French stars such as Vincent Cassel, Jean Reno, Juliette Binoche, Audrey Tautou, and Sophie Marceau showed up. Su Jin didn't seem to care much about the red carpet either; if it weren't for taking care of Gong Li, she would have left early on her own.

Finally, the eight members of the jury, led by jury chairman Sean Penn, made their grand finale appearance.

The eight members of the jury are Italian actor Sergio Castellito and North American actress Natalie Portman.

German actress Alexandra Maria Lara and Mexican director Alfonso Cuarón.

Thai filmmaker Apichatpong Weerasethakul and French producer and director Rashid Buchala.

Marjane Satrapi, a female director with dual French and Iranian citizenship, and Jeanne Balibar, a French actress.

Sean Penn is a familiar name to Chinese movie fans.

He is the ex-husband of international pop star Madonna, and also a famous bad boy in Hollywood, a grand slam winner of Best Actor awards at the three major film festivals: Oscar, Cannes, and Venice.

Madonna will also be in Cannes, but her role this time is somewhat unusual.

This time, she wasn't a singer, but a director, bringing her the Malawi documentary "We Exist, So Am I".

The selection of the judging panel has been controversial since its inception.

A grumpy, politically radical North American actor leads three young actresses, an Iranian comic book artist, a Thai director, and a Mexican director.

Many people are asking how such a lineup can maintain the "prestige" of the Palme d'Or, which embodies the values ​​of European art films.

The composition of the Cannes Film Festival jury has an unwritten tradition: after the jury president is appointed, the president is responsible for inviting five jury members, while the festival organizers are responsible for filling the remaining three seats.

Therefore, to a large extent, the taste of the chairman of the jury determines the taste of the entire jury.

The opening ceremony gala will be held at 7 p.m.

First, leaders from various departments gave speeches, which made Su Jin feel drowsy.

Therefore, leaders of all countries like to give long speeches.

Finally, it was Claude Lanzmann, the renowned French documentary filmmaker, who announced the opening of the film festival.

The director of "Shoah," a four-hour-long documentary about concentration camps, has really aged.

On stage, he delivered a long, illogical speech about Quentin Tarantino and world cinema, which drew scorn from the French journalists present.

"Blindness Flu" is tonight's opening film.

It is based on the novel of the same name by Nobel laureate and Portuguese writer José Saramago.

It tells the story of a mysterious blindness that strikes the world like the flu, with no known cause, mode of transmission, or treatment.

The core plot of the film is the same as other disaster movies.

The punishment of human mistakes by disasters, humanity's self-help in overcoming disasters, and the awakening that follows.

Su Jin was originally quite looking forward to "Blindness Flu".

After all, it's the latest work from Fernando Meirelles, the director of "Castle in the Sky".

It also features a cast of talented actors including Julianne Moore and Mark Ruffalo.

But after watching it, I was greatly disappointed.

The story is bland and lengthy, lacking any truly moving scenes, and the ensemble cast also limits the actors' performances.

The original work is a satire about the depravity and demise of human society, but unfortunately the film lacks the thought-provoking wisdom required.

From a purely science fiction perspective, it lacks entertainment value.

This movie adaptation is very similar to "The Catastrophe," especially the ending.

"Transferring a great story from a book to the visually dependent movie screen can sometimes lead to another kind of blindness."

The next two days.

Su Jin, Huang Jiaqiang, and Zhong Li did not go out for a stroll; instead, they chatted with film buyers from all over the world in the rented private room.

It wasn't just idle chatter; it also involved making new business partners.

Due to the financial crisis, international film distributors have very limited time and have become very cautious in their purchasing desires.

To save time and costs, they had already made a clear purchase or sale decision before even attending the exhibition.

Transactions are very fast, usually taking around 20 minutes.

The two parties involved in the transaction sat around several tables, with the producer selectively "going to the table" to negotiate with the film company.

Once the time was up, they would move to another table and start new negotiations with other people, moving at a rapid pace, making every second count.

This ensures that each person can meet and get to know 30 to 40 new partners after a meeting.

After seeing off a customer, Huang Jiaqiang sighed, "Business is really tough this year!"

Su Jin nodded in deep agreement, recalling when she came last year, when films were sold freely and buyers were throwing money around.

This year is different; after two days of discussions, the transaction volume was pitifully low.

The financial crisis led to sluggish DVD distribution and television revenue sharing in many markets, resulting in lower market returns for purchasing full distribution rights.

For example, Russia, Brazil, Spain —

According to these film buyers, many television stations in these areas have gone out of business.

This made it even harder for the film to sell.

It's important to know that many film distributors buy the rights but don't pursue theatrical release; they only distribute DVDs and sell to television stations.

"The Invisible Guest" sold $165 million in two days, mainly in smaller countries.

They have limited time, which means they have limited funds. If they don't sell now, they won't be able to see them in a week.

"Ip Man" and "Painted Skin" didn't sell well.

The reason is that neither of these films was completed; only trailers were shown.

The last time, "The Promise" caused a lot of trouble for foreign film distributors, and this time, coupled with the financial crisis, they have become extremely cautious.

Aside from trailers endorsed by major international companies, trailers from other companies are generally not considered.

Whether a film can win in the market depends on too many variables, and "misjudging" is a major taboo in film transactions.

Many films only provide trailers to buyers, making it difficult to accurately judge the overall quality of the film based solely on this.

International pre-sales mean more unknown risks, and even the slightest mistake can lead to financial losses, so buyers are now very cautious.

"Boss, look who's here." Huang Jiaqiang nudged Su Jin and gestured with his chin towards the front.

Su Jin looked up and saw a middle-aged man wearing gold-rimmed glasses and with his hair neatly combed walking towards them.

The visitor was Casey Kim, the vice president of CJ Group's film company. He was the one who had previously come to China to discuss the copyright of "Painted Skin".

By the way, CJ also bought the rights to air "W: Two Worlds," and I heard the ratings were pretty good, taking the number one spot in the Wednesday-Thursday midnight drama slot.

"Shui-Thu drama" means that it airs on Wednesdays and Thursdays.

In Japan, North Korea, and Korea, the days of the week are called using the same names as in ancient China.

Starting from Sunday, they will be represented by the Sun, Moon, Fire, Water, Wood, Metal, and Earth respectively.

If it is an odd-numbered day, such as Sunday, it is called Sunday, Monday is Monday, and so on.

Foreign TV dramas can only be broadcast in Korea during midnight hours, just like the rules in Korea.

Jin Kaixi shook hands with Su Jin and Huang Jiaqiang, introduced Zhong Li, and then handed an invitation to Su Jin.

"Mr. Su, CJ is hosting CJ Night on the evening of the 18th," and we hope you can attend.

"OK." Su Jin took the invitation, then picked up another invitation from the table and handed it to him: "We are 17..."

"The 'Jianmu Night' event will be held at 7 PM tonight. Feel free to come and check it out if you have time."

"No problem." Jin Kaixi saw the poster for "Painted Skin" standing there and asked, "Mr. Su, how are the sales for 'Painted Skin'?"

"It's alright, I've signed purchase contracts with quite a few film companies." Su Jin lied without thinking.

"And you! Are you here to buy or sell movies?"

"Both are available; this time we've brought 'The Three Guys'."

"The Three Guys?"

"The Good, the Bad, the Weird, starring Song Kang-ho, Lee Byung-hun, and Jung Woo-sung."

"How are sales?"

"Not bad, quite a few film companies have expressed interest in purchasing them."

Regardless of whether he was telling the truth or not, Su Jin pointed to the "Ip Man" poster and asked, "Are you interested in 'Ip Man'?"

Yu Zhoudan is not an unknown figure in South Korea.

He enjoys great popularity among fans of Korean and Hong Kong films thanks to movies such as "New Dragon Gate Inn" and "SPL: Sha Po Lang".

Two years ago, due to the promotion of "Seven Swords", Yu Zhoudan's visit to South Korea also sparked a "Chinese martial arts craze" in Korea.

"Donnie Yen's new movie?"

"right."

"Who is this Ip Man?"

"Our country's legendary martial arts master, Bruce Lee's teacher."

Next, Su Jin gave a brief introduction to the plot of "Ip Man".

After listening, Casey Kin was very interested.

First, Bruce Lee was an international superstar and was very famous in Korea.

Secondly, Koreans also hated the Japanese.

For example, in celebration of the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Korean Peninsula, Goryeo released an anti-Japanese war-themed film called "Assassination".

This film sparked a viewing frenzy in Korea.

After 11 days of release, the film has attracted over 600 million viewers, demonstrating the strong patriotism of the Korean people.

Then there's "The Admiral: Roaring Currents," which had an even more staggering 1741 million viewers and a box office of 1358 billion won.

After watching the trailer and clips for "Ip Man", Casey Kin decided to buy it.

After some negotiations, a purchase agreement was reached. However, given the amount involved—a million dollars—Kin Casey couldn't make the decision on his own and had to go back and report.