Huayu: Enjoy Yourself

Chapter 27 News Returns Home!

The news reached back home. 🐊👑 6➈𝕤卄υ乂.𝔠𝓞ⓜ ♣♡

The higher-ups also received the notification and immediately checked whether the film had passed censorship.

After all, these people know what kind of people are sent out to win awards.

They didn't say anything more after they found out the paperwork was in order.

Major newspapers sent it directly to their respective newspapers!

The crew of "Keep Cool" also saw the news.

Jiang Wen, who was filming, specifically chose this day to buy today's newspaper.

I'd like to see if there are any reports about what's happening in Chen Ankan City.

The first thing you see when you open it is a photo of Chen An grinning as he holds the award certificate in the center.

The sign prominently proclaimed, "Twenty-Year-Old Prodigy Director Chen An, Outstanding Student at Beijing Film Academy, Wins Best Director at the 49th Cannes International Film Festival!"

The Cannes International Film Festival is one of the world's three major film festivals. Director Chen An's *Run Lola Run* caused a huge sensation upon its screening in Cannes, leading all films with a 3.2 rating in the festival's daily publication. It ultimately won the Best Director award at this year's Cannes Film Festival. After receiving the award, Director Chen An thanked the Cannes International Film Festival for not disregarding his age when awarding him the Best Director prize, marking a first for Chinese-language films in this award category.

Holding the China Youth Daily in his hand, Jiang Wen didn't know what to say.

I first got to know Chen An because I found chatting with him quite interesting.

After watching the short film and reading his script, I thought he was quite talented.

Unexpectedly, his first feature film, which he wrote, directed, and even had a cameo role in, won Best Director at Cannes.

He also won an award for his film "In the Heat of the Sun," but it was the Venice Film Festival's Best Actor Award, which is ultimately an award for actors.

Chen An is the best director.

However, Jiang Wen wouldn't let these things make him want to write anything else; instead, he was thinking about continuing to run around looking for scripts.

My little brother has surpassed me just like that. I need to make one myself and take it to Cannes. I don't need much, just the Palme d'Or!

He carried the newspaper with him as he walked toward the film set.

The filming location wasn't far, and Jiang Wen returned shortly after walking.

I walked into the film set and found that they were filming the scene where Ge You had a cameo role.

However, all the main actors were present, including Li Baotian and Ge You, who were filming at the time, and Qu Ying, who was standing next to them, stayed with them the whole time.

The production crew was on a tight budget and could only shoot with handheld cameras, which is why the film's shots are shaky.

Therefore, Jiang Wen did not interrupt the filming. Only after the filming was completed did Jiang Wen toss the newspaper in his hand to Zhang Yimou and couldn't help but say:

"Your junior brother is really amazing. Your school has finally produced a genius."

Upon hearing Jiang Wen's words, Zhang Yimou curiously looked at the newspaper, and the other lead actors also gathered around.

The first thing you see is Chen An in the middle of the newspaper, grinning from ear to ear while holding an award certificate.

Zhang Yimou, understanding the meaning behind his words, could only smile helplessly and say nothing more.

The female lead, Qu Ying, with her long legs stretched out, asked curiously, "Twenty years old? Really?"

"Of course it's true! Otherwise, how could they say that the Beijing Film Academy produced a genius who's also a fan of Ge You? He's so lucky! The Cannes Best Director has been wanting to cast Ge You in a movie, hasn't he?"

Jiang Wen answered Qu Ying's question with a smile, and then jokingly used Chen Anqi's nickname to tease Uncle Ge.

Grandpa Ge rubbed his bald head and said to Jiang Wen with annoyance, "It's one thing for Little Chen to call you that, but you're so old and you still call him that? Aren't you ashamed?"

"You can't say that. It's because he calls me 'brother,' which means I look relatively young and as handsome as him!"

Jiang Wen's words only made things worse, causing everyone to burst into laughter.

He looks like a bandit and yet he compares himself to Chen An.

The Beijing Film Academy received the news quite early on.

Many teachers saw the newspaper and congratulated Teacher Mu.

Teacher Mu was also in a real bind. He had wanted to calm Chen An down and let things settle down a bit, but now look what happened, he's won Best Director at Cannes.

Forget about it, he's a big director now. Winning the Best Director award at Cannes for the first time is definitely going to be recorded in the history of Chinese cinema!

However, he was still quite happy. His superiors praised him a lot, saying that his student had earned him a lot of face this time, which could be added to his resume.

The school was overjoyed, especially Dean Liu, who immediately ordered a banner to be bought and hung at the school gate, since it was during his term of office.

A college student winning Best Director at Cannes, and he's only a sophomore! Who could pull that off?!

The banner we bought was huge, much bigger than the one for the last short film. We almost wanted to hang it up next door at the Central Academy of Drama!

Students can see him as soon as they enter or leave the school, knowing that a Cannes Best Director is now living in their school.

What a great opportunity! All the students were asking around about Chen An, hoping to have the chance to act in his movies.

However, Professor Xie from the directing department was not very happy.

Because he was holding a newspaper that read, "Should Beijing Film Academy consider canceling its directing department? Cinematography student wins another major award, taking home the first Best Director award for a Chinese-language film at the Cannes Film Festival!"

It's the same newspaper as last time, and now Teacher Xie feels like he wants to run straight to the newspaper, grab the editors by the neck, and yell, "He was taught by me too! I taught him!"

All the major newspapers reported on this, and people who bought the newspapers also saw the reports.

Some viewers may remember that this is the director who won the Golden Lion for Best Short Film at Venice last year, and they didn't expect him to win the Cannes Grand Prix this year.

Even viewers who didn't know him remembered the director; people still admire directors who can win awards abroad in this day and age.

Most importantly, Chen An was very young, which made a deep impression on them.

Thus, Chen An, who had not yet returned to China, became famous overnight in a city with advanced communication technology.

Countless movie fans are eager to flock to theaters to watch this film as soon as possible!

Chen An, who was staying in Cannes, France, was not in a hurry to leave.

After the celebration banquet, Chen An kept discussing the sale of the copyright.

European buyers offered the highest prices, with EMI and MK2 being the two highest bidders.

The former was once the world's leading company, but it was defeated by the rise of Hollywood and quickly declined, though it is still a large and powerful enterprise.

The latter is also a European giant with a complete distribution channel and strong financial resources.

Both sides had buyout contracts, and Chen An, being a newcomer, was not entitled to a share of the profits, even though he knew the film had a high box office.

But they wouldn't talk to you about this at all, and Chen An didn't force them.

After some haggling, leveraging the hype surrounding Chen An, the 20-year-old Cannes Best Director, they sold the European screening rights to mk2 Pictures.

They held on tightly, selling the screening rights for seven million US dollars, and then combining the European DVD rights to make it a total of ten million US dollars, which they then sold to mk2.

Although I know that doing this will definitely result in a loss, the situation is beyond my control, and I am just a novice with nothing to say.

However, the most surprising thing was that among the American buyers, Warner Bros. was the highest bidder.

The purchasing agent sent over was a white man in his thirties, with a neat slicked-back hairstyle, wearing a blue suit, and a warm smile on his face.

Sitting opposite Chen An and his group, he spoke enthusiastically: "Oh~ young Chen, my name is Jerry, I'm a fan of yours, your movies are really well made, but I don't know if you know that North American audiences don't like reading subtitles, so we can only offer 200 million US dollars."

Chen An indeed understood what Jerry meant; audiences in Hollywood, the so-called kingdom of movies, were indeed so arrogant that they refused to read subtitles.

Seeing that Chen An did not answer, Jerry continued enthusiastically, "If you are willing to sell the screening rights, DVD rights, and adaptation rights outside of Europe and China, we are willing to spend 700 million to buy them. That's the price for the best director."

"So more importantly, young Chen, you are a genius. I hope to invite you to Hollywood. The Oscars are the most popular awards in the world, and you can earn more US dollars there."

Although it's hard to admit, the Oscars, which are based in Hollywood, are the highest-grossing film festivals.

Commercially, it far surpasses the three major film festivals; a film that wins an Oscar can generate tens of millions of dollars in box office revenue in the world's largest film market.

From a commercial point of view, it's not that the Big Three are bad, but that Hollywood under the Oscars is too dazzling, at least for now!

Before long, an unparalleled giant ship will crush the entire global film market for more than a decade!

I'm asking for anything the female lead has; please stop spamming the comments section.

(End of this chapter)