Just when the domestic literary and art circles are looking forward to the arrival of the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers, the Cannes Film Festival, one of the three largest in Europe, has already opened.
Isabelle Adjani won the Best Actress crown, with two works competing at the same time: "Quartet" and "Possessed"! I recommend "Possessed", which contains scenes of Adjani having sex with the devil...
Taking the Berlin Film Festival at the beginning of the year as a starting point, this year officially kicked off the overseas release of domestic films. The Chinese film delegation also went to Cannes for the first time, showing "Road Angel" and "Sanmao Wandering".
Not a competition.
The first participating film will have to wait until "The True Story of Ah Q" next year.
Objectively speaking, although Westerners want to watch Chinese movies at this stage, they themselves don't know exactly what they want to watch.
Until the emergence of the fifth generation, they perfectly filled this need, represented by Chen Kaige's "Yellow Earth" and Zhang Yimou's "Red Sorghum". When those foreigners took a look, yo! Yes, yes, yes, we love to watch it.
This, you take pictures of this!
What to shoot?
A national, barbaric, backward society with perverted feudal ethics, oppressed men and women, and the struggle between the awakened and the conservative. If it had a torrent background, it would be more popular with the West.
The first awards may have been accidental, such as "Red Sorghum".
The similarities after that are deliberately made up, such as "Ju Dou" and "Raise the Red Lantern".
I’m not going to discuss whether the movie is good or bad. I just want to say that these directors and overseas investors all know that making this kind of movie will be popular at film festivals and have a high chance of winning awards. It is the West that defines Chinese movies, and at the same time, it is also the one that drives Chinese movies.
Let others define it.
By the end of the 1990s, Chinese society had developed, and it was too far away to film feudal ethics and torrent, so the sixth generation came into being.
They photographed the marginalized groups in China during the social transformation period. Hey, Westerners have found a new G-spot.
The fifth generation at least tried to transform, but the sixth generation just jumped in and took on the shape of others, which continues to this day. For example, Lou Ye made a movie that "reflected" the domestic epidemic and went to Cannes to praise others.
Stinky feet.
A bunch of foreigners saw through the defense and left the game midway, giving them 0 points.
Lou Ye's original intention was to criticize various inhumane hegemonic behaviors in the country, but in the eyes of foreigners, it is "Although you have dead parents and dead mothers and dead children, and the corpse truck is like a long queue, we can't order takeout for three months."
Ah! I can’t go out for three months!”
Foreigners will not feel that he is mocking China, but rather he is mocking himself.
To this day, the voice of Chinese films has never kept up with the growth of national power. On the one hand, it is not living up to expectations, and on the other hand, tracing back to the roots, the roots can be traced back to the 1980s.
…
Speaking of which, while Chen Qi was writing scripts and waiting for awards in Hangzhou, he would occasionally treat He Qing to a meal.
In the blink of an eye, May 22nd arrived, the night before the ceremony.
It was as if famous literary and artistic workers from all over the country had gathered in Hangzhou at once.
The Beijing Film Studio produced a team, namely "Love in Lushan", led by Wang Haowei. The Shanghai Film Studio was the most popular, with two hits, "Legend of Tianyun Mountain" and "Bashan Night Rain", both of which were produced by the famous Xie Jin
The director also came.
To put it simply, this ceremony is about "Romance in Lushan" competing against those two movies.
The rest is just running with me.
There are no fancy things here, no press conferences, celebrity meetings, or red carpets. It’s more like a big gathering of the literary and art circles. It’s not easy for a group of people to meet each other. It’s not easy for a group of people to get together. Come and sit with me.
I'll go visit you and visit each other.
Chen Qi vacated the previous guest house and moved into a hotel arranged by the organizing committee.
He also has people he wants to visit, not celebrity directors, but a group of people who are very, very unpopular in the literary and art circles.
"I don't know what the leaders thought, but they brought "Street Angel" and "Sanmao Wandering" to the exhibition. Those were works from decades ago. When the French saw them, they thought we were still in the old society!"
In the room, Xu Jingda was holding an industry magazine and talking about the Cannes Film Festival.
Mark laughed and said: "At least it's safe. Who knows if something will happen if we bring other movies? Hey, Lao Xu, look at this, the country is interested in going overseas, should we apply?"
"Apply to participate in the exhibition?"
"No, enter the competition! We don't dare to speak when we make live-action movies, but when we make cartoons, haha, Chinese cartoons are not afraid of anyone!"
These two people are directors from Shanghai Art Film Studio. They have participated in or directed works including: "Havoc in Heaven", "Mu Flute" and "Nezha Haohai". The work they brought this time is "Three Monks".
"Is it possible to let "Three Monks" go overseas?"
"Absolutely, we don't know the standard of this film yet..."
"Dong dong dong!"
The two of them were chatting when someone knocked on the door outside. Xu Jingda went to open the door and saw a strange young man. He introduced himself: "Hello, seniors, my name is Chen Qi, and I am here to visit!"
Chen Qi?!
Xu Jingda and Mark Xuan had naturally heard of his name, and they were both confused. Why did he come to us to make a cartoon?
"Oh, come in quickly! Come in quickly!"
"Your visit surprised us!"
"I'm sorry, I've read your work no less than ten times, and I really like it. I knew you were staying here so I came here to disturb you. I apologize for my inconvenience."
Chen Qi was very polite, and the two of them didn't want to chase anyone away. He smiled and said: "Just sit down and sit down when you come. The awards are a great reunion for the literary and art circles. I just didn't expect that you would like cartoons if you make live-action movies?"
"Hey, cartoons are seriously underestimated. I have always felt that cartoons are suitable for all ages and are of great value. In a sense, they are more worthy of dissemination than live-action movies."
Chen Qi boasted loudly and soon the relationship became closer. The three of them had a long talk about the animation industry at home and abroad.
Chinese cartoons started from "Havoc in Heaven" in 1961, to "Nezha Haohai", "Three Monks", "Afanti", "Snow Child", "Nine-Colored Deer", "Magic Pen Ma Liang", and then to the full-length "Ma Liang"
"Calabash Baby", "Shuke Beta", "Rubik's Cube Mansion", "The Sloppy King", etc., and has really produced a series of excellent works.
Animated movies are even more popular overseas and have won many awards.
It's a pity that it declined in the late 1990s, and the last swan song was "Lotus Lantern". It took nearly 20 years for it to rise again...
Chen Qi came here to get close to him, and cartoons were a very important part of his plan. After chatting about all kinds of things, he asked about the real thing before leaving: "I would like to ask you if I want to make a movie called "Nezha Haohai".
How long would it take for a movie of that length and difficulty to be even more difficult?"
"We prepared it in May 1978 and completed it in August 1979, which took one year and three months." Xu Jingda said.
"So soon? Oh, I mean, I thought it would take a few years!"
"It depends on the specific drawing difficulty. The characters, clothes, backgrounds, and utensils of "Nezha Haohai" are actually quite simplified. "Havoc in Heaven" is more complicated. It took two years to draw the upper and lower parts alone.
"
"How much does it cost?"
"..."
Xu Jingda and Mark Xuan looked at each other, and there was a faint movement in their hearts. They gave an imaginary number without saying anything specific: "More than a million!"
"Oh, that's it...well, I'll bother you two today, I should go!"
Chen Qi had an idea of ​​how long it would take to make a cartoon and how much it would cost, so he stood up and left.
Of course he is not doing it now. He will do it after the company saves some money. While the elite painters like Shangmei Film are here, he can do a few more films before he can afford to go there.
Chapter completed!