In recent years, Asian films seem to have become the mainstream of major film festivals, and the same is true for Chinese films. Every year, one or two Chinese films can enter the competition units of major awards.

Out of his importance to Chinese films, Mark Muller visited Peking once in March and watched more than a dozen new films including "Kekexili", "Peacock", "What a big sheep", "**** Night". Among them, he is most optimistic about "Peacock" and then "Kekexili".

However, although Mark Muller is the chairman of the film festival and loves Chinese films very much, he has no right to make the choice of the film selection. Whether the film can be shortlisted must be decided by the film review committee. As a result, neither "Peacock" nor "Kokesili" he is optimistic about was able to enter the main competition unit. In this way, there is not a Chinese film in the main competition unit of this Venice Film Festival, which is not what he wants to see, so he hopes to bring Jia Zhangke's "World" to Venice.

"World" is the first movie that Jia Zhangke made within the system. The film was filmed in March, but due to the tight time and his reputation was not very good in Cannes, "World" was returned by Cannes.

For art films, if they cannot enter the three main competition units, the pressure to make a fortune will be very high. So Jia Zhangke re-edited and filmed, deleted some of the scenes, invited his old friend Wang Hongwei to re-shoot, and added many animation elements.

In the screening hall of a theater in a Peking theater, Mark Muller, who had watched "World", breathed a sigh of relief. This version was much better than the version I saw in March. The story itself has not changed, and there are many more interesting things. Although the whole movie has many flaws, there should be no problem being shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival: "This time it was not a waste of time. In the past two years, there have been fewer and fewer high-quality art films in China."

"Now that Chinese-language films are moving closer to business, people are becoming more and more impetuous, and fewer and fewer people are making movies with peace of mind." Li Zhili is a Chinese film selection consultant at the Venice Film Festival. When talking about Chinese films, he sighed, but at this moment, he suddenly remembered something, "By the way, Zhang Ran's "The Aviator" has been filmed, and insiders have a very high evaluation of the film and think it is a rare masterpiece."

As a film selection consultant at the film festival, Li Zhili maintains contact with the Chinese film production team to understand their stories, types, production directions, and track their production rhythms to investigate when these films will be launched on the market. Zhang Ran is a Chinese director who has risen in the past two years and has won a grand prize at the Tokyo Film Festival, which is the focus of attention. After the filming of "The Aviator", Li Zhili communicated with Zhang Ran and has been in touch since then. He originally wanted to watch the rough cut version of "The Aviator", but Zhang Ran has been busy with the promotion of "The Time and Space Warrior" recently and he has not been able to see it.

Mark Muller is more concerned about the Chinese film industry. He also knows the completion of "The Aviator": "It's only more than a month since the opening of the film festival, and "The Aviator" has just been completed, so it will definitely be too late for the later stage. Forget it!"

Li Zhili explained: "They used a digital technology that can be used to cut while shooting. When the movie is finished, the rough cut will come out. They are faster in the later stage and it is possible to complete it!"

Mark Muller was stunned: "Since that's the case, let's have a meeting with him."

...

On the screen, Zhang Ran flew into the sky in a plane and flew towards the sun. The strong sunlight made people's eyes almost unable to open. Just in the strong sunlight, Zhang Ran's shouts floated in the air.

Ahhhh

Under normal circumstances, this exciting scene must have exciting music to set off the atmosphere, but "The Aviator" has not yet performed a soundtrack, and the whole scene seems a bit deserted and lonely.

The picture switches, close-up shot of Zhang Jingchu, she raised her head and looked at the sky, her eyes a little complicated. Suddenly she smiled, and then a tear rolled down from her eyes.

At the same time, the voice over sounded, which was Zhang Jingchu's voice: "That was the last time I saw Qiao Zhengfei. That day I saw him fly into the sun!"

The camera switched again, and the plane flew farther and smaller in the sky, and eventually disappeared completely, as if it had really flew into the sun.

The picture has been frozen, the movie has ended, and the screen is white.

Ning Hao turned his head and looked at it, and saw Mark Muller and Li Zhili's mouths slightly open, staring at the snow-white screen in a daze. Ning Hao showed a smile on his lips and shouted: "Mr. Muller!"

Mark Muller came back to his senses and stood up and applauded Zhang Ran: "This is incredible, too subversive, completely different from your previous works. It is not a Hollywood-style movie at all, and the personal style is too strong. I really didn't expect you to make such a movie."

Zhang Ran waved his hand with a smile: "Everyone wants to express himself. This movie is a self-expression. Since it is self-expression, you must have your own things."

Mark Muller was really glad that he contacted Zhang Ran and saw this movie, otherwise he would have regretted it for life. He grabbed Zhang Ran's hand tightly: "Leave this movie to me and take me to Venice!"

Seeing that Mark Muller likes "The Aviator" so much, Zhang Ran was very pleased: "I am very happy to hear you say this. I don't know if I can enter the main competition unit?"

Mark Muller knew that movies like "The Aviator" would not have to worry about not having a film festival. If you can't enter the main competition unit, Zhang Ran would vote for other companies: "Of course there is no problem. "The Aviator" is a film full of exploration and experimentation, which is the most popular at the Venice Film Festival."

Zhang Ran originally wanted to send it to Berlin, but he didn't consider Venice, because it was a bit rushing to send it to Venice in terms of time: "It's already the end of July, and it's only more than a month before the opening of the Venice Film Festival. I'm not sure to complete the late stage before the start of the film festival."

This is also what Mark Muller is worried about: "If you catch it, can you finish it?"

Zhang Ran thought for a while and said, "It should be possible to complete it, but I can't guarantee it. You will announce the shortlist in early August. If you announce the list and we don't finish the later stage in the end, it will not be a good thing for you or me. So let it go!"

In fact, every film festival will encounter this situation. The optimistic director or work may not be able to catch up with the later reasons. Especially directors like Wang Jiawei have started the film festival, and his later may not be completed. Back then, Hou Hsiao-hsien's "Red Balloon" was not completed, and he had to be shortlisted for a unit of attention. In order to solve this problem, the Cannes Film Festival racked its brains. For example, after Cannes Film announced the main competition movie in mid-April, it often announced that some movies will be added to the main competition afterwards. This is the so-called "surprise movie list".

Zhang Ran is not a big director, but he is also a rising star who has attracted much attention, especially now that "Space-Time Warrior" is being screened worldwide. His new film enters the Venice Film Festival and will bring a certain amount of attention to the film festival. More importantly, this movie is really unique and a real masterpiece. It would be a very regrettable to miss such a movie.

Mark Muller, unwilling to give up, asked, “How confident are you to finish the late stage before and after the festival?”

Zhang Ran pondered: "Ninety percent!"

Mark Muller breathed a sigh of relief and grasped it very much, immediately said: "This year I am the protagonist of the Venice Film Festival. In order to increase the suspense of the film festival, I made a link called Surprise Movie. Surprise Movie is a movie that we did not announce before. It was not officially announced until the end of the festival, and it was officially announced at the last moment before the award selection began. It can increase the suspense of the film festival and make the Golden Lion Award more confusing. We originally planned to use Kim Ki-dou's "Empty Room" as a Surprise Movie, but now I think it is better to use "Flyer" as a Surprise Movie. If "Flyer" cannot be completed, this year's Surprise Movie will be cancelled."

Zhang Ran had heard of the surprise movies of the Venice Film Festival. Jia Zhangke's "The Good Man in the Three Gorges" appeared in Venice in the form of a surprise movie, so he said: "This is a good method!"

After that, Zhang Ran chatted with Mark Muller for a while. While the two were chatting, the studio staff carved the rough cut version into DVD. Mark Muller needed to take the DVD back to play it for the film selection committee, and they could decide whether "The Aviator" could enter the main competition unit after they had watched it.

After getting the DVD, Mark Muller stood up and patted Zhang Ran on the shoulder: "Zhang Ran, please, you must complete it before the film festival. I really like this movie very much and hope it will premiere in Venice!"

Zhang Ran smiled and nodded: "I will do my best to complete it!"

Mark Muller didn't say much and said goodbye to Zhang Ran: "Then I won't bother you, goodbye!"

Zhang Ran originally wanted to invite Mark Muller to have a meal, but the old man insisted on leaving, saying that he would take the movie back to the film selection committee as soon as possible. Zhang Ran did not insist, and sent Mark Muller to the elevator entrance and then returned to the studio to continue his busyness.

A week later, Zhang Ran received a call from Mark Muller.

Mark Muller asked about the later progress of "The Aviator". After learning that everything went well, he smiled and said, "Zhang Ran, congratulations. Things have been settled. "The Aviator" is the surprise movie of this year!"

Although this result was expected, Zhang Ran couldn't help but smile: "Thank you, Mark, this is really good news!"

After chatting with Mark Muller for a few words, Zhang Ran hung up the phone. Just as he was about to put his phone in his pocket, the phone ringing rang again.

It was Han Shanping's phone number.

As soon as the phone was connected, Han Shanping's voice came over: "Zhang Ran has something to notify you. There will be a seminar on "Time and Space Warriors" next week. You are the director of the film and you will speak at that time. You can prepare!"

Zhang Ran thought it was a meeting held by Han Shanping, and said directly: "Mr. Han, I have a stomachache next week, so forget it!"

Han Shanping almost had a crooked nose. Next week, your stomachache is a weather forecast, and it is also predicted. He coughed and said seriously: "Zhang Ran, this matter is not a joke. The specifications of this seminar are very high. It is sponsored by the ******* Art Bureau of Literature and Art, the Film Bureau of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and organized by the China Film Archives. Many leaders will be present at that time. According to Tong Director, Vice Minister Luo of ******* will attend the seminar. There are also representatives of the academic, critics, and media. Zhang Yimou does not have this treatment. You must not lose your chain!"

Zhang Ran was shocked when he heard the Deputy Minister *******. Why did all the people from ******* come? He asked carefully: "What is the purpose of the seminar? Why are there so many leaders?"

Han Shanping smiled and comforted: "Don't be nervous, it's mainly because "Space-Time Warriors" sold overseas, and it exceeded 150 million in China, which attracted the attention of leaders. This seminar mainly summarized the inspiration brought by "Space-Time Warriors" to Chinese films in creation, production, operation, etc., and provided suggestions for the future of Chinese films."

Zhang Ran asked in confusion: "Is it necessary to make suggestions and suggestions so big? All the people from ******* are here!"

Han Shanping asked: "Do you usually watch "News Broadcast"?"

Zhang Ran said: "I don't look at it often, sometimes I look at it."

Han Shanping explained: "In addition to the discussion itself, the seminar is actually to convey a message to the society. The country will increase its support for the film industry. Chinese films going global are one of the key points of attention!" (~^~)
Chapter completed!