Lido Island is a long and narrow island with casinos, hotels, and of course the most famous movie palace. Compared with the deserted scene when Li Tang came to travel in his previous life, Lidu Island at this time was crowded with people. The long beach was full of tents, which were the temporary residences of backpackers and students.
The red carpet and lights are still being laid out at the entrance of the Film Palace in preparation for tomorrow's opening ceremony.
Only more than a hundred meters away from the Cinema Palace is the most famous Westin Hotel on the island. This is the official hotel designated by the film festival. The invited big-name stars all stay here temporarily. Maybe some stars have already arrived and gathered in front of the hotel. There were more than a dozen reporters armed with long guns and cannons.
As for why Li Tang and the others were arranged in a hotel similar to a guest house on the main island, it can only be said that as newcomers, they did not have enough coffee seats.
When Dan heard Nai'an's explanation, Xiaopang looked unyielding and said, "One day I will live here too."
It is of course a good thing to have ambition and pursuit. But it's not easy to be invited to live here. At least she has to match the domestic Gong Li... Well, Gong Li is not included, she is already from Lijiapo now. Nowadays, the only person who can compete with the mainland film industry is Zhang Ziyi, who must at least have international reputation.
Among the group of people, Li Tang was probably the only one who believed that Xiaopang was not kidding, and that one day in the future she would definitely realize this dream.
After a round trip back to the trading market, it was still deserted. Zeng Jia, who stayed here, had only sent out a dozen promotional brochures.
"Close the stall and come back tomorrow."
Li Tang can only hope that the place will be more popular tomorrow.
Returning to the guest house where we stayed, there were many people gathered in the small lobby, all dragging their luggage. They were obviously filmmakers who came to the film festival and were not high-ranking.
Li Tang and Cheng Er were at the end, talking about going to the trading market tomorrow morning.
Suddenly I heard someone shouting in Chinese: "Cheng Er!"
When Cheng Er turned around and saw the person coming, he couldn't help but said in surprise: "Senior Brother Wu."
It is naturally a gratifying thing to meet Chinese people in a foreign country, and Li Tang also turned around after hearing this. I saw a chubby guy running over and hugging Cheng Er warmly, accompanied by a beautiful girl.
It's just that the guy's big nose and sunken eye sockets clearly have Western ancestry, but the pretty girl's face is particularly familiar.
"Brother Li, this is my senior brother Wu Shixian from Nortel's directing department. His work has been shortlisted for the short film unit this time."
In addition to the four Chinese-language feature films that have been shortlisted for the Venice Film Festival this time, there is also a film called "Che 44" that has been shortlisted for the short film section.
"Director Wu, nice to meet you!"
"Brother Li, hello!"
It always seemed weird that a guy who looked obviously like a foreigner could speak fluently in Beijing movies. Moreover, Li Tang couldn't help but be stunned when he saw this bearded guy actually calling him brother.
This guy seemed to have figured out what Li Tang was thinking. He held his hand and said with a smile, "Brother Li, that's right. I'm seventy-five years old, so I look a little older."
After saying that, he took the initiative to introduce the beautiful girl next to him: "This is my girlfriend Gong Beibi."
"Hello, Teacher Gong!"
Although the girl in front of me with a slightly protruding mouth looks young, she debuted very early and has appeared in many popular dramas such as "Beijing-Hong Kong Love Line" and "Love to the End". She can be regarded as Li Tang's predecessor. . She was quite popular in the past few years, but she seemed to have disappeared in the past two years. She was busy dating.
"Hey, Brother Li, don't be a teacher. I don't dare to be a teacher. Just call me baby."
Li Tang couldn't help but be stunned. No serious person would call her Baby, so he called her politely: "Xiao Gong."
Since we met, we found a seat in the lobby and sat down to chat.
Compared to the taciturn Cheng Er, Director Wu was quite talkative. He is in a similar situation to Cheng Er. He once won the short film award at the International Student Film Festival with his graduation film "East 22". The short film "Che 22" shortlisted this time is his second work. The protagonist is his girlfriend Gong Beibi.
This guy saw that Li Tang was surprised by his fluent Beijing movies, so he introduced himself that he was actually a mixed race of Chinese and American. His father was Chinese and his mother was American. He was born in Wanwan and grew up in the United States. He studied at the University of Washington. After two years of film art, he transferred to the Nortel Directing Department in his junior year. I have lived in Beijing for six years since 1995.
His short film shortlisted this time will be released the day after the opening ceremony, and he warmly invited Li Tang and Cheng Er to come and support him.
Although Cheng Er doesn't speak much, it can be seen that he still admires this "Sino-US joint venture" senior brother.
In this case, Li Tang took the initiative to invite them to have dinner together in the evening. Originally, they had booked a table at an Italian restaurant not far from the pier tonight and planned to have a dinner together.
…
The next morning, Xiaopang got up early and started doing her hair and makeup in preparation for her first red carpet appearance in her life that evening.
Naian is going to visit Marco Muller and other people in the European film industry. Whether at home or abroad, maintaining relationships is always a very important thing. For example, this time she helped Lou Ye get investment from France Television 5 through her connections.
This French TV station is a privately invested TV station. In addition to operating normal TV business, it also invests in movies. The boss is the famous AC Milan boss Silvio Berlusconi. This guy was re-elected as Prime Minister of Italy in the recent general election.
Li Tangze and Zeng Jia went to the film market on Lidu Island to distribute promotional brochures. Cheng Er stayed in the hotel with nothing to do, so he also followed.
They don't have money to advertise in venue publications, so they can only promote the movie in this original way, hoping that in this way they can attract as many film dealers as possible to watch the movie during the screening.
Generally speaking, films that can be shortlisted will always attract the attention of some film producers. In fact, during the film festival, there is also a mutual game process between film producers and film dealers.
Film producers generally select films based on their ratings and quality. When they find one they like, they start negotiations with the producer. This may involve buying out the copyright for the country or even the entire region, or an agency-share model.
Many films have agreements made before the winners are announced. Because once a movie wins an award, not only will there be more competitors, but the price of the movie will also go up.
Especially awards from the Venice Film Festival, one of the top three in Europe, are very important and recognized by the audience. Just like after every Oscar ceremony, the winning films will be given the opportunity to be re-screened. With the blessing of awards, the box office is often astonishing. The producers not only get honors, but also real benefits.
The transactions at the film festival are a bit like opening a blind box. If the movie that the film company bets on wins an award, it will mean huge profits. In the same way, producers generally do not dare to take risks before the awards are announced. Even in the midst of acclaim, they will try their best to recover costs and try again on the basis of cost recovery. If it wins the prize, it will naturally be sold at a good price, but if it fails, not only will the price drop, but no one will even care about it.
Li Tang and Cheng Er's current idea is very simple. They don't want to be divided into anything, they just want to sell the copyright and make cash at any time!
At ten o'clock in the morning, the film market opened, and sellers had already entered the venue. There were more than a dozen people, as few as three or four, carrying all kinds of strange props and furnishings, and started to arrange them in a messy manner. Compared with the deserted scene yesterday, there were obviously more booths today, and it looked like they were almost full.
But there are very few serious film dealers and buyers. Most of them are tourists and reporters hanging around with cameras hanging around to see if there is any good gossip.
Because they had booked in advance, Li Tang's booth was in a good location, not far from the entrance, making it easy to focus. The booth was actually very simple. There were movie promotion brochures placed on a long table in front, the baffles on both sides were covered with movie posters, and a trailer was playing on the TV hanging behind.
After all, the cost is limited. Compared with the booths next door that hire blond girls in bikinis to coquettishly hand out flyers, solicit customers, and even hand out ice cream, their booth here can be said to be low-end.
Originally, the three of them were sitting in the booth, but seeing fewer and fewer people passing by and stopping at their booth, Zeng Jia simply picked up a stack of pamphlets, ran outside the booth and distributed them everywhere in broken English, sometimes Take the initiative to exchange a few words with others. It's similar to handing out flyers on the street. Most people just take the pamphlets and ignore them. Maybe after you finish shopping, these brochures will be stuffed into the trash can.
The two grown men, Li Tang and Cheng Er, were embarrassed and ran out to shout hello. Cheng Er was obviously very uneasy when he saw the surrounding situation.
"Brother Li, do you think our film can be sold?"
"Don't worry, these are just gimmicks. They only attract tourists. Real film producers don't do this. We are shortlisted and have a greater advantage than them. Besides, the film festival hasn't opened yet, so don't worry. Now it’s mainly about publicity.”
Even though Li Tang seemed to be nagging on the surface, he was actually unsure in his heart. After all, he had never experienced this kind of thing in his previous life. He only knows that movies are not as good as wine. If you want to sell movies, you must first let people see them.
It was noon in a blink of an eye, and Li Tang went out to buy some pizza for lunch. While I was eating, I saw Nai An running over in a hurry.
"Quick, go back and tidy up, and I've made an appointment for you to interview. Li Tang, are you good at French?"
"good."
Li Tang nodded hurriedly. During the filming of "The Little Seamstress", his French improved greatly and basic communication was no problem.
At the same time, he said in surprise: "Sister An, what kind of interview?"
"I asked a friend from French Radio 5 to help contact a French venue, and we made an appointment at three o'clock."
I have to say that Naian is still very impressive. For example, the Venice Film Festival has four major programs, two from France, one from the United States, and one from Italy. Many producers with deep pockets will advertise in field magazines. For example, the cover of an issue can be as high as 50,000 to 60,000 US dollars, and then the price of the center insert, back cover, etc. is clearly marked. The exclusive interview in the event magazine is equivalent to giving you a free advertisement.
Back at the hotel, Xiaopang has already finished the basic styling. It is said that 30% of the appearance is 70% of the dress. After sorting it out, I took a quick look and it was really amazing. Of course, it is still far away from the domineering and leaky imperial sister-like chubby figure that Li Tang remembered in his previous life. After all, he is still He looks immature and his temperament still needs to be settled.
Directors and actors, film festival catalogs generally focus more on directors, unless the actors are more famous. Cheng Er, who has social phobia tendencies, is very nervous about the upcoming interview, and even feels a little restless.
Li Tang had no choice but to comfort him: "Think about our movie. Besides, I will help you translate, so what are you afraid of!"
Yeah, think about movies.
Coming to the film festival is not only for Cheng Er to get a good price, but more importantly, he hopes that his works can be seen by more people.
Cheng Er gritted his teeth and secretly worked on himself mentally.
Fortunately, the French reporter who came to interview was very professional. After watching the trailer, the questions he asked were all related to the movie. As soon as he talked about movies, Cheng Er's sociophobic tendencies disappeared instantly, and he started to talk eloquently. His already stumbling translator almost couldn't keep up.
As for Li Tang, the French buddy actually knew him and accurately called the name of the character he played in "Suzhou River" - Ma Da.
Li Tang was somewhat flattered. He didn't expect that he would become famous in Europe.
At seven o'clock in the evening, which is considered afternoon according to Italian time, the red carpet ceremony of the 58th Venice International Film Festival will begin.
At around six o'clock, Li Tang and his party followed the large group and took a speedboat specially arranged by the organizer to Lido Island.
Today, the fat girl wore a white dress with a shawl-style neckline, paired with low bun hair and big red lips. The overall look was slightly mature and noble. In particular, her skin is fair. Wearing pure white not only does not make her look black, but she makes her look white and glowing.
According to the procedures issued in advance, this year's opening ceremony was generally relaxed and held in the form of a dinner. In fact, preparations for this year’s opening ceremony had already begun half a month ago. The most eye-catching ones are naturally the big Hollywood stars, and this year the main ones are "topic queen" Nicole Kidman, character actor Kim Hackman and "beautiful lady" Elizabeth Taylor.
They arrived relatively early, so they had no choice but to sit and wait in a temporary lounge set up in a huge tent next to the movie palace because of their low status and lack of rights. But the big stars staying in the Westin Hotel next door can take their time, pick the time, and walk over in just a few steps.
The red carpet of the opening ceremony has not even started yet, and many movie fans and photographers have already gathered at the scene. What's even more interesting is that the fans at the scene were not only enthusiastic, but also openly displayed a huge banner with a line of English letters on it.
"Pfft!"
Li Tang couldn't help but cover his mouth and laugh when he saw it.
"What's written on it?" Xiaopang asked curiously as he knew nothing about English.
"Down with Hollywood imperialism!" Li Tang translated to her.
In fact, at the film market in the morning, he heard people talking around him, saying that the slogan of this film festival is "Down with Hollywood Imperialism". Unexpectedly, some movie fans actually used this slogan at the scene. Who knows that the so-called Hollywood What did the big names think when they saw this slogan when they came out?
(End of chapter)
