Huayu Entertainment 1995 started with hijacking.

Chapter 349 Influence
"Seriously, it was a huge affair. The banquet was held in a castle, and each guest was paid 1000 euros for their meal. I heard that this event alone cost tens of millions!"

Listening to Jiang Qinqin's description, Wu Yuchen laughed and said, "Heh, if that's the case, then I really lost out. I didn't get to enjoy that dinner that cost over a thousand euros!"

"I think Director Chan is quite high-spirited; he even said he's going to sue a newspaper in Hong Kong!"

Wu Yuchen and Jiang Qinqin were talking about none other than Director Chen. That's right, Chen Kaizi (Chen Kaizi) has also come to Cannes, but his purpose this time isn't to compete, but to sell his film. What film? *The Promise*, of course!

This year's Cannes Film Festival screening for "The Promise" was a grand affair, inviting 258 top film companies from around the world to participate, and the banquet was held at the most prestigious Château-Lanapoule in the city.

I heard that the crew had previously airlifted more than 1000 kilograms of costumes and props from China to Cannes. The staff dressed up as Red Army and White Army soldiers to welcome guests, and the castle was decorated with posters and promotional materials for "The Promise". A long red carpet was laid out from the beach all the way to the castle.

Actually, Wu Yuchen also received an invitation from Chen Hong, but unfortunately, he didn't have time!
Sigh, it really wasn't his intention. He's currently filming "The Batman," and he's even skipping Cannes to catch up on the filming schedule. How could he possibly fly there for this? But he did manage to get Jiang Qinqin to attend.

As for what Jiang Qinqin just mentioned about Chen Kaizi suing a Hong Kong newspaper, it's because the Hong Kong newspaper Ming Pao Weekly revealed "insider information": "It is understood that after watching 'The Promise,' the Cannes Film Festival judges did not like the content of the film, so it was not selected as an entry."

Cannes is another name for Cannes. Mingbai Weekly is basically saying that Chen Kaizi should stop praising himself. His film "The Promise" was not even considered by the judges. It wasn't even nominated.

This really angered Kai Zi. "You don't hit someone in the face, you don't insult someone by revealing their weaknesses! How could you expose someone's shortcomings?!"
Kai is extremely protective of "The Promise" and will absolutely not allow anyone to slander his hard work!

So Kai Zi sued Ming Pao Weekly, saying that it was slandering and spreading rumors. He claimed that the reason his film "The Promise" was not submitted for the competition was because it was not yet finished editing, and not because it was not chosen by the judges!
Wu Yuchen had heard about this in his previous life, and in the end, the rich man won the lawsuit, and Ming Pao Weekly issued a public apology.

However, the more interesting part is yet to come...

Later, it was rumored that the president of Venice was so impressed after watching the trailer for "The Promise" that he begged Kaiser to invite the film to the Venice Film Festival and promised it the honor of being the opening film. However, Kaiser declined, saying he did not want to speed up the production and damage the quality of the film.

Just before the film's December release, media outlets reported that the Berlin Film Festival highly praised *The Promise*'s exploratory spirit and invited it to participate. This time, Kai had no reason to refuse. Chen Hong publicly stated that they hadn't actually submitted it to Berlin, but Berlin was practically begging *The Promise* to participate, and thus *The Promise* was selected for the non-competitive section of the Berlin Film Festival. Yes, the non-competitive section…

Despite the publicity, it must be said that although "The Promise" promoted and marketed all three major films, none of them were actually selected to participate in the competition.

Wu Yuchen smiled as he thought about these things, but then sighed.

"The Promise"—the money well spent by the filmmakers wasn't wasted; the marketing was undoubtedly successful, and the rights must have sold for a considerable sum. However, the quality of "The Promise" actually dragged down subsequent Chinese period films. This movie was incomprehensible not only to foreigners but also to many domestic viewers, naturally resulting in poor box office performance abroad.

When overseas distributors saw that this supposedly top-tier Chinese period film was performing so poorly, they realized that audiences weren't interested, and their enthusiasm for buying Chinese period films plummeted. Indeed, future Chinese period films have become less marketable.

Wu Yuchen couldn't control this kind of thing. He couldn't possibly stop Kai from selling his films, could he?
……

A week later, on May 22, the 58th Cannes Film Festival came to a close.

The Cannes Film Festival has always been the most watched of the three major film festivals. This year's Cannes Film Festival has a number of Chinese-language films in competition, including Wu Yuchen's "Departures", which has attracted special attention from various domestic media.

Mainland China's "China Film News," "Six Princesses," as well as Sina, NetEase, and Sohu, Hong Kong's "Film Biweekly" and "Sing Tao Daily," and Taiwanese entertainment media were all waiting on both sides of the Cannes red carpet.

"Wang Luodan, look this way!"

Reporters from the mainland shouted, and when they saw Wang Luodan walk over, they started snapping photos of her incessantly. Her presence on the red carpet indicated that the film was likely to win awards, so the reporters were eager to take as many pictures of her as possible.

After the "Shanghai Dreams" crew left, the Chinese-language reporters huddled together and started chatting: "Sigh, I heard that 'Election' has already gone home. Director To didn't even attend the closing ceremony red carpet this time. He was so ambitious at the opening ceremony red carpet, he must be extremely disappointed now!"

Another journalist said, "Election is still not to Cannes' taste, and it made a local old lady vomit on the first day. It's hardly a good reputation."

"I wonder what awards Chinese-language films will win at Cannes this year."

"Relax, relax! With Director Wu around this year, we're sure to come back empty-handed!"

"Hehe, that's true. Director Wu's willingness to come to Cannes is a big favor to Cannes. Cannes has always been good at these kinds of social niceties." Clearly, some reporters who regularly cover the three major cities also understand some of the ins and outs.

"Don't say that Director Wu can rely on his reputation to get by. Just based on the quality of the film 'Departures' alone, it should be able to win an award in the main competition."

"Yes, Director Wu's skill is no joke. When I went to see it, quite a few foreigners were moved to tears!"

"I have to say that Director Wu found a really good angle. Although it is about our Eastern funeral ceremony, it is so good that a large group of foreigners are captivated by it."

"The film depicts the encoffining procession, but it's actually about life; even foreigners have to experience death!"

"The program gave 'Departures' a pretty good score this time, ranking it second. I just don't know what award it will get in the end."

A group of reporters were chattering away, snapping photos whenever a big shot walked by. A moment later, one of them exclaimed, "They're here! They're here!"

Immediately, the group of reporters stopped chatting and became extremely alert. They unconsciously moved forward a little, carrying their cameras, and saw Wu Yuchen walking leisurely on the red carpet with Jiang Qinqin and others.

On both sides of the red carpet, fans cheered for Wu Yuchen, who waved back to them with ease.

"Director Wu! Over here!"

Hearing the shouts, Wu Yuchen looked towards the press area, then smiled and led Jiang Qinqin and the others over, letting them take pictures.

"Director Wu, what is your goal for today?"

"Director Wu, are you confident you can win the Palme d'Or?" "Director Wu, will 'Departures' still be considered for the Oscars?"

"Director Wu, foreign audiences really love the Eastern-style 'Departures,' can you talk about it?"

Listening to the reporters' barrage of questions, Wu Yuchen smiled and replied:

"I'm already very happy to be able to attend this year's Cannes Film Festival, exchange ideas with so many colleagues, and see so many excellent films. As for awards, those are just extra gains, and I don't care about them."

"I am also very happy that Departures is loved by foreign audiences. It proves that as long as the emotions in your work are sincere, national borders and skin color are not obstacles."

At this point, Wu Yuchen paused for a moment, then smiled and said, "What is national is also international!"

After saying that, Wu Yuchen didn't say anything more. He nodded to the reporters and then gave the interview opportunity to Jiang Qinqin and Zhao Wenxuan, who were standing next to him.

The reporters, sensing the opportunity, quickly seized the chance to ask their questions:
"Qinqin, are you confident you can win the Best Actress award?"

"Qinqin, what were your impressions of your trip to Cannes?"

"Winston Chao, what was it like working with Director Wu?"

One cannot linger on the red carpet for too long, so after seeing that it was about time, Wu Yuchen led his group away leisurely.

After watching Wu Yuchen's figure disappear into the distance, the reporters stopped taking pictures and exclaimed, "As expected of Director Wu!"

"What is national is also international! How well said!"

"Wow! This director is really good!"

After walking the red carpet and entering the hall, Jiang Qinqin looked at Wu Yuchen with admiration: "Honey, what you just said was so good! I could never say something like that!"

Wu Yuchen laughed and said, "After all, I'm a creative person!"

Wu Yuchen then looked around the auditorium but didn't see Chen Kaizi. To be honest, given Chen Kaizi's status, he could easily have gotten tickets to the awards ceremony if he wanted to be a guest. But it seemed he wasn't coming.

He didn't know if Chen Kaizi had left or not, but he figured there would be a negotiation period for selling copyrights, so he probably hadn't left yet.

Wu Yuchen isn't worried about the copyright issues of "Departures." Even if he doesn't win any awards at this year's Cannes Film Festival, he doesn't need to worry at all. His name is a golden brand; distributors are practically begging him to sell the film. He's not in a hurry at all; he'll sell the overseas rights after next year's Oscars.

Therefore, he doesn't really care what award he wins this time. He'll definitely get a major award, whether it's a jury prize, Best Director, or Best Actor/Actress, he's open to it.

At the beginning, some small awards were given out, such as Un Certain Regard and Directors' Fortnight.

"International Alliance Art Film Award... *Shanghai Dreams*!"

Upon hearing this, Wang Xiaoshuai sighed inwardly. He had originally hoped to win a bigger award, but in the end, it was just a small one. However, winning an award was still good; at least the copyright would be worth something.

As Wu Yuchen watched Wang Xiaoshuai go on stage to accept the award, he clapped while thinking that in his previous life, "Qinghong" had won the Jury Prize. Although it wasn't the Grand Jury Prize, which was second only to the Palme d'Or, it was still much more prestigious than this one. Was this influenced by his butterfly effect?
Unbeknownst to him, in his previous life, because he was not involved, Wu Baige, in order to ensure the smooth filming of "Red Cliff" in mainland China, even disregarded Hou Hsiao-hsien's "The Best Time" in Taiwan, and strongly supported the mainland film "Shanghai Dreams" in the judging panel, which allowed "Shanghai Dreams" to win the Jury Prize.

Now that Wu Yuchen has "Departures," why would Wu Baige care about "Shanghai Dreams"? Therefore, it would be good enough if "Shanghai Dreams" could win a small award this time.

"Best Actor... Tommy Lee Jones!"

Clap clap clap clap, Wu Yuchen clapped. He quite admired Tommy Hilfiger's self-directed and starring film, *The Three Burials of Escada*, having even watched it and discussed it with Hilfiger. The film not only won Best Actor, but also just won Best Screenplay.

This film tells the story of an American farm steward who, in order to fulfill his friend's dying wish to return to his homeland of Mexico, embarks on a perilous journey with his friend's body.

Many people who have seen this movie will think of a Chinese film, "Getting Home," starring Uncle Benshan. This movie is probably going to be filmed next year and released the year after. It tells the story of migrant worker Lao Zhao who goes through many hardships to transport his friend Lao Liu's body back to his hometown so that Lao Liu can "return to his roots" after his death.

Looking at them from this perspective, don't they seem almost identical? In addition, since it was filmed later than "The Three Funerals of Escada," many people in China say that "Getting Home" plagiarized the former.

However, that's not actually the case. Just this year, Southern Weekly published a report about a migrant worker who carried a corpse thousands of miles back to his hometown for burial—a true story. The film *Getting Home* is based on this story, and the film's content differs significantly from *The Three Burials of Escada*.

Sometimes it's just a coincidence. To be honest, "Getting Home" is truly a high-quality domestic film, and Uncle Benshan's acting is really good.

"Best Actress... Hannah Laszlo for 'Free Zone'!"

Upon hearing the result, a barely perceptible hint of disappointment flashed in Jiang Qinqin's eyes. Although she knew her role was minor and her chances of winning Best Actress were extremely slim, she had come all this way, so how could she not have fantasized? Now, her fantasy had been shattered.

As if sensing Jiang Qinqin's feelings, Wu Yuchen reached out, took her hand, squeezed it, and smiled at her, saying, "You'll have your day!"

Jiang Qinqin felt a warmth in her heart upon hearing Wu Yuchen's words, and nodded and smiled at him slightly.

After the Best Actor and Best Actress awards were given out, only three awards remained.

"The Best Director award goes to..."

(End of this chapter)