Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 12: Just do it!

But the underground film industry and cinemas are two independent markets.

The success of Lou Ye and Jia Zhangke’s entry into theaters from underground cinemas was not just due to the films themselves.

Li Qiutang never expected that his film could ferment underground and then rush into theaters.

Moreover, the underground circle in Yanjing is very small, with only a few people. What they see will not help them get into the cinema.

He screened his films underground, simply because he was eager to meet the audience.

It wasn't completely useless. Someone claiming to be in the audio-visual publishing business contacted Li Qiutang and said they could help him distribute the discs.

Regardless of whether the other party’s identity is true or false, Li Qiutang’s first priority is to get the film in theaters.

If the film cannot be shown in theaters, he can sell it directly to movie channels. There is no need to release discs right away. Besides, the disc market is shrinking rapidly and there is no meat to be gained.

Suddenly it was the end of the month, and Xiao Ma also rejected Li Qiutang, on the grounds that the risk of movies was too high and the company had no plans to enter the film industry for the time being.

Li Qiutang became more and more courageous. He didn't believe that he couldn't find a distributor for his film.

It was also on this day that Li Qiutang received an email from Canada, saying that "The Night the Comet Came" had been successfully shortlisted for the competition unit of this year's Canadian Fantasy Film Festival, and the organizing committee welcomed the crew to Canada.

A guide to visiting the film festival is also attached.

Li Qiutang could only understand the general meaning of the above content. He didn't recognize many words in the English email and had to look for a translation online.

This is a great joy.

Li Qiutang quickly took a screenshot of the email and sent it to the crew's Penguin group. No one had spoken in this group since the post-production of the film was completed.

"Our crew finally received the first good news. The Canadian Fantastic Film Festival accepted our film and it is in the competition section!"

At that time, the Penguin Group did not have the @ function and there were no group announcements. Li Qiutang could only post this message three times in the group, hoping to attract their attention.

The first person to respond was his teacher Jiang Wei: "Congratulations. This is a big improvement."

Then the cinematographer Wang Boxue said: "Congratulations, director!"

Jiang Wei: "Aren't you going to class?"

Wang Boxue, who skipped classes to play games in the Internet cafe, immediately changed his status to invisible, his avatar turned gray, and he stopped talking.

Editing instructor Zhou Xinxia also sent her congratulations: "This is the first time our school has been shortlisted for this award."

Jiang Wei: "I think so."

Li Qiutang: "The two teachers can talk directly in the office."

Editing is a professional course for directors, and teachers from the two majors are in the same big office.

In the director's office, Zhou Xinxia turned to Jiang Wei and said, "You are a promising student."

"It's just a Class B film festival." Jiang Wei smiled. This film festival is not well-known in China, and Jiang Wei only knows about it but doesn't know much about it.

"For a student, being shortlisted is already a great success," Zhou Xinxia said with a smile. "It's amazing that my first feature film can be shortlisted for the competition section of an internationally renowned film festival."

"Who's shortlisted for the international film festival?" When the director of the directing department, Tian Zhuangzhuang, came in with a cup of tea, he heard Jiang Wei and Zhou Xinxia talking about the film festival.

Zhou Xinxia pointed at Jiang Wei and said, "Who else could it be? That audacious Li Qiutang."

"What film festival?" Tian Zhuangzhuang asked.

"Canadian Fantastic Film Festival." Jiang Wei said with a smile. "I haven't heard much about it." It's no wonder that Teacher Tian hasn't heard of this film festival. He doesn't work in the genre film circle.

Perhaps in order to dispel the crew's doubts and prevent people from thinking that this was a fake film festival, Li Qiutang provided some scientific information to everyone in the group:
"The Canadian Fantastic Film Festival is the largest genre film festival in North America and the largest B-type film festival in North America, focusing on fantasy, suspense and horror films. Hundreds of films are screened every year, attracting thousands of movie fans."

This is what was written in the film festival tour guide in the email.

"Quentin and Toro have both participated in this film festival." This sentence was added by Li Qiutang herself.

After Li Qiutang’s introduction, everyone felt that this film festival seemed quite impressive.

The person who was most happy about being shortlisted for the film festival was of course director Li Qiutang, and the second happiest were the eight actors.

I originally thought that I was acting in a student production and that once I got paid my share of the salary, the film would have nothing to do with me anymore. Who would have thought that I would encounter such a good thing!
Qin Lan is currently filming "Ten Days in Heaven" in Yunnan Province. It was already late when she saw the news in the Penguin group.

She was so shocked that she jumped up in the hotel room!

The movie I starred in was shortlisted for an international film festival!

She became famous through the role of Zhihua, and her acting career has also improved in recent years. She never expected that a cause she sowed would bear such a result two months later!

International Film Festival, that was something I never dared to think about before!

I didn't expect this little brother to be so capable.

Qin Lan shared this news with her boyfriend Huang Xiaoming. She and Huang Xiaoming had been having problems in their relationship recently, and she wanted to use this good news to ease their relationship.

When Huang Xiaoming heard that a student film she shot for her fellow villager had been shortlisted for an international film festival, he was happy for her and asked her a few questions. Then he said hurriedly, "I have a performance here, let's talk about it later."

Qin Lan lost interest in an instant and sat in the room with a sigh, but the depressed mood was soon replaced by the joy of being shortlisted for the film festival.

Li Qiutang is not the kind of person who would sit and wait for death. After being confirmed as a candidate, he decided to take action.

The Canadian Fantastic Film Festival is not well-known in the country, and there was no report on his nomination.

If no one pays attention to him, he will promote it himself.

So, he paid out of his own pocket to invite reporters from the four major portals to interview him about his feelings about being shortlisted for the Canadian Fantastic Film Festival.

The reporters know who you are.

But Director Xiao Li was so good at handling things. We agreed to put the film on the entertainment page for a week. When Director Xiao Li paid the money, he said:

"Here is 6000 yuan. As for the travel expenses and website layout fees, I don't know how much they are. I hope you can help me divide them up."

How sensible! Reporters like this.

Today's journalists still have strong professional ethics and will really help you get things done if you take their money.

The next day, the four major portals simultaneously published reports on Li Qiutang:
"The 7th Canadian Fantasy Film Festival of Xinlang Entertainment will be held in Montreal in early July. Yesterday, our reporter interviewed Li Qiutang, the only director from my country who was nominated for this year's film festival. To the reporter's surprise, Director Li Qiutang is still a student at the Film Academy. Regarding this nomination, Li Qiutang admitted that he was not prepared. ... The Canadian Fantasy Film Festival is the largest genre film festival in North America and a world-renowned fantasy film festival... Li Qiutang won many short film awards during his time at school... The film that Li Qiutang was nominated for this time is called "The Night the Comet Came", a science fiction film that tells the strange story of eight friends on the night of the comet. ..."

Xinlang wrote him a nearly 500-word manuscript, introducing Li Qiutang herself and "The Night the Comet Came", which contained a lot of useful information.

"The 10th Canadian Fantasy Film Festival is about to open, and our reporter interviewed Li Qiutang, the only director from my country who was shortlisted. ... "The Night the Comet Came" is Li Qiutang's first feature film... Director Li Qiutang said that he hopes to see the film in theaters as soon as possible. ..."

"Penguin Entertainment..."

"Fox Factory Entertainment..."

The entertainment headlines of the four major portals had a very good effect. On the third day, some media took the initiative to invite Li Qiutang for an interview.

It's money well spent!
(End of this chapter)