Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 19 This crew is so lucky

Unfortunately, there were no mainland media interviews at the Canadian Fantastic Film Festival this year.

The media outlets that Li Qiutang had paid to buy news about before forgot about it after they finished their work. Who still remembers who you, Li Qiutang, are, and what "The Night the Comet Came" is?

At most it's just a good name.

There are no mainland media coming to interview, but that doesn’t mean the mainland won’t see any news about Li Qiutang in Canada.

Perhaps an editor from Fox News' entertainment section accidentally remembered the work he had done on Li Qiutang, and searched the Internet for this year's Montreal Fantastic Film Festival in Canada, and saw an interview with New Era TV, which included a video of Li Qiutang walking on the red carpet taken by their reporters, a video of the audience applauding Li Qiutang for 3 minutes and 20 seconds after the premiere, and a complete 63-minute post-screening group interview video.

The Fox News editor unceremoniously brought the New Era TV video back to China, and then replaced it with his own script: "The Canadian premiere of 'The Night the Comet Came' was welcomed by the audience standing up and applauding!"

"Li Qiutang went to Montreal and showed her grace on the red carpet."

"The 10th Canadian Fantasy Film Festival of Fox Entertainment is more than halfway through. Li Qiutang, the only director from my country who was shortlisted, recently landed in Montreal. Our reporter sent back a report from the front line in Montreal..."

Copyright? New Era TV should sue Fox News. There is no copyright awareness on the Internet now.

Fox News' coverage of the film festival seized the initiative of Jianzhong.com and won a wave of traffic, and the three videos soon appeared in various online media.

The most talked-about issue was Li Qiutang's confrontation with reporters during the post-screening interview.

It is certainly infuriating that two foreign journalists arbitrarily labeled China as a "science fiction desert" and "dictatorship", but Li Qiutang's response did not make domestic netizens feel relieved.

They even thought Li Qiutang was talking nonsense.

"China is indeed a science fiction desert. The science fiction movies that Li Qiutang mentioned were already a long time ago. In recent years, there have indeed been no science fiction movies produced in our country, and 'Science Fiction World' has been getting worse year by year. From science fiction novels to science fiction movies, our country is in an overall decline. There is nothing to be embarrassed about admitting this." This is a typical reflection monster. He didn't know that some things cannot be acknowledged even if they are true, let alone admitted in public. Li Qiutang had to refute it then and there, otherwise he would be looked down upon.

What caused the trouble was what Li Qiutang said to the reporter behind him. Li Qiutang would never have thought that many netizens in China would say that he was ignorant.

"Hollywood is not as good as Paris? Ridiculous. Have you ever been to the United States? Have you ever been to Hollywood? Hollywood is the freest film creation base in the world. Countless classic films were produced in Hollywood. He actually dared to say that Hollywood has creative restrictions. It's ridiculous."

"America is not free? Hahahaha! I hope this director is born here in his next life. I will definitely be born in America in my next life."

"The freedom and democracy of the United States attracts the world's scientific and cultural elites. This director is still a child. I think he must have said bad things about the United States because he couldn't go to the United States. If he could go to the United States, would he say bad things about the United States?"

"He actually said that he knows Hollywood better than American journalists. If he knew Hollywood well, he wouldn't say that Hollywood is not free and is not as free as Paris."

Li Qiutang had no way of knowing these statements from netizens, and even if he knew, he would still think these netizens were idiots.

He is now negotiating a deal with a white man in the hotel's cafe. The previous negotiations with those fat guys broke down. They are not here to negotiate a deal at all. They just want global copyright for two or three hundred thousand. Although the cost of "The Night the Comet Came" is low, it is not worth selling at such a low price.

Judging from his business card, this white man is from Miramax and is a grassroots manager. Miramax entered the North American distribution of Asian films very early and has rich experience. Their boss Harvey may be a scumbag, but he is good at distribution and public relations. He is a scumbag of the foreign companies and has nothing to do with Li Qiutang.

But like generals, like soldiers. The manager learned some skills from Harvey. He knew that Li Qiutang was young and a novice, and didn't understand the foreign market. He was talking nonsense: "This is the largest genre film festival in North America, and there is no trading market in Montreal. If you don't sell the film here, you can forget about selling it this year.

"There are many film producers coming to Montreal, but not many have purchasing needs. We are the one who distributed your Chinese film Hero in North America, and it created a box office miracle. You should trust us." Li Qiutang believed in Miramax's strength. It was indeed very strong, but the manager obviously regarded him as a novice who knew nothing, so he said, "I know this is the largest genre film festival in North America, but the largest film trading market in North America is the Toronto Film Festival held in September every year. At that time, film producers from all over the world will gather in Toronto. I can wait two months to sell there."

"Damn it!" The white male manager cursed in his mind, "How did he know about the Toronto Film Festival and that it is the largest film trading market in North America?"

Li Qiutang went on to say, "Besides, the Toronto Film Festival does not have a competition, it is all about screenings. I have already registered, so there should be no problem with my screening qualification."

I met an expert.

Although he failed to fool this oriental boy, he was not discouraged. Li Qiutang exposed his plan, but also asked him to give a price. There were many buyers in Toronto, but if he could sell the film at a suitable price in Montreal, he would not have to make a trip here.

Unexpectedly, the manager did not have much authority, and his plan was to use the name of Miramax to bluff Li Qiutang in an attempt to steal the chicken.

"The most I can offer is $32."

Of course Li Qiutang would not sell it at this price and sent the customer away.

After that, fewer film producers came to discuss deals, and Li Qiutang did not force them.

The closing ceremony of the film festival soon arrived. Category B film festivals are not as particular as Category A ones. Category B film festivals are afraid that there won't be enough people, so why would they stipulate that only award-winning films can walk the red carpet?

Li Qiutang also attended the closing ceremony. Although the business deal was not concluded, since she was already there, she had to experience the closing red carpet and award ceremony.

Li Qiutang was sitting in the movie theater with the translator sitting next to him. He could only understand the general idea of what was being said on the stage. It was impossible for the translator to translate every word said by the people on the stage to him in real time, so the two of them just sat there quietly.

"The Best Picture award is about to be presented." The translator told Li Qiutang.

The award was presented by an old man whom Li Qiutang did not know. He said in French: "...Coherence!"

The whole audience applauded, and Li Qiutang also laughed and clapped. The crew that won the Best Picture Award was really lucky.

He didn't react, but the director had already cut the camera to him. Li Qiutang smiled when he saw his face on the big screen at the Cinema Palace: "Why is he filming us?"

The translator said, "You won the award. Isn't Coherence your film?"

Li Qiutang's expression at this time was absolutely wonderful. She laughed, then was shocked, and then laughed again. The latter laugh showed that she was even happier.

Li Qiutang walked slowly from her seat to the stage with her translator, took the Best Picture trophy, stood in front of the microphone, and looked at the heads of the people in the audience.

He didn't know any of them.

"Um..." he said in Chinese, and the translator was half a step behind him and translated for him at the same time, "I flew 13000 kilometers to Montreal by myself, and tomorrow I will fly another 13000 kilometers back to my hometown, but with this trophy, I think my journey will not be tiring. Thank you to my alma mater, the Film Academy, thank you to the 24 cast and crew members of my crew, thank you Miss Qin Lan for your selfless help, thank you to my photographer Wang Boxue, thank you to my investor, Mr. Zhang XX from Qilu, for his investment in us, and finally thank you to the Film Festival Organizing Committee, thank you everyone."

Li Qiutang waved her trophy to the audience and walked off the stage.

(End of this chapter)