Reshaping the landscape of the Chinese entertainment industry

Chapter 68: Tearing Up the Award! Upgraded Release Date! Closing Ceremony

How could it possibly take another three days?!

Today is the day we must announce the closing ceremony.

If this wrangling continues for another three days, the Venice Film Festival will become an international laughing stock.

Even the professionalism of film festivals may be questioned in the future.

At this moment, they finally understood that Gong Li hadn't expressed any opinion on what they were discussing a few days ago.

The real intention is to reveal itself at this final moment today!

If He Yi'an knew all this, he would probably immediately understand that Gong Li had actually started using Sun Tzu's Art of War.

Indeed, Sun Tzu's Art of War is only interesting when people use it to interpret Sun Tzu's philosophy...

Gong Li might have felt great, but a long silence fell over the meeting room.

Finally, after exchanging opinions, Jacques Audiard spoke up as the representative: "Okay, we can vote again, but Gong, you have to accept the voting results."

"Of course, if it meets the requirements, I will definitely agree," Gong Li said without giving a clear answer. "Then let's start with the Golden Lion."

Subsequently, the judges launched a new round of voting.

The top prize, the Golden Lion, went to "Madeleine Fallen Girl" with 6 votes and "Fireworks in the Human World" with 1 vote.

That vote was, of course, cast by Gong Li herself.

Dissatisfied with the result, Gong Li immediately initiated a revote: "Vote again."

Jacques Audiard was even more dissatisfied: "Gong, the result is already very clear. The Golden Lion award goes to the winners, and this is everyone's wish."

"Throw it again." Gong Li ignored him and simply repeated it.

Second vote.

Golden Lion: Madeleine Fallen Girl 5 votes, Fireworks World 2 votes.

This time, Uruguayan photographer László Kovac submitted "Fireworks in the World".

It wasn't that he particularly liked the movie, but he sensed Gong Li's attitude; this woman wasn't joking, she was serious.

"Vote again."

The third vote.

Golden Lion: Madeleine Fallen Girl 4 votes, Fireworks World 3 votes.

Yesm Usda Augu also defected.

It wasn't because Gong Li convinced her, but because she didn't want to waste time on endless back-and-forth.

Because that's the presiding judge's right; she can initiate revotes whenever she wants.

However, this situation is rare, since many deals are agreed upon from the beginning, but this time is clearly an exception.

"Vote again."

When Gong Li initiated another revote, Jacques Audiard finally snapped: "Gong! What exactly do you want? Other awards are fine, but the Golden Lion is absolutely out of the question!!"

At this moment, he finally revealed his true bottom line.

The gold lion for "Madeleine Fallen Girl" must be kept; the others can be let go.

Otherwise, if the voting continues, more and more people will defect, and the Golden Lion will be lost.

"I want this film to get what it deserves." Gong Li looked at him forcefully. "Judging from the voting just now, the votes are becoming increasingly fair."

"Fair? What do you mean by fair?" Jacques Audiard's voice nearly lifted the roof off. "This film has a 3.0 rating in the festival's daily publication, ranking fifteenth out of twenty-two nominated films. Would it be the biggest injustice to let him win the Golden Lion?"

"The scores in the festival program are given by film critics, not by us judges," Gong Li said calmly. "You are a judge; you should use your own eyes to see and your own brain to judge."

"It's not about what film critics say, it's not about what other people say."

Well, those words left Jacques Audiard speechless.

After a long pause, Jacques Audiard finally regained his somewhat unpleasant expression: "Gong, you are abusing your power to win three major awards for your country's films. This is not fair; it is an abuse of power. I am going to file a complaint against you with the film festival."

"You can file a complaint against me, but I am now the chair of the jury. Furthermore, I reiterate that I did not compete for the three major awards."

Gong Li tapped the table, staring into his eyes, "What I'm saying is, it needs at least one major award. You've already distributed all the awards, and you haven't even given it one. That's unfair."

Laszlo Kovac couldn't resist Gong Li's advances and tried to smooth things over.

"Chairwoman Gong Li makes a good point. Fireworks in the World does have its merits. We can discuss it and see which award is more appropriate."

At this point, Yesm Usda Augu broke her silence, her tone carrying a hint of mediation: "Gentlemen, this stalemate isn't working. Perhaps we could try a different approach?"

Everyone looked at her.

"The major awards are too controversial, so let's decide on the technical awards first."

"Several awards have been suspended this year, such as Best Screenplay, Best Editing, Best Music, and Best Production Design. These awards do not affect the overall picture, but they can give some films recognition."

"You mean..." Francesca Nellie said thoughtfully.

"She means to reinstate the awards that were suspended." Laszlo Kovacs instantly understood and immediately agreed, "Fireworks and several other films can find some balance in these technical awards."

Jacques Audiard was silent for a few seconds, then looked at Gong Li: "Gong, do you agree?"

Gong Li thought for a moment and nodded: "Okay, but the discussion about the grand prize is not over yet."

"How would you like to discuss this?"

Ulrich Felsberg said, "I think we should just have a direct exchange of benefits!"

"Okay!" Gong Li agreed, then made another suggestion, "I agree to reinstate the awards that weren't planned for this year, which could be used to compensate for losses incurred by other films!"

"good!!"

"Can!"

Each judge has their own preferences and their own "must-have" items.

Gong Li is determined to keep "Fireworks in the World," but they really can't hold on any longer. If they don't compromise, they'll really make a fool of themselves at this year's Venice Film Festival.

Reinstating some awards that were not originally planned to be given out is one approach!

……

While the judges were debating heatedly, He Yi'an was browsing news on his phone in his hotel room.

They were waiting for news, but as time went on, everyone's hearts sank.

If they don't receive a call from the organizers, then they really have to pack their bags and leave.

He Yi'an finally started to get nervous. He had made so many preparations, could it be...?

Suddenly, there was a knock on the door.

He quickly opened the door and saw Han Sanping standing at the door.

"Uncle Han? Any news?"

Han Sanping looked at him and smiled: "Anwa, the film festival organizers called."

He Yi'an's heart skipped a beat.

"We all have to attend the closing ceremony tomorrow night."

Hearing this, He Yi'an finally felt relieved and immediately began to consider another matter: "What about the movie's release?"

"The original plan was to try the National Day holiday period at the end of September," Han Sanping said, knowing exactly which movies would be released during which domestic holiday periods.

Now that winning the award was certain, adjustments and arrangements were immediately made:

"Your partners, Enlight Media and China Film Group, have been preparing for a long time. They've been promoting it and the film prints have already been distributed. If we win a major award tonight, we'll move the release date up to right after the film festival!"

"Should we take advantage of this momentum and release it right away?"

The move to an earlier release date is intended to capture a portion of the remaining summer movie season and the National Day holiday period.

Of course, the so-called "slot schedule" is just for ease of understanding. Currently, apart from the Lunar New Year film season, there is no real concept of a slot schedule.

He Yi'an thought about this year's summer movie season and it seems that apart from the Hong Kong comedy "The Lion Roars", there is nothing else.

The current release schedule is really quiet, so there's no need to worry about competition from other shows.

After all, "The Lion Roars" was released on August 17th, and Gong Li's film "Zhou Yu's Train" will not be released until September 27th.

This is indeed an opportunity.

Moving the release date forward can also avoid direct competition with Gong Li's films.

Could they even take advantage of the National Day holiday and the release of Gong Li's film to promote their new movie?

After thinking about it, he gave up the idea, since it would only generate buzz for other movies, which wasn't worth it.

Moreover, he didn't have high expectations for the film's domestic box office performance.

The only regret is that some of the publicity plans for Yan Danchen could not be done to the best of their ability, but it should be salvageable.

"Alright! Uncle Han, let's move up the filing date then!"

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