Just when Xu Wangqiu was busy with "The Rape", and when the film industry was fighting for how Chinese films should go in the future, another eye-catching event happened in the film industry, and the first Dongying Film Festival was held in Beiping.

On October 26, 1978, Hokpei City screened "Manhunt" directed by Junya Sato of Daiei Company, which had been acquired by Tokuma Shoten, "Wangxiang" directed by Kei Kumai of Toho Company, and "The Story of the Fox" directed by Yui Kurahara of Shochiku Company. After the release of the three movies, they attracted huge attention and set off a movie-watching frenzy.

"Wangxiang", also translated as "Sandakan 8 Brothel", is not very entertaining, and it is a film that exposes the bitter history of Dongying girls being trafficked to Nanyang as prostitutes 50 years ago. But for the closed Chinese, this is a movie with color.

Although "Wangxiang" was only screened in a few big cities, such as Beiping and Modu, it aroused fierce controversy, with some people openly opposing it, saying, "Isn't there more hooligans in society when such a film is released?" Some people criticized it as a "pornographic film"; some people even put up large slogans on the streets demanding that this "pornographic film" be banned. However, due to the fact that there are many people who support the screening of "Wangxiang", and most of the public opinion guidance such as newspapers and periodicals is biased towards the positive, "Wangxiang" finally met with Chinese audiences, but some of the exposed shots were removed.

"People's Daily" published a special article "Talking about RB Films", saying: "After watching the movie, the vast majority of viewers hate the dark and cruel society in which Akipo lives even more. From the beginning of the twentieth century to the thirties, Dongying used unscrupulous means to accumulate capital, including the bloody method of trafficking women to the South Seas, in order to obtain a large amount of foreign exchange, so that it could squeeze into the ranks of modern capitalist powers. The film aroused the audience's deep sympathy for the insulted and damaged working women. How many people shed tears over Akipo's unfortunate life. Even Aki's actions of being forced to take the initiative to solicit customers, the audience will not blame her for being frivolous, but only feel that she is unfortunate and pitiful. ”

Writer Ba Jin also defended "Wangxiang", criticizing those who demanded that "Wangxiang" be banned: "If they want to say that they can only watch the deleted "Wangxiang", otherwise they will ——, when they hear words like "prostitution" and "five yuan". This is extremely pathetic national nihilism!"

Compared with the literary and artistic "Wangxiang", "Manhunt" is a purely commercial film. After the film was released in 1976, it did not receive any special response, and the reviews were quite average, and even many critics criticized the film for its flawed plot and unreasonable characters. However, after its release in China this time, it caused a huge sensation and triggered a frenzy of movie-watching.

During the movement, the film studio struggled and did not produce feature films, and it was not until 1973 that feature films resumed, and the four films "Sunny Day", "Green Pine Ridge", "War Flood Map", and "The Red Age" were very sensational. There are three main types of films released in China during the entire campaign, one is the news bulletin, which was shot by the Central News Documentary Film Studio next door to the Beijing Film Studio, which is a bit like the news broadcast in later generations, basically Taizu and others meeting with foreign leaders.

The other category is model opera films, including "Red Lantern" and "Outwitting Tiger Mountain", including eight modern Peking Opera model operas. Many versions of the model scenes were made, starting with a black-and-white film for stage video, which the audience didn't like, and later a color version was filmed, and it was also used in the processing of film shots, which was quite popular.

In addition to the National Day ceremonies and party congresses, there are also documentaries that show the great spirit of the revolutionary masses fighting the heavens and the earth, such as "Red Flag Canal"; and there are also documentaries about Prince Sihanouk's visits and tours in various parts of China. It is no exaggeration to say that during the movement, Prince Sihanouk was the absolute male number one on the Chinese screen, leading the audience to visit China's great rivers and mountains. The female number one is Princess Monique, the wife of Prince Sihanoukville. During the sports period, the Iron Maiden was popular on the Chinese screen, which looked more earthy, while Monique was a beauty with an exotic style, so she naturally became the dream lover of countless men.

For most Chinese, the movement has not seen any good movies for more than ten years, and cultural life is extremely lacking. After three years in the army, the old sow raced the sable cicada. Audiences who have been hungry for culture for ten years see an entertainment film like "Manhunt", and the sensation caused can be imagined. The integration of commercial elements such as police and bandits, chasing, love, escape, and conspiracy opened the eyes of Chinese audiences, and one by one they were like wolves who saw lambs, and they were stimulated to scream.

"Manhunt" subverted the image of Dongying people in the hearts of Chinese audiences, and everyone's impression of Dongying people in the past mainly came from movies such as "Tunnel Warfare" and "Mine Warfare". Creamy Kosho is quickly abandoned, and Ken Takakura, who has a resolute face, becomes the idol of young girls, while Mayumi, who is pure on the outside and on fire on the inside, becomes the dream lover of countless men.

"Manhunt" is popular all over the country, and it has had a great impact on the love and aesthetics of Chinese youth, and has become the focus of street discussions. So much so that even years later, many people joke with traces of the lines of "Manhunt", what not to look at both sides, what a blue sky, what a neuropathy similar to the horizontal path two.

Xu Wangqiu is not very interested in "Wangxiang" and "Manhunt", and he doesn't think it is very good, but he is very interested in Daiei Co., Ltd., the production company of "Manhunt", mainly in Daiei's boss Yasukuai Tokuma.

As a child of East Film Studio, Xu Wangqiu has a special preference for war films. Even if he dies once because of this, the movies he wants to make the most are war movies, and he wants to make all kinds of war movies, ancient, modern, and future. There is no way, Xu Wangqiu grew up from small fireworks, and his love for war movies is engraved in his bones and imprinted in his soul.

War movies are a particularly expensive genre of cinema that costs more than many other genres. Because filming war movies requires a lot of costumes, and a lot of guns and ammunition need to be consumed. If it is a war film with a costume theme, you need to build exterior scenes and make weapons and armor, and the cost is even higher.

Under normal circumstances, the cost of a movie is high, and as long as the box office is good, it is not a problem at all. However, this simplest logic does not work in China in this era, because before 1993, Chinese films were purchased and sold in a unified manner, and were acquired by China Film Company. At first, China Film Company bought it out at a price of 700,000 yuan, which later rose to 900,000 yuan, and finally became a copy settlement.

Take Xiuying Studio's 92-year-old movie "***" as an example, the box office was as high as 130 million, setting a new box office record for Chinese films, but Xiuying Studio only got more than 5 million, and finally earned 4 million after removing the cost.

A movie that costs 1.3 million has a box office of 130 million, but the producer only earns 4 million, how unfair it is, but this is the reality. Assuming that the cost of "***" is 6 million, then the show studio will not only not be able to make money, but will also lose hundreds of thousands. A movie has a box office of more than 100 million, and the cost of 6 million will lose money, this is the reality of Chinese films.

It is precisely because of the extremely unreasonable account sharing method and the rising cost of films year by year that it is becoming more and more difficult to recover the cost of films, and in the late 80s, several domestic film studios were in trouble. Take 1990 as an example, the number of moviegoers in China was 16.2 billion, and the box office was 2.22 billion yuan.

Many people always say that state-owned enterprises are garbage, and state-owned enterprises will only suck blood, Xu Wangqiu doesn't know the situation of other state-owned enterprises, and it is not good to evaluate this, but the film factory is definitely not, and the film factory is the object of blood sucking.

Xu Wangqiu wants to make war movies and blockbusters, but these movies have high costs and it is very difficult to return to their capital, so the film studio does not dare to invest and cannot vote. In this case, Xu Wangqiu's only way out is to engage in co-production, open up overseas links, and sell the film overseas, so as to ensure that the film returns to its original cost.

In Xu Wangqiu's view, Tokuma Kangkuai is undoubtedly a good collaborator. Yasushi Tokuma is a member of the Japanese Communist Party and a reporter for the Yomiuri Shimbun in Osaka. After the war, he was expelled from the newspaper because of the "Qing Communist Movement". In 1954, Tokuma Yasukuai founded Tokuma Shoten, and thanks to his hard work, Tokuma Shoten grew rapidly and soon became one of the largest publishing houses in Toei.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China, Tokuma Yasukuai actively traveled between China and Japan, was cordially received by the prime minister, and made unremitting efforts for the normalization of diplomatic relations between the two countries. He has a good relationship with Chinese filmmakers, and is one of the three international friends who promoted Chinese films to the world in the 80s, and has also invested in the filming of famous films such as "A Game of Chess That Never Ends", "Dunhuang", and "Ju Dou".

There is also an advantage to cooperating with Tokuma Kangkuai, as a person friendly to China, Tokuma Yasukuai has a very good relationship with the central leadership; the film countries he invests in attach more importance to it, and if he cooperates, Fan Jian's family will have some scruples about finding trouble with Xu Wangqiu's films, at least they dare not blatantly look for trouble.

Xu Wangqiu remembers that the first film Tokuma cooperated with China was "A Game of Chess That Never Ends", which was also the first co-production in China after the reform and opening up. The film was co-produced by Tokuma and Beijing Film Studio and was released in 1982. The film uses Go as a link to tell the vicissitudes of two Go families in the past 30 years, and it is an anti-Dongying **** theme film.

Xu Wangqiu remembered that "A Game of Unfinished Chess" was published in "Film Literature" in the middle of 79, and at the end of the year, when Zhao Dan visited Japan, he brought the script to Dongying, and proposed that it be co-produced by both sides, which received a positive response from Dongying's peers. After revisions by many screenwriters in China and Japan, and after Xia Yan's pen, it was finally launched in early 1982.

Xu Wangqiu originally planned to invite Zhao Dan to play "Hoe Rape", so in between filming, he handed over the script of "A Game of Unfinished Chess" to Zhao Dan, and when Zhao Dan went to Dongying to visit, he could successfully catch the line of Tokuma Kangkuai.

In fact, it is not impossible for Xu Wangqiu to write the script by himself, but for the sake of insurance, he still decided to use "A Game of Chess That Has Not Been Finished". He spent three days writing the script of "A Game of Chess That Didn't End" and sent it to the People's Literature Magazine.

The time soon entered November, and the day of the symposium of the editorial department of "Film Art" arrived.

In this day and age, symposia are a particularly common phenomenon. Whether it's a novel, a play, a movie, or something else, as long as there is a dispute, then someone will invite both parties to sit down and talk, and communicate with each other.

At present, the Chinese film industry is divided into two camps, one is in favor of montage, the other is in favor of long takes, the other is resolutely opposed to dramatization, and the other believes that film and drama should not be separated, the other believes that film should meet the needs of the audience, and the other believes that film should pursue authorship.

Nortel's symposium came into being in this atmosphere, with the purpose of allowing the two sides to communicate effectively, point out the direction for the development of Chinese films, and find a way out for Chinese films.