Xu Wangqiu was originally by the window, but Zhang Yimou was taking a plane for the first time, and they exchanged seats when they wanted to enjoy the blue sky and white clouds on the plane. Sitting on the other side of the aisle was Zhou Yi, director of the China Film Film Input and Output Division, who was already very unhappy with Xu Wangqiu, but now that Xu Wangqiu was sitting next to him, the resentment in his heart was rising.

In February, Zhou Yi got the news that the country would organize a large delegation to Cannes to show the screening. Zhou Yi immediately approached the leaders of China Film, hoping that the company would let him go to Cannes with his wife, who was an accountant.

China Film knew that Zhou Yi's son was sent abroad last year to study in France, and Zhou Yi wanted to go to France with his wife to see his son, and he traveled to France, but the leaders of China Film also agreed, because they did it themselves.

Going abroad after forty years is a common thing, no one will take going abroad as a thing, but in this era it is very difficult to go abroad, and for many people, going abroad is to travel abroad for free, and for the quota of going abroad, it will simply break the head.

What made Zhou Yi vomit blood was that out of ten places to go to Cannes, the ministry only gave China Film Company three places, and China Film Company also canceled the agreement to let Zhou Yi and his family go to Cannes, and only agreed to let Zhou Yi go out. What made Zhou Yi unacceptable was that there were nearly ten films screened in Cannes this time, and the export company only had one "Falcon", but they had seven places.

Zhou Yi specifically reacted to China Film for this reason, the above is too bullying, we have nine films, but there are only three places, and the export company only has one movie, but there are seven places, why? China Film's answer is that because "Falcon" can earn foreign exchange, people have sold four million for Dongying copyright alone, how much can our movies sell?

In Zhou Yi's eyes, it was "Falcon" that prevented their family from reuniting in Paris, and Xu Wangqiu, the director of "Falcon", was the culprit, so he was quite unhappy with Xu Wangqiu.

Xu Wangqiu sat in his seat, finished flipping through the "Popular Movie" in his hand, and was about to change books, when he suddenly felt a strong hostility. He turned his head to look, only to see Zhou Yi staring at him with a gloomy gaze. He was a little surprised, he didn't know Zhou Yi at all, he only met for the first time today, why did he have such a big hostility towards him, so he said, "What's the matter, is there something wrong?"

Zhou Yi snorted lightly and said, "I heard that you are very interested in foreign films, so do you know anything about the Cannes Film Festival?"

Xu Wangqiu said lightly: "If you have heard of it, it is not a research." ”

Zhou Yi sneered when he heard this, and said coldly: "Since you don't know anything about the Cannes Film Festival, then I have to tell you something, after all, during the Cannes Film Festival, the media from all over the world gathered, if you poke out any basket, it will lose the face of the country." The Cannes Film Festival is the most influential and top international film festival in the world, and is known as the three major film festivals in Europe along with the Venice Film Festival and the Berlin International Festival. The Festival de Cannes has six sections: the Main Competition, the Directors' Fortnight, Un Certain Gaze, the Critics' Week, the New Look of French Cinema and the Side Market Exhibition. ”

Xu Wangqiu said lightly: "I didn't expect you to know quite a lot." ”

Zhou Yi was already a little unhappy, and he was even more unhappy when he heard this, what does I know a lot, is this mocking me, and said coldly: "I don't understand very much, I just know some common sense, do you know which unit made the Cannes Film Festival the first of the three major film festivals?"

The corners of Xu Wangqiu's mouth curled slightly: "It's not a unit." ”

Zhou Yi was slightly stunned when he heard this, and asked: "Then why do you say that Cannes became the first of the three major film festivals?"

Xu Wangqiu chuckled and said, "It's the Venice Film Festival to die." Before the 70s, the Venice Film Festival was the most influential film festival, but in '69, the Venice Film Festival made a big mistake, and it was this mistake that allowed Cannes to surpass them. He looked at Zhou Yi and said lightly, "Do you know what Venice did?"

Zhou Yi didn't know anything about Venice movies, where would he know this, he couldn't answer at all, so he could only stubbornly say: "What do you say they did?"

Zhang Yimou and the people from China Film Company next to him all looked at Xu Wangqiu with curiosity, wondering what Venice had done.

Xu Wangqiu said lightly: "From 1969 to 1979, in the past ten years, the Venice Film Festival canceled the awarding link. They think that movies shouldn't be awarded, that art can't be judged, and that everyone can just take the film to the film festival and show it. It's a good idea, and it's really hard to distinguish between works of art. However, they did not expect that the consequences of this would be very serious, causing the festival to lose attention and become a film festival that no one cared about. By the time the Italians came to their senses and everything was back to normal, it was too late, and Cannes had already secured the first place. ”

Everyone present nodded thoughtfully when they heard this, only Zhang Yimou said puzzledly: "Why does canceling the awards make the Venice Film Festival lose attention?"

Xu Wangqiu explained with a smile: "If the film does not win the award, it loses the biggest gimmick, and the media will not have much to write about; at the same time as canceling the award, Venice also canceled the red carpet, without the red carpet, there will be no starlight, and the audience will no longer pay attention, so Venice was quickly surpassed by Cannes." Another important factor in Cannes' ability to overtake Venice is that Cannes has a side market, which is the largest film market in Europe, while Venice does not have a film market. There is a film market, where filmmakers will bring their own films to sell, and producers will bring projects to seek investment. With filmmakers from all over the world gathering here, the Festival de Cannes is a natural thriving. We came here to set up a stall to sell our films at the side market exhibition. ”

Speaking of this, Xu Wangqiu looked at Zhou Yi and said with a smile: "Actually, you want to tell me that it was the Outside Market Exhibition that made Cannes the first of the three major film festivals, right?"

Zhou Yi saw Xu Wangqiu's smug face, he really wanted to give him a hand, gritted his teeth and said: "Yes, the side market exhibition is the most important part of the Cannes Film Festival, and Cannes attaches great importance to the market. The reason why the Cannes Film Festival actively invites our Chinese films to be screened in Cannes is actually because of the Chinese market. Hopefully we will be able to buy films in Cannes, and hopefully we will be able to bring films to Cannes for screenings. ”

Xu Wangqiu nodded slightly, thinking that Europeans are like this, Americans are more active than Europeans, in 1979, the Chinese film delegation visited Canada, and after hearing about it, Valenty, president of the American Film Association, immediately flew to Canada to entertain the Chinese film delegation and expressed his hope to let American films enter China. At the end of last year, Valenti personally flew to China and found Wang Lanxi, hoping to bring American films to China. On the contrary, in Xiangjiang, which is close at hand, except for the filmmakers of the Zuopai, the others are completely ignoring the mainland market.

Zhou Yi saw that Xu Wangqiu didn't speak, and continued: "When movies are released at the Cannes Film Festival, there are red carpet ceremonies. The main competition unit is more lively, there will be celebrities present, and there are many reporters. The other units are much more deserted, and some movies are not supported at all when they are released. When our Chinese films were released in Cannes, there were no celebrities, but there were more reporters present, and European and American countries didn't know about us, so they were very curious about our films. When "Falcon" is officially screened, you will definitely walk the red carpet. Have you walked the red carpet?"

Xu Wangqiu can't say that I was tired of my last life, so he can only say: "I've just heard of it, but I haven't walked it." ”

A smug smile appeared on the corner of Zhou Yi's mouth: "Then do you know the rules of walking the red carpet?"

Xu Wangqiu glanced at Zhou Yi and said lightly: "I don't know." ”

The smile on Zhou Yi's face became even brighter: "There are some rules that must be followed, otherwise the security personnel will not let you on the red carpet." In fact, the rules of the Cannes red carpet are very simple, men must wear a black suit or tuxedo and must wear a bow tie, and women must wear a dress and wear high heels. It's not okay to wear casual clothes like you, even if you wear a suit and tie, you have to wear a bow tie. Do you have a bow tie?"

Xu Wangqiu said with a smile: "We didn't prepare, but someone in France helped us prepare." ”

Hearing Xu Wangqiu say that someone in France helped them prepare clothes, Zhou Yi was slightly stunned, and then showed an expression of "You are a fool to me". He knew that the export company had an office in Paris, which was originally owned by China Film Company, which was under the management of the import and export department, and was transferred to the export company last year. The main task of the office is to introduce Chinese films to European film companies, cinemas, universities and friendship groups. Among them, organizing the screening of Chinese films at the Cannes Film Festival is their most important work. Originally, the office also had a role in selecting excellent films from Europe to be screened in China, such as "Zorro". Now the office is assigned to the export company, but they will still recommend excellent films to China Film.

Zhou Yi knew that the Paris office was quite poor, and apart from the company's funding, their only income was when French universities wanted to show Chinese films, and they provided the source of the film and charged a small amount of rent. How could such a poor office as the Paris office prepare a suit and bow tie for Xu Wangqiu and them. Besides, even if they have money, the export company will not agree, how much does it cost to make a suit in China, and how expensive it is to make it in France!

Zhou Yi decided that Xu Wangqiu didn't want to admit that he didn't prepare a suit and bow tie, and deduced that someone in France helped them prepare. He stared at Xu Wangqiu's eyes, and couldn't help but say: "It turns out that someone in France helped you prepare, then the clothes must be very high-end, and when you get the clothes, you must let us appreciate them!"

The people of China Film Company have similar opinions about Xu Wangqiu, thinking that "Falcon" has robbed China Film of the place, and gloating: "Yes, yes, when the time comes, we must appreciate and appreciate the high-end French suits." ”

Xu Wangqiu said with a smile: "You guys, I deliberately embarrassed me, the high-end suits here in France cost thousands, or even tens of thousands, how can we do it." We just asked an ordinary tailor to do it for us, just an ordinary suit, nothing to look at. ”

Zhou Yi listened to Xu Wangqiu's shirk, thinking that I only knew that you were bragging, so I could see it; if you really had clothes, who would rarely see them, so he insisted: "You must see it, you must see it, I heard that the French suits are very good, let us open our eyes!"

The people from China Film Company followed suit: "Yes, yes, let's open our eyes!"

Xu Wangqiu saw that Zhou Yi was entangled, and said lightly: "You want to see your horizons, right? That's okay, when you get to Paris, I'll open your eyes!"

Zhou Yi was slightly stunned when he heard this, hey, what's the situation? He really agreed. Could it be that the Paris office really prepared clothes for them?

A few hours later, the plane landed steadily at Paris-Charles de Gaulle International Airport, and the sweet voice of the flight attendant quickly sounded in the cabin. Xu Wangqiu and the others got up from their seats, carried their respective luggage, and walked out of the cabin.

After getting off the plane, Zhang Yimou looked around, looked at the beautiful modern buildings around him, and sighed sincerely: "This is a capitalist country, it is really beautiful, and it is much stronger than Beiping." ”