On December 10th, Kyoto's first snow of the winter season was already falling.

After Peng Yichen and Yu Jing left Kyoto in mid-August, they finally ended their global honeymoon after five months, and rested in Dali for more than three months.

It was only in this snowy weather that I returned to Kyoto from Shuanglang Town, Dali.

If Peng Yichen hadn't promised the Kyoto Film Academy a long time ago, he would definitely go to their university to give a lecture this year, and at the same time openly accept the position of a visiting professor at the Kyoto Film Academy.

The two of them may stay in Dali forever.

But what they didn't expect at all was that they had just returned to their residence and called Sun Yizou.

I learned the latest news.

That is, although "Journey to the West" has been in theaters for 5 months, it has suddenly become the hottest topic in the entire film industry recently.

And the beginning of all this originated from an article published in "Huaxia Film Weekly" on December 1 by Cao Heyi, a senior professor at the Huaxia Theater Academy and a fourth-generation 'famous' old director in China.

"Let commercial films corrode people's minds, or vigorously support art films to recast their glory!—— Chinese films have reached a critical crossroads"

As can be seen from the title of this article, "Journey to the West", which has just exceeded one billion box office, is the first to be regarded as a typical commercial film by this veteran director, used to illustrate his ideas and concepts.

In the article, he wrote:

"As we all know, with the recent entry of a large number of commercial films from the West, Europe and the United States into China, it has brought a strong impact on the domestic film market. It has even caused serious differences and fierce controversies in the minds of countless filmmakers.

As a result, in the current Chinese film industry, there is a distinction between popular commercial films and obscure art films! Many people are attracted by the model of European and American commercial films, hoping to use their film shooting methods to earn a lot of money, gain more fame, and satisfy their selfish desires.

But the art of cinema is sacred and priceless!

Filmmakers, especially film directors, have always been known as the engineers of the human soul. Therefore, we should pay more attention to guiding the direction of the people's thinking.

I am very disgusted and resistant to the kind of commercial films in Europe and the United States that are filled with the smell of copper! But what makes me sad is that many Chinese domestic films have given up their insistence and bottom line as filmmakers, blindly imitated the shooting mode of Hollywood films, and wantonly used computer special effects technology, polluting the pure ideology and artistic value of the films.

Some people think that this is a step forward in the development of the film market, but I think it is a regression in the development of our films. In recent years, Chinese films have been unable to win numerous awards at major international film festivals as they did in the 90s, which is clear evidence that our film art is regressing.

Judging from the recently released European and American commercial films and some domestic commercial films, the so-called commercial films are film genres whose main or only creative purpose is profit.

The art film art is the most broadly defined individual, original, and critical expression of the world, society, and life, fully expressing the inner world of the director and screenwriter, fully lashing out at reality, and fully expressing human nature!

Therefore, it is clear at a glance which is higher and which is lower than the commercial film!

What makes people think about it even more is that the Kyoto Film Academy, which is one of the frontiers of China's film art, has blatantly advocated commercial production, and even cooperated with some film companies to set up a so-called film digital technology training center.

This is a naked trampling on the art of cinema.

I even feel that people who use this technical training center to shoot movies are not worthy of being a director, but should be a computer software developer or computer engineer!

Therefore, we must limit the proliferation of commercial films, continuously increase the support for the cinema chain and resources of art films, and recast the glorious ...... of Chinese art films in the 90s."

As soon as Cao Heyi's article came out, it stirred up thousands of waves in the Chinese film industry for a while.

Although the Chinese film market has developed very rapidly in recent years, the box office revenue has increased year by year.

But you must know that in addition to Hollywood blockbusters, only the films of several major domestic film companies can make money.

In 2009, the domestic box office is expected to exceed 39 billion Chinese dollars, almost double the 21 billion yuan in 2008.

But among them, the box office of imported films reached an astonishing 18.5 billion, accounting for almost half of the total box office of Chinese films.

The total box office of domestic films adds up to only 20.5 billion.

Among them, the box office of 13.8 billion yuan was obtained by the films of several large film and television companies such as CCTV, Huimin Film and Television, Lido Film and Television, and Chenjing Film Company.

The remaining hundreds of large and small film and television companies only get the remaining 6.7 billion box office.

In other words, most film companies in China today simply do not have the ability to make commercial blockbusters with large investments.

Even if they make commercial blockbusters, it is difficult to recover their costs due to the restrictions of publicity channels and distribution channels.

Therefore, in their own interests, they are of course very resistant to the emergence of a large number of commercial blockbusters in the market.

And Cao Heyi's article happens to be in line with their interests and ideas.

So the absurd article that was originally just an old director and a new director actually caused an uproar in the Chinese film industry.

The cultural department did not dare to announce the policy of opening restrictions on the release of co-productions to the Star Flag Country next year.

As the first Chinese domestic film, "Journey to the West" and Peng Yichen, which used computer special effects on a large scale and made great profits, as well as the Kyoto Film Academy, which established a film digital technology training center.

All of them have become the first targets of attack in this turmoil.

……

Sitting on the soft sofa at home, Peng Yichen finished reading all kinds of articles and speeches on the recent discussion of "commercial films and art films".

He sighed helplessly, although he never wanted to be involved in this metaphysical ideological vortex of "business or art".

But he knows that the more he avoids, the more others will gain an inch.

It seems that the lectures of the Kyoto Film Academy cannot be "lectures behind closed doors" as he originally thought.

"Old Sun, yes, it's me. Can you help me communicate with the Kyoto Film Academy? The day after tomorrow I will go to them and give a lecture. The larger the venue, the better. Reserve at least 20 slots for journalists from major media outlets. Yes, you can come to any media you want, but I don't accept their questions. Only questions from students will be accepted. That's right, just tell the Kyoto Film Academy. ”

After hanging up the phone, Peng Yichen walked back to the dormitory and lay down next to Yu Jing, who was already asleep.

Looking at the ceiling, he told himself in his heart that he must take advantage of this opportunity to tell all Chinese filmmakers that in the future film market, film companies will not survive by "entertaining themselves" behind closed doors.

……