The day after Lin Youlun returned to Hong Kong, a message came back from the Cannes Film Festival in France.

This year marks the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution and the Declaration of the Rights of Man, and at the suggestion of the organizers of the Festival de Cannes and the representatives of the film unions of various countries, the organizers of the Festival de Cannes have decided to hold an international academic exchange seminar entitled "Cinema and Freedom".

The most direct background of this symposium is the turbulent political situation in Eastern European countries since last year, and many filmmakers are very worried about the international situation of film production and distribution, so the organizers of the Cannes Film Festival immediately responded to the call.

For a time, directors and filmmakers from all over the world gathered in Cannes, France, and its lineup even overwhelmed the Hollywood stars who came to Cannes.

In the list of attendees, Lin Youlun saw a very familiar name.

Steven Soderbergh.

A very famous director in the United States in the future was nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture in 2001 for "Never Compromise" and "Drug Network", and won the Oscar for Best Director for "Drug Network", which is the first time in the history of the Oscars.

At this time, Steven Soderbergh was not very well-known, but Lin Youlun knew that this situation would soon change.

If Lin Yo-lun remembers correctly, Steven Soderbergh's famous film "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" was also shortlisted for the main competition at this year's Cannes Film Festival, and if nothing else, it will eventually win the Palme d'Or.

Encountering such a strong opponent, the award-winning situation of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" has become more and more worrying.

Three days later, Lin Youlun's premonition was verified. In the end, the French still follow the trajectory of history. The Palme d'Or was awarded to Steven Soderbergh.

With the film, he went to Cannes with confidence. As a result, he did not win a prize, and his experience in France hit Hu Jinquan hard, and he fell seriously ill when he returned to Hong Kong. When Lin Youlun went to visit Hu Jinquan in the hospital, he saw that he looked sick and haggard, and directly dismissed his plan to invite him to be a judge of the Hong Kong Film Festival, and only said that he would be relieved to recuperate.

Also frustrated at the Cannes Film Festival like Hu Jinquan was another Chinese named Chen Qige.

Chen Qige came to France with his new work "The Child King" full of hope, but his international appearance this time was not successful. This movie was jokingly called by the local media in France to win the Golden Alarm Clock Award - this award was specially invented by the media, especially for those movies with very boring plots, so boring that watching movies can make the audience fall asleep, and then use an alarm clock to wake up.

"Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" was extremely favored by the French media during the film festival, and finally lost to Steven Soderbergh, not to mention Chen Qige's "The Child King", and on the night of the closing ceremony, Chen Qige left the sad place of France by plane.

Just returned to China, and before he had time to rest, Chen Qige received a notice from the higher authorities. I asked him to go to Hong Kong.

Traveling with Chen Qige is also an acquaintance he has known before - Zhang Yimou, who worked as a photographer in Chen Qige's movie "Yellow Earth".

This time we met. Zhang Yimou's identity is no longer a photographer, he completed the shooting of his first work "Red Sorghum" last year, and now he is also a director, and his purpose in Hong Kong is the same as Chen Qige, which is to take his works to participate in this year's Hong Kong International Film Festival.

The Hong Kong International Film Festival is traditionally held during Easter from March to April every year, but since this year it should be co-organised by official and professional groups, the date has also been changed to late May, just a few days after the end of the Cannes Film Festival.

This date is only temporary, and Lin Youlun's idea is to postpone the Hong Kong Film Festival to June, so that it can distance itself from international film festivals such as Cannes, and this time point also coincides with the start of the film summer season.

It is not realistic for the Hong Kong International Film Festival to compete with the three major European film festivals in terms of artistry, and Lin Youlun's personal tendency does not want the Hong Kong International Film Festival to become a paradise for art films, he prefers to make the film festival a carnival feast for commercial films, which is a more pragmatic choice and is more in line with the characteristics of Hong Kong films themselves.

——

"Do you still know Xu Sulfone?" Hearing this name from Wang Guxian's mouth, Lin Youlun felt very surprised.

"Some time ago, she wanted to ask me to make a movie, and then we met." Wang Guxian sat in front of the vanity mirror and said while applying lip gloss.

Xu Quan was famous for the image of a screen woman in the 70s, and later married Taiwanese businessman Tang Jun after changing his career to become a producer, and when the two got married in Hong Kong in 1980, 30,000 roses were used up just to decorate the wedding scene, which was the first luxury wedding banquet in Hong Kong.

Compared with Xu Sulfone, Lin Youlun is more familiar with her husband Tang Junnian, after 92 years, this person saw the development potential of the Shanghai New Economic Zone, and spent a huge amount of money to participate in the development and construction, after years of operation, "Tomson" has become a well-known brand in the industry, and has also received special commendations from the local government.

"So she invited you to a private meeting today?" Lin Youlun pillowed his head with his hands and lay on the big bed beside him.

Wang Guxian put down the lipstick, turned his head to look at Lin Youlun and said, "She reminded me twice on the phone that I must bring a male partner, who are you she for?" ”

Lin Youlun pursed his lips, "So she came at me?" ”

"Don't you know the way when you go?" Wang Guxian pulled Lin Youlun up from the bed and urged him to quickly change his clothes and attend the drinking party, it was not okay to dress too casually.

——

Xu Quan is nearly 40 years old, but he is very well maintained, he looks like he is only in his early 30s, dressed in neat and solemn clothes, and his big black eyes emit a happy and proud light; An unconcealable smile appeared on the face of the thin grease powder; She used a clear voice like a silver bell, among the guests, circling and laughing.

As soon as Lin Youlun and Wang Guxian walked into the banquet hall, Xu Yan greeted them with a smile on their faces.

"Mr. Lin, welcome!"

While shaking hands with Xu Sulfone, Lin Youlun secretly glanced at Wang Guxian, and his expression seemed to be said again. You guessed it.

Xu Sulf must have something to ask for. Otherwise, I wouldn't have behaved so enthusiastically.

Really. After chatting a few words, Xu Li brought the conversation to the point.

"Mr. Lin should have heard from Miss Li Bihuan that I bought the film rights to one of her novels."

"Miss Xu is talking about "Farewell My Concubine"?"

Xu Yan nodded, "Mr. Lin really knows. ”

Lin Youlun smiled, "I heard that Zhang Yurong would rather invest his own money and want to act in this play, but I don't know if this statement is true." ”

When Zhang Yurong was mentioned, Xu Yan's expression changed, and he immediately returned to normal.

"Zhang Yurong was really interested in this drama at first. And in Miss Li Bihuan's mind, he is the best candidate to play the leading role in this movie, but as a producer, before considering the actors, you must first determine the director, and in this matter, I have encountered a little trouble and want to ask Mr. Lin for help. ”

"Oh?" Lin Youlun looked interested, and in Xu Feng's next explanation, he slowly figured out what was going on.

It turned out that Xu Sulf went after buying the movie version of "Farewell My Concubine". has been looking for a suitable director for the film, and some time ago she met the mainland director Chen Qige who brought "The Child King" to the exhibition at the Cannes Film Festival.

"The Kid King" was not favored by the Cannes judges. But Xu Chuan spoke highly of this movie, and through this movie, she found that Chen Jige was the director she had been looking for.

Originally, Chen Qige was very happy to hear that Xu Qi was looking for him to film, but after Xu Qi took out the script of "Farewell My Concubine" and showed it to him, Chen Qige couldn't stop shaking his head.

He told Xu Li very directly that he liked this story very much, but the subject matter was not what he wanted to shoot.

At this time, Chen Qige was still an idealistic and arrogant person who believed that he should pursue film art rather than film business, although he thought the story was good, but he couldn't let go of his identity as a literary film director to direct this movie

Xu Quan is also very persistent, she failed to persuade Chen Qige in France, and chased all the way to the mainland, but after arriving in the mainland, she heard that Chen Qige left for Hong Kong and brought his "Child King" to participate in the Hong Kong International Film Festival.

"I have also been in contact with several directors in mainland China, and their ideas about movies are a little different from ours...... If Chen Qige's attitude is very resolute, I may not be able to help Ms. Xu with this favor. ”

Lin Youlun doesn't know how Chen Qige was persuaded by Xu Sulfin in the later generations, but judging from the current situation, Chen Qige obviously has no plans to put down his body to embrace the popular, and said that "Farewell My Concubine" is a commercial movie, and Wang Jing and others will definitely die of laughter.

Xu Yan shook his head, "I also thought that the time might not be ripe yet, but this time Chen Qige came to participate in the Hong Kong International Film Festival, I think this will be a good opportunity to convince him." ”

"Why does Ms. Xu think so?"

"Because I saw that more than half of the works that will be screened at the Hong Kong International Film Festival are commercial films, I guess Mr. Lin may want to design the positioning of the Hong Kong International Film Festival to be more commercial, whether it is the works exhibited or the event itself, I feel that there is this tendency in it."

Lin Youlun raised his eyebrows, if these inferences were made by Xu Yan himself, then he really underestimated the woman in front of him,

"The situation that Ms. Xu said often appears in other international film festivals, so I'm afraid you can't draw conclusions based on this alone, right?"

"I remember that when Mr. Lin participated in the Golden Horse Awards last year, he criticized the Hong Kong Film Awards for being too conservative and closed, and I thought that Mr. Lin might want to make some reforms to the Academy Awards, but it turns out that you did not do this, but chose the Hong Kong International Film Festival, a more open stage, and then I had such a doubt - if you want to improve the artistry of the film, the Academy Awards are enough, Mr. Lin has worked so hard to obtain the qualification to host the Hong Kong International Film Festival, just to hold an expanded Academy Award, Wouldn't that be redundant? At least I think that Mr. Lam's positioning of the Hong Kong International Film Festival is different from that of the Academy Awards. ”

Xu Sulf's words completely subverted her image in Lin Youlun's heart.

"Wonderful!" Lin Youlun couldn't help but clap her hands, "It's a pity that Ms. Xu is only a filmmaker, according to me, you can be the person in charge of the Hong Kong International Film Festival." ”

"Mr. Lin has won the award, I can still guess the general direction, but I really can't do the specific things in charge." Xu Yan said modestly.

"Then I can only say that Ms. Xu's guess is indeed accurate, but I still can't figure it out, why do you think that Chen Qige will be easily persuaded to agree to direct "Farewell My Concubine" when he comes to participate in this Hong Kong International Film Festival?" Lin Youlun then asked again.

"First of all, I think that the Hong Kong International Film Festival focuses on the theme of film commerciality, which should be able to touch Chen Qige, I have been to the mainland many times in the past two years, and I also have some understanding of the situation there, and my feeling is that the mainland film market has not yet been formed at all, which leads to the lack of understanding of commercial film culture by directors there, and this is the result of Mr. Lin's efforts after the mainland welcomed a number of Hong Kong commercial films. The Hong Kong International Film Festival can become a showcase for mainland directors to see what kind of level commercial films from other countries and regions have developed, which may change some of their prejudices against commercial films. ”

Lin Youlun nodded, which he also agreed.

Xu Sulf then changed his words, "Of course, I am so sure that I can convince Chen Qige, and the most critical reason is still Mr. Lin. ”

Lin Youlun smiled noncommittally, he wanted to hear what kind of reason Xu Yan would come up with.

"First of all, Mr. Lin's relationship with the mainland government is extraordinary, which can make Chen Qige put aside a lot of concerns; Secondly, with such a successful example as "The Beautiful Legend of Sicily" in the first place, Mr. Lin's views will definitely have enough influence on Chen Qige. ”

After listening to Xu Kui's words, Lin Youlun smiled and said: "Ms. Xu really thinks highly of me, if Chen Qige is a director in Hong Kong, I am quite sure that I can convince him, but his current situation is indeed a bit troublesome, I can find a chance to talk to him, but I don't guarantee that he will be able to change his mind and help you make this movie." ”

Whether it is Chen Qige at this time or in the future, the biggest feeling for Lin Youlun is two words: hypocrisy.

The later "Wuji" is a very good proof, and I want to make the movie very literary and I want the audience to buy it, isn't this hypocrisy? Either you will make a literary movie well, or you will completely put down your body to seriously understand what the audience really likes, at this point, although Zhang Yimou is not very successful, but it is definitely much better than Chen Qige. (To be continued......)