The 19th Sundance Film Festival has come to an end, and the "City of God" has undoubtedly become the center of attention.

The last time a non-English language film was named Sundance was in 1999, when the Vietnamese film "Three Seasons of Love" was successfully won, becoming the first non-English winning film in Sundance history. Just four years later, "City of God" made history by stunning Park City, becoming only the second Sundance film in its 19-year history to win the Grand Prix in a non-English language.

In an instant, the situation changed.

But while the Sundance Film Festival is a haven for independent films, the Sundance title doesn't mean it's loved by the mainstream market, and the winners of the Grand Jury Prize have been in the mainstream market for the past three years.

In the 19 years since Sundance's founding, the status of independent films in the United States has undergone earth-shaking changes, with the success of "Pulp Fiction" becoming the first independent film in film history to break 100 million at the box office, and the success of "Magnolia", "American Beauty", "Three Kings of Prison Escape" and "Ice Storm" have changed the composition of film attributes in the mainstream market.

But these works are relatively special, either the works of the long-established independent filmmakers of zuò, or the works of zuò invested by independent labels owned by major studios, and they are not directly related to Sundance. Sundance is not only focusing on independent films, but also newcomers.

Sundance has held its 19th edition this year, but the most successful of them was "The Crazy Clerk" in 1994.

"The Crazy Clerk" is the first film of the nobody Kevin-Smith (Kevin-Smith), but this independent film has become one of the most important works in the history of American cult cinema, and along with "Pulp Fiction", it has revolutionized the status of independent cinema in the film market.

The box office revenue of "Crazy Clerk" after its release was $3.2 million, although it was not as good as the $3.8 million of "Blood Labyrinth", but the cost of the work was only $27,000, and the recovered profits completely exploded "Blood Labyrinth". What's more, the work has been a great success in the videotape market, and it continues to be very popular in the 21st century.

So far, "Blood Labyrinth" has been the highest-grossing of any Sundance production, with "Crazy Clerk" coming in second. Quentin Tarantino's debut film "Reservoir Dogs", which also came out of Sundance, grossed only $2.8 million in North America, while Steven Soderbergh's famous work "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" at Sundance grossed $2.4 million at the North American box office.

It is worth mentioning that "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" was released after winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, but unfortunately the box office was still unsatisfactory.

"Sundance" often means niche, special, weird, and cult for audiences, and these factors can be what prevents audiences from entering the cinema. This year, however, the situation seems to have changed, and the "City of God" is sparking a propaganda revolution as a dark horse.

"City of God" not only sparked a wave of discussion in Park City, but also praised everyone from the audience to the film critics, which also laid the groundwork for the film to win the Grand Jury Prize; At the same time, it has also become a hot topic on the Internet, and Javier's blog has become the most popular topic in the news media for the past 11 days, especially since many viewers have chosen to arrive in Park City to attend the Sundance Film Festival in person because of the blog, and the interaction between online and offline has become a new topic in the 21st century.

The blog's powerful influence has spread even from the general public to traditional authoritative media, with several media outlets, including the New York Times, Fox prime-time news and NBC Saturday Night Live.

Many viewers have expressed their interest in the movie "City of God", and even the interest in the Sundance Film Festival has begun to rise.

This is a very interesting phenomenon. Generally speaking, when a film lands at a film festival, it hopes to use the influence of the film festival to promote itself; But this time, things were reversed, and the strong blog presence of "City of God" won more attention for the Sundance Film Festival.

This phenomenon has also successfully aroused the interest of countless experts in communication, journalism, and sociology. After all, the Internet is still a novelty at the beginning of the 21st century.

Therefore, the performance of the "City of God" after entering the film market cannot be predicted for the time being - this is the first time in the world, and it is a new thing for everyone. Many people have begun to pay attention to the "City of God", from those in the film industry, to those in traditional media such as television and newspapers, to professionals from all walks of life.

If the box office of "City of God" breaks the shackles of Sundance and succeeds, even if it is not a huge victory like "Blair the Witch", as long as it can prove the possibility of using online propaganda channels, it will be a seismic innovation for the entire media system.

Quietly, "City of God" carried the prestige of the Sundance Film Festival Jury Prize, and appeared on the headlines of the entertainment pages of major newspapers and magazines with its head held high, winning incredible attention. The release schedule of the movie has not yet been determined, and it has already received such treatment, which is a good thing or a bad thing for the "City of God", time will give an answer.

Paramount Pictures immediately announced that they had bought the distribution rights of the work in English-speaking regions for $1.8 million, and would do their best to arrange for the film to meet the audience. Less than 24 hours after this announcement, less than 18 hours after "City of God" won the Grand Jury Prize, Paramount Pictures once again announced that they had bought the rights to distribute the film in South America, and would do their best to promote the simultaneous release of the film in Brazil and the United States.

The two announcements sparked renewed the buzz, with the $1.8 million deal being the undisputed winner of this year's Sundance Film Festival, and the "City of God" once again becoming the focus of discussion with pride.

It is worth mentioning that as the attention of "City of God" gradually heats up, the scandal between film director Lancelot and actress Jessica Alba has also appeared on the pages of many gossip magazines. This is an unprecedented first for Sundance.

As we all know, the films that land at Sundance are all independent films, and more than ninety percent of them are new directors. Since there are not many explosions in the new director, and there are no more past achievements to discuss, it can almost be said to be a blank slate, imagine that the media specifically reported, "Henry-Bean (Henry-Bean) won the 2001 Sundance Jury Prize", and everyone was confused after such news came out, "Who?" Therefore, every year, the focus of media attention is on the award-winning works, focusing on the news of the works themselves, not to mention scandals, and even reports about new directors are only a handful.

But this year there was an exception, Jessica, as the heroine of "The Last Days", can be said to have made a shining debut in 2001, attracting the attention of many TV fans. Although there is still a lack of masterpieces on the big screen so far, at least a beautiful actress who knows her name, put her and the director together, and the scandal suddenly becomes interesting.

"U.S. Weekly" joked, "It seems that this talented rookie director is still a suave Don Juan." ”

When the annual Sundance Film Festival came to an end and Park City regained its calm, this year's Sundance quietly set countless records, with the highest number of participants, the highest number of moviegoers, the largest number of mobilized media, the largest number of news, the most online topics, and the most profound impact...... Even months later, people are still talking about this year's Sundance, about the films in the exhibition, about the awards, about the future of independent films.

This qiē is actually thanks to a "City of God", although it is really too incredible, even ridiculous, but it is true. As Robert said, Lance was honored to be on the Sundance stage, but again, it was also a Sundance honor to be able to own the "City of God". Since 2003, Sundance has entered a new era.

When Sundance comes to an end on January 26, who can predict where the next decade will hold?

After the closing ceremony and award ceremony, Lance returned backstage and became the darling of the scene in an instant, almost everyone was looking for Lance, trying to send their blessings in person, and the scene was very lively. I finally left the scene, and by the time I returned to the hotel, it was already two hours later.

"Let's go, everyone go upstairs, we have to catch a plane tomorrow." Percy beckoned to the children in front of him, tomorrow they will go back to Brazil first, and then wait for the "City of God" showtimes and schedules to be arranged. But more likely, they are back to their daily lives, not movie stars, not on the North American continent, just tiny slums in the slums of the City of God.

Percy's words calmed the children's excitement, and they each said goodnight to Lance, and then reluctantly turned away. Alexander Rodriguez, who was left last, stood still and did not move, and Lance raised his chin and motioned for him to go upstairs.

Lance was deeply touched by the living conditions in the City of God, and the despair that seeped into the movie "City of God" was his true thoughts, but he knew that he could not help so many people, and his pity and sympathy were just useless hopes. Therefore, Lance was very indifferent, and even a little ruthless, so that when the children left just now, they all looked a little lost.

In the face of Alexander, Lance did not reveal his true thoughts in his heart.

But Alexander raised his head, looked at Lance deeply, and for a long time, said, "Mr. Strello, you say, can I be a videographer?" ”

Looking at Alexander's black and white eyes, Lance seemed to return to the first day of their arrival in the City of God, where the wolf Bèi met in the chaos of the shootout, the firmness and fragility hidden in the depths of the eyes, the contradiction but the entanglement combined.

Lance raised his right hand, patted Alexander's shoulder lightly, and whispered, "As long as you want." ”