Utah is located in the western part of the United States, separated from California by a Nevada, is an economically underdeveloped, and at the same time the population is not large, such conditions, obviously the entertainment industry here is not very good, plus as a typical plateau area, there is no Los Angeles, Hawaii, Miami as pleasant vacation environment and vacation climate, naturally more closed and deserted, it is more difficult to see any celebrities.

But nothing is certain, and as the time enters mid-January, Park City, a town with a population of only a few thousand in Summit County, Utah, known as Utah's ski resort, suddenly comes alive with the annual Sundance Film Festival.

Although not as world-renowned and far-reaching as the Academy Awards, Venice Film Festival, and Berlin Film Festival, the Sundance Film Festival, as the largest independent film festival in the United States and even the world's premier, has a different status in the hearts of filmmakers. Since Redford was founded in 1984, after more than 20 years of accumulation, this small film festival in the United States has become the spiritual pillar of the independent film industry, and many well-known directors and excellent films have used Sundance as a springboard to shine on the bigger international stages such as Cannes and Emmy.

Every year, more than 9,000 excellent films from all over the world gather here, of which about 200 will be carefully selected for public screening at the festival, during the festival, countless film lovers are attracted by Park City's annual Sundance Film Festival, ~ one after another, in the next 11 days from January 18th to January 28th, this snow-covered mountain town has become Hollywood's Beverly Hills, full of directors, actors, producers, and film company executives, media reporters and fans.

Among them, there are many well-known directors and big-name actors. Like this year's Sundance Film Festival, there is Luc. Besson and Michael. Douglas, Anthony. A heavyweight star like Hopkins. Of course, there are more filmmakers who are not famous. As Sundance's influence continues to grow, many of Hollywood's up-and-coming directors see it as a springboard to mainstream commercial blockbusters.

And if Hollywood's big studios are looking for promising talents, the Sundance Film Festival is a must-see human resource pool. Soderbergh, Kevin. Smith, Quentin. Tarantino and other genius directors, any film company wants to dig into their own Steven. Soderbergh, his own Kevin. Smith, his own Quentin. Tarantino.

After getting the script done. Lin Yuquan did not immediately devote himself to the preparation of the film, on the one hand, he needed to relax after a long period of tension, and on the other hand, Chris. Anderson mentioned the Sundance Film Festival, he has never been to a similar film festival, he is very interested in it, and at the same time wants to see if there are any outstanding films, if you can find a potential film is also a very interesting thing, and at the Sundance Film Festival, the last thing is those gold waiting to be discovered.

Quentin. Tarantino once defined independent cinema as follows: independent filmmakers don't make money. They will take all the money. Even the money they don't have — mom and dad's money, stolen money, or a lifetime of debt — to make a movie. These movies can be as good as they can be. Or as bad as you can get. But that's their movie. "Sex, Lies, Videotape", "Blair the Witch", "Fragments of Memory", "Little Sunshine Beauty" and other films are all gems that shine on Sundance.

Because of the prior booking of the hostel, Lin Yuquan and Chris. Anderson, director Kevin. Durant arrived in Park City on the afternoon of the 18th, and that night was the opening of the festival. Morgan's documentary "Chicago 10", the choice of a documentary as the opening film, which is extremely rare in Sundance's more than 20-year history, is undoubtedly a clear signal that perhaps this year will be the year of documentaries.

Despite this, the film company will not care, the film company comes to Sundance to buy the film, it is to seek the distribution of profitable films or films that can bid for the Olympics, not that the film can find a buyer if it attracts much attention, usually speaking, the film company pays more attention to the feature film, as for the documentary, there have always been few transactions, unless it is extremely excellent, but "Chicago 10" is obviously not among them, this film has no selling point.

This year's film festival attracted a total of 1,533 American films, 1,277 international films, during which a total of 123 films will be screened publicly, of which 23 are from countries and regions outside the United States, regardless of the opening day and the closing day, an average of more than 10 films will be shown every day.

"Hi Lin, morning!"

The hotel where Lin Yuquan stayed was the best hotel in Park City, and it was also the place where many well-known directors, actors, and producers stayed. Anderson, Kevin. As soon as Durant came out of the room in the morning, he ran into Harvey, who was also out of the room. Weinstein and his assistants.

As soon as I saw Lin Yuquan, Harvey. Weinstein immediately greeted warmly.

"Morning, Harvey, looking at your energetic appearance, you must have found a good movie!" Lin Yuquan replied with a smile on his face.

"Hehe, it's okay, I think "Happiness Is Gone" is good, if the price is right, I'm ready to buy it." Harvey. Weinstein said generously.

""Happiness is Gone", yes, a particularly warm movie, in terms of sensationalism, it is on par with last year's "Little Sunshine Beauty", and it may have the potential to bid for the Olympics." Lin Yuquan said while going down the stairs that he also watched this movie last night, which tells the story of a single father whose wife died in Iraq and his two children live a difficult life, and the film has a strong anti-war meaning.

"There is indeed potential for the Olympic bid, but it is unlikely to be compared with "Little Sunshine Beauty", "Little Sunshine Beauty" is not only the favorite of the upcoming 79th Oscars, but also a big win at the box office, with a global box office of more than 80 million US dollars, Jeff bought the distribution rights with 10.5 million US dollars and made a fortune." HA Wei. Weinstein shook his head and laughed.

"Yes, but Jeff's bravery is extraordinary." Lin Yuquan said with a smile.

HA Wei. Weinstein nodded, unlike many of Sundance's small-budget films. "Little Miss Sunshine" cost a whopping $8 million to make. This is already considered a luxury in independent films. It also makes it so that if the buyer wants to buy, the price given must be higher than $9 million, otherwise there is no profit or only a little money, and others will definitely prefer to release it themselves than sell it, but at the Sundance Film Festival, how many studios dare to give such a high price, after all, the price of $9 million means that the box office must be higher than $20 million to recover the cost, and Sundance's independent films have several films that can reach this figure.

His own words, anyway. Most of them would have chosen to give up, and in the end, Fox Searchlight bought the distribution rights to the film for a record-breaking $10.5 million, setting the highest ever selling price at the Sundance Film Festival.

"Yes, his courage has always been extraordinary, by the way, Lin, what about you, do you have a fancy for any films?"

"I, not yet, I didn't have any movies I liked too much in the first three days. If you really can't find the right one, then I will fight with you for "Happiness is Gone". Lin Yuquan shook his head. Look at Ha. Weinstein quipped.

"Then I must hurry up, so that you don't have such a chance, otherwise I can't compete with you, the big financier." Harvey. Weinstein laughed.

"It's better to do that." Lin Yuquan shrugged.

At this time, everyone had already arrived at the restaurant of the hotel, and after ordering, everyone sat down to eat breakfast.

"Hey, Lin, the Oscar nominations will be announced the day after tomorrow, which films do you think will be the big winners?" Harvey. Weinstein asked.

"Please, Harvey, I should have asked you this, who doesn't know that you are the first person in Oscar public relations, and who can guess more accurately than you when it comes to award guessing." Lin Yuquan looked at him speechlessly.

"Hehe, I think "Babel", "The Queen", "Infernal Affairs", "Pan's Labyrinth", "Little Sunshine Beauty" will definitely get many nominations, if "Infernal Affairs" is nominated for best director, the best director in the end will definitely be him, that guy should have won that award a long time ago" Harvey. Weinstein gushed on.

After breakfast, everyone rushed to the special screening of the Sundance Film Festival, because the movies they watched were different, and the two sides parted when they arrived.

"Boss, are we going to make a bid on Happiness Is Gone?" Chris. Anderson asked.

"No, I'm just talking, although "Happiness Has Passed" is a good shot, but it is not to the point of attracting me, in fact, its rhythm is too slow, and as a feature film, it invested 3 million US dollars and completed the shooting in 29 days, the production is too rough, and it is far inferior to "Little Sunshine Beauty" in this regard." Lin Yuquan shook his head.

"What about the other films?" Chris. Anderson asked again.

"I don't know, none of them I like, Chris, which one do you think we should buy?" Lin Yuquan asked rhetorically.

"Actually, I don't have a suitable choice, and the films scheduled by Sundance this year are too strict, and many of them are not suitable for release." Chris. Anderson shook his head with a wry smile.

"Then let's take a look, you pay attention to the transactions of other film companies." Lin Yuquan sighed.

"Okay."

Due to the emergence of "Little Sunshine Beauty" last year, this year's film companies are more enthusiastic about Sundance than any other film festival, and everyone wants to find their own "Little Sunshine Beauty", so there is information about the sale every day.

"Weinstein Pictures acquired James for $4 million. Strauss's "Happiness Is Gone". ”

"Weinstein and Fox Searchlight have teamed up to buy the worldwide distribution rights to the illegal immigrant film 'The Same Moon.'"

"Warner Independent paid $4 million for William. The distribution rights to the film "Club Block" produced by Morris Independent in the United States, the United Kingdom and Germany. ”

"Magnolia Pictures acquired William for $2 million. The horror film "Signal" produced by Maurice Independent. ”

"Thinking Pictures bought David for $2.5 million. Singleton's documentary "Far from the Moon". ”

As the messages came, Chris. Anderson clearly couldn't sit still.

"Boss, if we don't shoot again, the good films are almost finished being picked by others."

"What's the panic?" Lin Yuquan said lightly, but he was actually a little helpless, although Sundance has poured out excellent films such as "Little Sunshine Beauty" and "Memory Fragments", but in the end, it is an independent film festival, limited by cost, excellent films are rare, and there are only one or two films that can really emerge every year: "Contact "Hostess", if the price is right, buy it." ”

"Hostess." Chris. Anderson was stunned for a moment, and then reacted: "Oh, it's Andrenie. The comedy movie directed by Xia Li is a pity, but the movie is really good. ”

"yes!" Lin Yuquan sighed, Andreny. Charlie is the director and screenwriter of the film, and the film is also her posthumous work when she was murdered in her bathroom before she knew she had received a Sundance ticket. (To be continued......)

ps: It was originally changed last night, but the author's background malfunctioned, and he was a little verbose, and I originally wanted to finish writing a chapter of the Sundance Film Festival, but I really couldn't, there was too much content. R1292