The weather in Venice at the beginning of September is very comfortable, with a maximum temperature of 256 degrees during the day and a little cooler at night, about 17 or 8. Shirts and T-shirts are casual during the day, and a light jacket is fine at night.

The second time I came to Venice, Xu was not burdened with the pressure of selling films for the first time, and it was extremely relaxed. Yesterday, "The Subway to Spring" premiered, and the effect was surprisingly good.

This film, which is a little slow in the eyes of Li Tang and has a bit of intellectual hypocrisy, is actually extremely popular, and the theater that can accommodate more than 300 people is full, and after the screening, there was applause for more than a minute, and the director Zhang Baibai not only spoke incoherently when he came to the stage to thank him, but also exaggerated tears on his face, and kept bowing to express his gratitude to the enthusiastic audience.

Originally, only one screening was arranged for the films shortlisted for the screening unit, but seeing that the first one was like this, the organizer made an exception and added two screenings, which almost reached the treatment of being shortlisted for the main competition unit.

Of course, MK2 is doing the work from it, and the organizers are not stupid, the movie is popular, and the box office revenue is naturally considerable.

As we all know, during the film festival, movie tickets are surprisingly expensive, twenty or thirty euros a piece, and "Subway to Spring" is screened three times, if the venue is full, the number of moviegoers can reach more than 1,000 yuan, and the box office income of 20,000 or 30,000 euros is easy, and this money belongs to the organizers. The producers and distributors of the film use the film festival as a platform to make a name for themselves and sell them at a good price.

Compared with Xu Jinglei and Wang Li who are keen on all kinds of red carpets, Zhang Baibai and Liu Struggle for various pilgrimages, Li Tang is more willing to find an outdoor café and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the Mediterranean Sea while drinking fragrant coffee.

Not long after, he saw Zeng Jia's tall figure, more than 1.7 meters tall, even in Europe, it is still very eye-catching. He stretched out his hand to greet him, and Zeng Jia walked over quickly, followed by a very small Zhao Luoyao. After coming to Venice, because Zeng Jia was in charge of many things, Li Tang sent Xiao Zhao to Zeng Jia's side to listen to the errand.

In fact, for Zhao Luoyao, being able to follow Zeng Jia is also a kind of learning, not only being able to be familiar with the process of participating in overseas film festivals, but also participating in the negotiation process with MK2 throughout the process, which is an eye-opener for the little assistant.

In addition, Xu Jinglei came over this time with her agent and assistant, but Wang Li's company was entrusted by the construction boss to help take care of it.

Although she brought assistants, bodyguards, makeup artists, and even makeup artists with her, she was unfamiliar with her life, including participating in some red carpets, and Zeng Jia needed to help contact her in advance.

To mention, the red carpet in Venice is as clearly priced as Cannes, with the red carpet at the opening ceremony costing 15,000 euros, and the usual red carpets with various themes ranging from 5,000 to 10,000 euros.

"Brother, it's done!"

may have been in a bit of a hurry, coupled with the excitement, Zeng Jia's face was slightly red, and the towering ferocious ups and downs were accompanied by a slight gasp.

"It's hard work, sit down."

Li Tang snapped his fingers, called the waiter, and ordered two glasses of lemonade in half-baked Italian.

Zeng Jia couldn't wait: "It's still an agent, and the agency fee has dropped by one percentage point, 13%. ”

At first, MK2 wanted to buy out, and the price of 600,000 euros was quite sincere for a low-budget romance film. It is equivalent to not counting the domestic box office, not only recovering all the investment, but also earning more than two million.

But "The Third Man" is in front, and the premiere effect is very good, Zeng Jia still insists on acting as an agent, even if the final box office only reaches half of "The Third Man", even if it is only one-third, it is better than a buyout.

"Okay, let's relax for the next two days." Li Tang was very satisfied.

To be honest, when MK2 offered a buyout price of 600,000 euros before, he was still very impressed. After all, you can make a small profit without taking any risks. But Zeng Jia insisted, and he had to listen to Zeng Jia's opinion. The company has just been established, and it is necessary to maintain Zeng Jia's prestige as general manager.

As he spoke, he also said to Zhao Luoyao, who was also full of excitement: "Xiao Zhao, you have worked hard in the past two days, it is difficult to come out once, have a good time." ”

"The main thing is that Zeng is always busy, and I just help out, run errands or something." Xiao Zhao said with a modest face and a very good attitude.

"Yaoyao is really hard and has helped me a lot."

Zeng Jia also rarely said a fair word at this time, which made Xiao Zhao very embarrassed.

After a few words of laughter, Li Tang asked, "By the way, how was the screening this morning?" ”

Zeng Jia smiled: "It's still full, I just used this excuse to pick off a point from Juliet." ”

Don't underestimate this point, if it can reach the box office of "The Third Man", that point is a small $50,000, enough to buy a suite in Wangjing.

Just seeing that Li Tang seemed to be full of worries, Zeng Jia restrained his smile and said, "Brother, are you still not at ease?" ”

Li Tang shook his head: "It's not that I'm not at ease, but I think it's a little incredible, you said this film...... To be honest, I wasn't very optimistic at first, and I always felt that as long as I didn't lose money, I was satisfied, but I didn't expect this to be the result. ”

In the end, even he was amused.

Zeng Jia said: "What's so strange about this, it's fresh for the audience, and for you, it's probably aesthetic fatigue." Otherwise, you wouldn't have invested in the first place, you don't think so. ”

After Zeng Jia reminded him like this, he remembered that on the one hand, it was Xiao Tengdao's face, but the most important thing was that the script was good, especially Liu Zhan was also very showy, and the whole thing was like a prose, which suddenly poked his hidden literary and artistic young heart.

Looking back now, it is true that the fusion of memories and the return to this era for too long have made him integrate into this era and become a real Chinese from the inside out. It's rare to look at things or a movie from the experience of a previous life.

Love is the main theme of the movie, and in "The Subway to Spring", the love of different groups of people is depicted. For example, the love between Jianbin and Xiaohui, they have a deep-rooted love, but after the long-term relationship passion slowly faded, they began to doubt. And because of this, unhindered possession leaves both sides feeling confused, which seems very much like the so-called "midlife crisis" that is often talked about in Western movies.

Another example is the love between Gao Yuanyuan as a photo studio clerk and a deaf-mute teenager, the love between a chef and a salesman, including the kindergarten teacher played by the female No. 2 Wang Li who was burned by fire in order to save the trapped child. It contains the beautiful love of young people, as well as the elements of the disabled, the simple love of people at the bottom of society, etc., simple and pure.

Aside from the techniques of the film, at least the feelings contained in it are sincere. And the hypocrisy that Li Tang thinks is exactly in line with the hypocritical values of the current white-left society.

"Tomorrow is the premiere of "Looking for a Gun", should we go and have a show?" Zeng Jia diverted the topic.

""Gun Hunting, they sent an invitation?"

"That's not true, this time Jiang Wen didn't come, so he came to director Lu Chuan and Huayi's Xiao Wang. It seems that I just arrived yesterday, and when I went out in the morning, I happened to meet reporter Wang of "Nandu Daily", and he made an appointment with Director Lu and Mr. Xiao Wang. Zeng Jiadao.

I have to say that "Nandu Daily" attaches great importance to interviews with the three major European film festivals, and almost every session will send reporters to come over for on-site interviews, and it has also become one of the few domestic media during the film festival.

"Forget it, I won't go, you can do whatever you want." Li Tang shook his head after a little thought.

If the invitation is formal, it may not be good not to go. But if there is no invitation, there is no need to get involved, after all, Jiang Qinqin will arrive this afternoon.

Zeng Jia naturally knew the inside story very well, looked at Xiao Zhao, and said, "Then let Yaoyao follow." ”

"No, Xiao Zhao also has a rare opportunity to relax." Li Tang smiled and shook his head.

Zhao Luoyao naturally refused to let go of this opportunity to perform, and hurriedly said: "I'm fine, Mr. Li, let me follow you." ”

"It's really not necessary, she still has bodyguards and assistants over there, I'll pay attention to myself, it doesn't matter."

Originally, I brought Xiao Zhao out to let her help cover up, but now the situation seems to be unnecessary. The main thing is that all the interviews he should have accepted have already been interviewed, and after the film was screened, he also successfully reached an agreement with MK2. At this point, their mission at the festival has been accomplished.

Of course, the most important thing is that from tomorrow, several other Chinese films shortlisted for the competition unit will appear one after another, and those Hong Kong, Wanwan, including a few domestic media who will come to interview will definitely gather on Lido Island. Even if he and Jiang Qinqin were shopping on Venice Street, I am afraid that the probability of encountering Chinese media reporters is extremely low.

……

Venice, in fact, also has a small city called Venice on the west coast of California. It's just that compared with the world-famous historical and cultural city - Venice in Italy, Venice in the United States is just a modern replica of a small city.

In his previous life, Li Tang had just graduated from university, and in order to pursue the so-called art, he once visited the small city of Venice. Because there are a lot of so-called poets, painters, artists and musicians gathered there, and there are often art exhibitions and theater festivals and so on. To use the current fashionable phrase, the small city of Venice in the United States is actually a cultural tourism project.

The real Venice is full of heritage, and its architecture, paintings, sculptures, operas, etc. have an extremely important position and influence in the world.

After Li Tang, Zeng Jia, and Xiao Zhao had a brief lunch in the café, they walked around the city of Venice alone, carrying a small bag of Coach with him.

As for personal safety, he is not worried at all now, mainly because he basically can't see Nigo here. As for the occasional petty white gangster, based on his experience of living in the United States in his previous life, he was a group of cowards, as long as one was brought down, the rest fled. On the other hand, the more weak you are, the more arrogant they tend to be.

Fortunately, the road was safe and sound, and the petty theft was not touched, but I saw a lot of policemen along the way. It's the same all over the world, whenever there is a big event, the security will be very strict, especially after 911, and the European side has become noisy. Fortunately, the security in Venice is not as exaggerated as it was at the Cannes Film Festival in the first half of the year, but the atmosphere is much more tense than last year.

Li Tang found a homestay in the center of the city according to the address provided by Zeng Jia, which Zeng Jia booked through an international travel agency a month in advance. After a brief exchange with an Italian aunt, I entered a small building that looked very old on the outside.

On the first floor there is a living room and a double room, and on the second floor there is a suite, the facilities are average, but the furnishings are very warm, and the rooms are all lined with fresh flowers.

Li Tang took a turn, and it felt very good, of course, the price was even better, five thousand euros a day.

If you want to talk about the three major film festivals in Europe, he has never been to the Berlin Film Festival, but he has only heard about it. If you want to talk about the price of goods during the film festival, the knife here in Venice is definitely the fastest.

For example, those luxury hotels on the Lido Island may usually cost only three or four hundred euros a night, but now the most expensive ones are sold for 20,000 euros a night.

In comparison, the homestay that Li Tang currently rents is quite affordable.

In addition, Venice is not a land city like Cannes, which can be expanded to the surrounding areas, this is an island, and with such a little land, housing prices will naturally rise.

The Italian aunt was the landlord, because after communicating before, she knew that Li Tang and the guests who were about to move in were from Chinese filmmakers, so she also warmly invited Li Tang to drink coffee together.

Coffee is to Italians what tea is to Chinese. Moreover, among European countries, Italians are the most Chinese, many of them are large families of several generations, and the human touch is very strong.

The Italian aunt is a native of Venetian, her husband has died, and she has a son who works in Milan and can only return during the New Year's holidays.

Like many empty nesters in China, in addition to making money, Italian aunts opening homestays are more of a way to relieve loneliness, especially Li Tang can also speak some Italian, and Italian aunts are very interested in talking, until the time is almost up, Li Tang has to get up and go out.

There are no cars or bicycles in Venice, except for gondolas that carry tourists, there are transport boats that are equivalent to buses, and vaporetto which are equivalent to taxis.

The B&B is not far from the pier, about a ten minute walk. From Marco Polo Airport to the main island of Venice, there are buses operating on special routes, trains, and a combination of buses and boats.

"Li Tang!"

"Qinqin!"

Because abroad, there are too many scruples. Jiang Qinqin, who had just come out of the dock station, saw Li Tang standing at the door waving at a glance, and immediately pounced like a pigeon throwing into the forest.

The soft fragrance is still the familiar taste.

After hugging, Li Tang looked at this good friend carefully, as if he had lost a little weight, and there was a trace of fatigue between his eyebrows and eyes, but he was in good spirits. Especially when he saw Xiao Tang and the female bodyguard who were dragging a big bag and a small bag, they were obviously a lot darker, but Jiang Qinqin still maintained her fair complexion, and he was inevitably a little surprised: "Why haven't you tanned at all?" ”

The three of them have been wandering on the North American continent for more than half a month, and this season is bright and bright in both California and Florida.

"Hee-hee, don't you know, I can't tan!" Jiang Qinqin said proudly.

Xiao Tang and the female bodyguard on the side all showed envy, and it was obvious that the person in front of them was God's favorite.

There are a lot of trivial things to do during the holidays, I'm sorry!

(End of chapter)