Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 512 Review List
Cao Yang hadn't received a call from Theron, but he did receive a call from China, which surprised him quite a bit.

The call was from Qi Jian, the director of the selection committee for this year's Golden Rooster Awards.

Qi Jian is a fifth-generation director in China. He graduated from the Fine Arts Department of Beijing Film Academy in 78. He has not directed many famous films, and he cannot be compared with directors such as Zhang Yimou, Chen Kaige, or Tian Zhuangzhuang.

However, his 06 film "The Dog" is an exception.

This film not only won him the Best Director award at the previous Golden Rooster Awards, but also earned Fu Dalong, the male lead of "The Dog," the Best Actor award at the Golden Rooster Awards.

The movie "The Dog" is still very meaningful.

Although "The Dog" won an award, it was accused of plagiarism after its plot was said to be very similar to a 20-year-old French film, "John Florette".

But this film is not just a simple movie.

Instead, it is adapted from the Mao Dun Literature Prize-winning novel "The Murderer," which is based on a true story from Shanxi.

Therefore, this movie can be considered to be adapted from a true story, and the plot settings in the movie are all based on the content of the novel.

"The Heavenly Dog" tells the story of forest ranger Li Tiangou, who fights against villagers and local bullies to protect forest resources and eventually kills the loggers, focusing on the real-world conflicts in rural China.

This is a true story, and it was even reported in the newspapers back then.

"Jean-Flolette" depicts the tragedy of Jean, a disabled intellectual, who is bullied and has his land seized by his uncle and nephew in the French countryside, and ultimately dies. The core conflict revolves around the struggle for water resources.

The storylines of the two movies seem somewhat similar; both are stories of ordinary people being bullied by thugs and then fighting back.

This kind of thing happens far too often in reality; it's happened all over the world.

If "The Dog" is classified as plagiarizing "John of Florette," then there's basically no point in making the movie, as there are far too many movies with similar storylines.

At most, we can say that the two films are genre films with somewhat similar plots, which is very common in movies.

Upon closer examination, there are many more films with similar plots, both from early Hong Kong cinema and from Hollywood's mass-produced films.

However, "The Dog" is still too conservative compared to the original novel "The Murderer".

Most importantly, although "The Dog" is a rare realist work with strong artistic impact, both profound and powerful, the second half of the film tends to be simplistic and mainstream, and various problems are covered up, instead turning into a struggle between good and evil.

This is nothing like the "fifth generation".

If it had been another director from the Fifth Generation, the second half of the film probably wouldn't have been handled this way. If they had explored it a little deeper, it would probably have been a typical film that could have entered the main competition sections of the three major European film festivals.

Director Qi Jian's approach is actually more "commercial" and more accessible to the general public.

This is also why Cao Yang ultimately agreed to let Qi Jiancheng become the chairman of the jury for this year's Golden Rooster Awards.

According to the Golden Rooster Awards charter, the Golden Rooster Awards has an organizing committee, which is the organizing and leading body of the China Film Golden Rooster Awards, responsible for implementing the award's purpose and organizing and leading the award activities.

The organizing committee consists of members of the presidium of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Film Association, as well as leaders of the China Film Association.

The organizing committee director is the person in charge of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles, and the deputy directors and secretary-general are the persons in charge of the China Federation of Literary and Art Circles and the China Film Association, respectively.

After being elected as the vice chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles, Cao Yang was assigned to oversee literary and artistic work, including film, television, and music.

In other words, Cao Yang is the director of the Golden Rooster Awards organizing committee.

However, because he was often away from China to make movies, the actual work was handled by the Beijing Film Academy or by people like Lao Hou.

As usual, Cao Yang remained behind the scenes at this year's Golden Rooster Awards, setting the general direction while others carried out the specifics.

Cao Yang did not expect to receive a call from Qi Jian. On the surface, all the work related to the Golden Rooster Awards was being handled by the deputy director and the secretary-general.

"It's been a long time, Senior Brother Qi."

If we follow the custom in China, Cao Yang should address Qi Jian as Teacher Qi, which is also the common way to address each other in the entertainment industry. In short, it is appropriate to address each other as "teacher" to show politeness or respect.

However, Cao Yang's identity is somewhat special.

It wasn't because of his status and influence, but because Old Master Situ had said in public that Cao Yang was his last disciple.

Back then, all the students in the 78 class at Beijing Film Academy, regardless of which department they were in, had taken classes together because there were few teachers at the time. They were all taught by Lao Situ, and all the students in the 78 class called Lao Situ "teacher".

Back then, respecting teachers and valuing their teachings was highly valued.

As a student in the Fine Arts Department of Class of '78, Qi Jian naturally attended Lao Situ's classes.

When the Beijing Film Academy was specifically promoting Cao Yang, Lao Tian introduced alumni next to Cao Yang, including Qi Jian.

He told Cao Yang: "This bespectacled, simple-looking guy is Qi Jian from the Fine Arts Department. He's also from the class of '78. You can just call him Senior Brother Qi."

Therefore, Cao Yang addresses all students from the 78 class of Beijing Film Academy as "senior brother" or "senior sister".

If he didn't address the students from the class of '78 as 'senior brother' or 'senior sister' but instead called them 'teacher' according to tradition, then the person being addressed would definitely have a bad first reaction.

He would definitely rush to recall the past and wonder if he had unintentionally offended Cao Yang, otherwise why would Cao Yang be so "distancing" from him?

"Haha, it's been a while. How are you doing in America, junior brother?"

Qi Jian seemed very enthusiastic and asked with a big laugh.

"It's alright. I only focus on film-related matters, and no one bothers me."

Cao Yang replied with a smile.

After a pause, he asked directly, "Senior brother, it's so late, is there something urgent?"

It's a little past 7 a.m. in Los Angeles, which is past 11 p.m. in Beijing, depending on the time difference.

Qi Jian was quite particular about the timing of his actions.

At this time, a director who is filming a movie would definitely be up and having breakfast.

If it goes any later, we might have to start filming today.

Any earlier and they might not even be awake yet.

"Actually, it's nothing. I sent some documents to your email. Please review them first, and I'll call them back to you later."

Qi Jian used the word "review".

Cao Yang was taken aback. His mind raced. As the chairman of this year's Golden Rooster Awards jury, had Qi Jian had a conflict with other jury members? Or had he made some suggestions regarding the Golden Rooster Awards?
"Okay, senior brother, I'll take a look right away."

After hanging up the phone, Cao Yang was a little puzzled. What could it be that required Qi Jian to call and remind him personally?

He turned on his computer, opened his email, and then clicked on the attachment.

That's when I understood why Qi Jian had specifically called to remind me.

The attachment was a list, specifically a list of nominees for this year's Golden Rooster Awards. Cao Yang instantly understood Qi Jian's meaning.

The Golden Rooster Awards ceremony will be held on October 17th, and it's about to begin.

This is the preliminary list of winning works and actors selected by the jury for this year's Golden Rooster Awards. Although the jury selected the winners according to Cao Yang's preliminary reform plan for the Golden Rooster Awards, the final list of winners still needs to be decided by Cao Yang.

In other words, it's what Qi Jian referred to as "approval."

This is not Cao Yang seizing power.

Even for the three major European film festivals, or the Oscars, the final list of winners still requires the approval of the festival president or artistic director.

Cao Yang had always delegated the specific tasks to Hou Yuan and his team, so he never expected that Qi Jian would send him the final list instead of Hou Yuan.

However, considering that Qi Jian was from the class of '78, Cao Yang understood somewhat.

This is also a headache for him.

Lao Hou is the dean of the Beijing Film Academy, and he graduated from the Beijing Film Academy as early as 79.

However, because he graduated from the acting department, even though he later taught in the directing department and rose through the ranks from there, he just couldn't get along with the students from the class of '78.

Or rather, level 78 is too special, having produced too many "powerful beings," and naturally possesses a sense of superiority.

Actually, it wasn't just the class of '78; anyway, things were chaotic inside the Beijing Film Academy, and many people looked down on each other.

Cao Yang's emergence, due to his immense achievements—both in awards and box office—is unmatched by anyone else, which is why he was able to overshadow everyone at the Beijing Film Academy.

Cao Yang had few problems with most of the proposed winners' list provided by Qi Jian, but he felt there was something wrong with the list of winners for Best Feature Film.

There were two winners for Best Feature Film, a so-called tie.

It's not that Cao Yang has a problem with double-yolk films; if both films are of high quality, then it doesn't matter.

There are quite a few double-yolk results in the three major European awards, and even the top prize often sees double-yolk results.

The key is that your movie quality must not be criticized.

No film festival in the world can be completely fair and impartial when it comes to awards; compromises and balances will inevitably occur on some awards.

However, for a film festival to establish its credibility, the one or two biggest awards must be as fair as possible.

Therefore, the tie for Best Feature Film this year is somewhat problematic.

At this moment, Qi Jian called again.

After connecting the call, Cao Yang didn't stand on ceremony with Qi Jian and said directly, "Senior brother, let's avoid having a tie at this year's Golden Rooster Awards. Let's try to avoid having a tie in the future."

Qi Jian was taken aback. The two films that won Best Feature Film were both about two of Cao Yang's closest people, at least in terms of their relationship.

If we remove one...

It was obvious that Qi Jian didn't need to think to know who to get rid of.

However, this is precisely the problem.

That guy is arrogant. If he doesn't win big at the Golden Rooster Awards, he'll definitely be angry, and there's a high chance he'll say something inappropriate in front of the media.

They might even resent themselves for it.

Sigh, if only I had known... Oh well, even if I had known, would I have given up being the head of the Golden Rooster Awards jury?

Probably not.

This is a qualification.

It was also an opportunity to get closer to Cao Yang—in the first year after the Golden Rooster Awards were officially restructured, he was able to become the chairman of the judging committee. Who could say that this wasn't because Cao Yang valued him?
Although the previous administration also made changes, it was not perfected at that time, and there were no official documents to implement it. This year is the first year of the formal reform.

“Junior brother, if we remove his Best Feature Film award, his films won’t have any significant awards.”

Qi Jian still offered a reminder.

"Senior brother, what are you saying? Isn't Best Supporting Actor a major award? Aren't Best Art Direction and Best Music major awards? The Golden Rooster Awards don't have many awards to begin with, and every single one of them is a major award."

Cao Yang replied with a smile.

"Okay, junior brother, I understand."

After hanging up the phone, Cao Yang looked at the list and shook his head regretfully.

Li Xiaoran was nominated for Best Actress for her role in "Mei Lanfang". In the grand narrative of Mei Lanfang's legend, she created a female character who not only carries the weight of history but also possesses a great humanistic arc, reconstructing the complexity of the character with a subtle and restrained sense of layering.

It can be said that Li Xiaoran's acting skills are now very good, after being strengthened by her previous experience of getting into roles. Cao Yang thinks that her portrayal of Meng Xiaodong is even more delicate than Zhang Ziyi's.

However, the latter half of the script for "Mei Lanfang"... so Meng Xiaodong's storyline was also compressed in the latter part of the film, which is somewhat regrettable.

In addition, Li Xiaoran met Zhou Xun at the peak of her career!

"The Equation of Love and Death" can be said to be Zhou Xun's peak performance.

Her performance in "The Equation of Love and Death" is considered a textbook example in Chinese cinema. She portrayed the character of "Li Mi" with an almost life-burning passion, delivering a powerful and moving performance of the despair, obsession, and resilience of a marginalized figure.

Cao Yang even felt that Zhou Xun's state in "The Equation of Love and Death" was like a multiplied immersive experience, and that sense of despair could almost seep out from the screen.

It's not entirely unfair that Li Xiaoran lost to Xun Ge'er, who seemed to be acting with her life on the line at that moment.

Of course, if Cao Yang were to speak up, Li Xiaoran would definitely be able to beat Xun Ge'er to win the Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress, or even share the award with Xun Ge'er, but that would defeat the purpose of the Golden Rooster Awards reform.

Besides, Li Xiaoran doesn't need another Golden Rooster Award for Best Actress.

In the past two days, Cao Yang has started adjusting the filming schedule for "New Pirates of the Caribbean".

He's going back to China for a few days soon.

There is nothing we can do about it.

Once you stand at a high enough level, many things will become beyond your control.

Just a month ago, at the first Venice Film Festival after Mark Müller's re-election, Cao Yang's support was needed. Could Cao Yang not go?

And this trip back to China marks the first awards ceremony after the Golden Rooster Awards officially underwent restructuring. As the chairman of the Federation of Literary and Art Circles in charge of film, television, music, and other arts, and who personally formulated the restructuring plan, and is also the director of the Golden Rooster Awards Organizing Committee, how could Cao Yang not be present?
However, before leaving, Cao Yang called Cheng Jianye and Jon Favreau, the director of "Iron Man 2," and instructed them to start auditioning for the role of "Pepper Potts."

Since Theron hasn't called, it proves she doesn't intend to play "Pepper Potts," so there's no need to wait any longer.

He only needs Cheng Jianye and Jon Favreau to confirm a list of two or three people, and then he will make the final decision.

(End of this chapter)