Chinese Entertainment: Academic Director

Chapter 69 Bellman's Invitation

Cao Yang unexpectedly won the Golden Lion Award, which not only surprised the teachers and students of Beijing Film Academy and caused a sensation, but also stunned many people at the neighboring Chinese Academy of Drama.

The Central Academy of Drama also has a directing department, yes, it does.

Well, in the entertainment industry, the Central Academy of Drama is not known for its directors, but for its actors.

Therefore, the students of the Acting Department were the most shocked at the Central Academy of Drama.

Producing two international film queens in one year, what does this mean?
This is... a resource pack that fell from the sky.

This is the actress’s dad!

The Beijing Film Academy has a continuous tradition. As one generation grows old, another generation rises up, and they are all willing to come to the Central Academy of Drama to select actors. Director Cao, the tradition cannot be lost.

What? Liu Ye, who won the Venice Film Festival's Best Newcomer Award, is from the Central Academy of Drama? That's fine, Director Cao must be a pure Beijing Film Academy director.

I hope Director Cao can visit the Central Academy of Drama someday. Miss Cao sounds great.

At the same time, traditional media also began to make efforts.

"Last night, the 58th Venice International Film Festival came to a close. Empty Room, directed by my country's famous young director Cao Yang, won the Golden Lion Award for Best Film, the Silver Lion Award for Best Actress, and the Silver Lion Award for Best Newcomer, becoming the biggest winner."

"Following Hou Xiaoxian, Zhang Yimou and Cai Mingliang, my country's famous young director Cao Yang has once again won the Venice Film Festival Golden Lion Award, becoming the fourth person in China to achieve this achievement."

"At the 58th Venice Film Festival which ended in the early hours of yesterday morning, the film Empty Room, directed by the famous director Cao Yang, won a great victory. It not only won the highest award, the Golden Lion Award, but also helped Yu Feihong win the Best Actress Award at the Venice Film Festival and helped Liu Ye win the Best New Actor Award."

"One gold and two silvers, the Chinese film "Empty Room" won the championship. At the Venice Film Festival awards ceremony held last night, the famous Cao Yang became the biggest winner."

"After Gong Li, Yu Feihong became the second Chinese actress to win the Venice Film Festival Best Actress award. Last night..."

This is the first wave, and the focus will be on reporting the news. In subsequent reports, personal resumes will definitely be explored. This is a common practice.

Compared with the Internet, traditional media has already lagged behind.

With a lot of coverage in traditional media and online, even people who don’t pay much attention to the entertainment industry know that a director named Cao Yang won the Golden Lion in Venice.

Is the Venice Golden Lion very powerful?
Oh, only Zhang Yi has won this award in mainland China, that’s really impressive.

Nowadays, there are two and a half big directors in the mainland who often appear in media reports. Zhang Yimou is one, Chen Kai is one, and Xiao Gangpao is half.

People who don't know the truth have a little understanding that the reason why Chen Kaige and Zhang Yimou are big directors is because they won the same level of awards, namely the Golden Lion and the Palme d'Or.

No matter how high the box office of Little Steel Cannon is, it only counts half because it didn't win any big prizes.

Then I suddenly realized that the guy named Cao Yang was also a famous director. So there is one more famous director in China?
That’s three and a half, right?

Xiao Gangpao expressed that he was very hurt, just like who doesn’t want to win the award. I also have the heart of an artist.

Indeed, when Xiao Gangpao heard that Cao Yang had won the Golden Lion, he sat there for a long time in silence.

The Golden Lion Award, that's a fucking Golden Lion. When did it become so easy to win a Golden Lion? A young man in his twenties just won the Venice Golden Lion so easily!

What fucking bullshit!
The directors of Beijing Film Academy are all crazy. Why don't they just focus on making movies and developing the domestic market? Why go abroad to win awards? It's like the three major European awards are so great.

One of the top three in Europe. If I could get one of the top three in Europe, it would take ten years... no, five years... maybe three years. Well, it would be worth it even if I had to sacrifice two years of my life.

No matter what kind of heated discussion is being stirred up in the country, Cao Yang is not aware of it for the time being, as he is currently attending a private cocktail party hosted by Sony Classics.

Generally speaking, large-scale cocktail parties in Europe are very cumbersome and troublesome. One needs to understand etiquette, the order of the cocktail party, the rules of eating and various taboos.

Private cocktail parties are much more casual, with fewer people, mostly friends or acquaintances, similar to dinner parties among friends in China.

The only difference is that there might be more "desserts." "Mr. Cao, congratulations on winning the Golden Lion."

Bellman, one of the heads of Sony Classics' marketing department, came over with a glass of wine and sat down next to Cao Yang.

A European actress who had just come over to meet Cao Yang got up and left tactfully. Before leaving, she handed Cao Yang a note with her phone number and room number on it.

No, I'm not that kind of person.

Cao Yang wanted to throw it away, but Berman was right next to him, which would be so rude. He could only put it in his pocket for the time being and throw it away later.

"Thank you."

Cao Yang clinked his glasses with Berman and took a sip.

"The Golden Lion is the result of our joint efforts. My success is inseparable from the help of Sony Classics and the support of Mr. Bellman."

"This is what I should do, and it is also in our common interest."

Berman said it politely, and then asked tentatively: "Director Cao, now that you have won the Golden Lion Award, what are your plans next?"

Cao Yang hesitated for a moment, then said, "I have an idea. I might make another movie before the New Year."

The reason why Cao Yang was hesitant was that he was afraid that Bellman would ask to invest in the name of Sony Classics.

He only made low-budget art films, so he had no shortage of funds and no need to control risks. It was a business that was sure to make money, so he didn't need any outside funding at all.

What if Bellman doesn't understand? We were all cooperating well. Do you agree or not?

Agree to it, it feels like letting this bastard down is getting too good for him.

If you don't agree, maybe you will need help to conquer the top three European cities next time. Besides, Cao Yang is also interested in winning the Oscar.

When we make commercial films in the future, big investments will bring big risks. In order to share the risks, we may have to look for some external funding.

The reason why Cao Yang said this was because he had made up his mind that if Sony Classics wanted to invest, he would politely refuse, and then do it like "Empty Room". In fact, this form of cooperation is also very good. Anyway, he is now a Golden Lion director and can afford the price.

Berman did not even mention the investment, but directly asked: "Director Cao, have you ever thought that our cooperation can go a step further? You come to Hollywood, and we can make a movie together that can win an Oscar and be accepted by the three major European film festivals."

"To Hollywood?"

To be honest, Cao Yang was a little tempted. Development in Hollywood is still very popular in recent years. Going there to win an Oscar would be very cool and would bring him both fame and fortune.

The only concern is that if he goes to Hollywood now, unless he organizes his own group to make an independent film, it will be difficult for him to take the initiative. A major feature of Hollywood is the producer-centered system.

Unless it is a big director like Spielberg or Cameron, the director does not even have the basic editing rights, and is not even allowed to enter the editing room afterwards.

Not having editing rights means that what you shoot and what you want may be very different after editing.

Being uncontrollable means there is a risk of failure.

This is something Cao Yang cannot accept. He cannot do anything that would damage his reputation.

"Mr. Behrman, we are family, so I will tell you the truth.

When I make a movie, I usually need to really take control of the crew, edit the movie myself and do post-production. I have the final say on what the finished film will look like, and no one else can interfere.

You can think of this as a director’s confidence, at least before I fail.”

(End of this chapter)