I was just thinking about taking the arts exam and you said I've been playing supporting roles

Chapter 347 This Life's "Jinling"!
December 18, 2011, Beijing.

Late at night, at the China Film Information Center.

"Whoo~~~"

Looking at the newly completed post-production version of "The Flowers of War," Zhang Yimou rubbed his throbbing temples and couldn't help but exhale.

It's finished.

After three years and nearly a year of filming, this film, which was the most tumultuous in his production process, is finally ready to be released to the audience.

Zhang Yimou's tense heart can finally relax.

Moreover, thanks to Zhang Weiping's imprisonment, he now has more time to reunite with his wife and daughters, and his mindset is much more relaxed than before.

Although I remain disciplined at work, I finally have some leisure time to spend with my family outside of work; unlike before, when I was either filming or attending the Olympic opening ceremony, and was busy all the time except for the Chinese New Year.

Has Chen Jin contacted you recently?

Zhang Yimou lay there with his eyes closed, asking his assistant Pang Liwei a question.

"without!"

"He's been making movies in Hollywood, almost the same age as you!"

"Haha~~"

Zhang Yimou knew what Pang Liwei meant; it simply meant working day and night, neglecting everything else for the sake of making the movie.

Zhang Yimou used to be like that, only this year has been a bit better.

"It's definitely a good thing for a young person to have drive!"

"Besides, given what happened recently, he definitely wants to work hard to make a name for himself and prove himself to the outside world!"

Zhang Yimou understands this young actor whom he discovered.

It was also the most exceptional one he had ever seen in his acting career!
In just two years, he has achieved what many male actors would never dare to dream of in their entire lives.

In terms of awards, apart from the Hong Kong Film Awards which he was not nominated for, he has already won the Best Actor awards at the Golden Horse Awards and the Golden Rooster Awards. As for the three major mainland awards, he will likely complete a grand slam in the next two years.

Internationally, the Best Newcomer and Best Actor awards at Venice are also among the best of male actors of this age.

Crucially, many of these awards were won this year.

This is just an award.

The most important thing for a filmmaker is box office revenue. His films have broken the mainland box office record three times, and his latest film, "So Young," has broken all the records in Chinese film history from top to bottom.

It is still showing in theaters, but it has already grossed 16.73 billion yuan at the Chinese box office, far surpassing the phenomenal success of "Avatar" from two years ago, becoming a new phenomenon in China.

It's important to know that this is a domestically produced film.

Domestic films have defeated Hollywood blockbusters, something that cannot be achieved in many countries and regions.

Therefore, this achievement is even more remarkable.

Originally, everyone thought that Chen Jin would become the new "spokesperson" in the mainland with this achievement, and become the "single Chen" in the mainland, comparable to the two Chows and one Jackie Chan in Hong Kong back then!
However, his acceptance speech at the Golden Horse Awards still plunged him into a media storm.

He remained silent throughout, and his last Weibo update was a month ago; in the past month, a lot of news and topics have been about him, including reports that he was arrogant, reports that he lacked emotional intelligence... basically, all sorts of things.

Zhang Yimou, who doesn't usually pay much attention to the news, has been picking up his phone to browse the news these days.

To be honest, Weibo is much more convenient than reading the news, and it also allowed him to learn a lot about Chen Jin.

"Director Zhang, should we inform him about the screening?"

Pang Liwei suddenly asked.

"Tell him that if he can make it back, he can participate; if he can't, then forget it!"

"it is good!"

Pang Liwei quickly took out her phone and recorded it.

Zhang Yimou clearly had ambitions for "The Flowers of War." The so-called screening was just a pre-arranged gathering for watching the film, where some of the attendees were company members who discovered problems with the movie.

Some film screenings are actually small-scale film evaluations.

The value of this film can be assessed based on its commercial viability, artistic merit, and potential for winning awards, among other factors.

The event will invite not only industry professionals and friends, but also many film industry colleagues and film festival judges, in order to discuss a specific plan for award submissions and whether the film can be distributed in other regions.

Besides these reasons, Zhang Yimou also needed support from higher authorities for censorship at this screening of "The Flowers of War".

Because of the special nature of films, it is difficult for them to go abroad without the strong support of relevant departments.

There is strong resistance overseas to films about genocide.

Public relations alone is not enough.

Furthermore, Zhang Yimou's goal wasn't just to have the film released overseas; he also wanted to compete for an Oscar, which was his only obsession in life.

The three major European powers are actually dispensable to him.

The Oscars were, in a way, the last glory.

Foreign films cannot be submitted for Oscars by individuals in China; they must be submitted through the Film Bureau.

The screening was meant to reassure the Film Bureau.

After all, only one film can be submitted for an Oscar in China. With so many domestic films produced each year, even someone like Zhang Yimou has to follow the rules. It's not about having fame; it's about the quality of the film.

Of course, the number of films in this category was not determined by the Film Bureau, but rather by the Oscars as a restriction on mainland Chinese films.

Only one film from a country or region can be submitted for the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film!
The main principle is to treat everyone equally.

Therefore, newspapers and films could also be delivered to Hong Kong and Taiwan.

That's why Hong Kong and Taiwan collaborate with the mainland on film productions, which means they've gained two more slots.

"Director Zhang, Chairman Dieter has contacted me about films three times already, and he strongly invites you to attend the Berlin Film Festival earlier this year..."

Pang Liwei hesitated, as if she wanted to say something but then stopped.

Zhang Yimou, who was lying there, couldn't help but open his eyes: "This old guy, he certainly knows how to scheme!"

Dieter Kosslick!

Chairman of the Berlin Film Festival Organizing Committee.

He served as the president of the Berlin Film Festival from 2001 to 18 consecutive years.

During his tenure, he transformed the Berlin Film Festival from an elitist event to a more open public event, attracting ordinary audiences by adding open-air screenings and community cinema collaborations.

In terms of political stance, he insists on opposing war and calling for peace.

During his tenure, the 2003 Berlin Golden Bear was awarded to the anti-war film "Between the Worlds" in response to protests against the Iraq War.

It also has a broad vision for global cooperation and is committed to introducing more international co-productions and Hollywood stars to enhance its influence. For example, the screening of the restored version of "Metropolis" at the Brandenburg Gate in 2010 was a landmark event.

So, this guy's favorite films are those with political metaphors, which is practically a hallmark of the Berlin Film Festival!

Berlin = Politics!

This is the guy who did it.

Therefore, it couldn't be more fitting for "The Flowers of War" to participate in the Berlin Film Festival.

However, Dieter is still very friendly to mainland Chinese filmmakers, only slightly less so than the current president of Venice, Maradona.

If Lao Ma is one of our own, then Dieter is an international friend who is very enthusiastic about promoting Chinese films.

During his tenure, Chinese films performed quite well.

For example, Wang Quan'an's "Tuya's Marriage" and Zhang Yang's "Falling Leaves Return to Their Roots," which won the Golden Bear in the previous two years, were selected for the "Panorama" section.

And Chen Junlin's "Beauty," which won the Silver Bear for Best Short Film, as well as the upcoming "So Long, My Son" and "Black Coal, Thin Ice," etc.

In contrast, Cannes is probably the hardest film festival for Chinese filmmakers to win awards at; for many years now, mainland Chinese films have had no success. There are reasons for this.

It was also because of Zhang Yimou's falling out with Cannes back then that Cannes has always been arrogant towards China.

This is actually similar to Chen Jin's approach to the Golden Horse Awards.

However, it's hard to say about Zhang Yimou's status within the film industry, and his actions have received support from relevant departments; unlike Chen Jin, who is too young, and with the influence of her company, her competitors have bought a lot of negative information about her.

This is why Zhang Yimou immediately sent a message to Chen Jin; he had actually experienced something similar.

"Ask Chen Jin, he's the boss!"

As Zhang Yimou began to speak, Pang Liwei, standing beside him, laughed and said, "He'll definitely listen to you!"

There's no need to make that call.

Based on Pang Liwei's understanding of Chen Jin, even though he had made a name for himself in the business, he still had at least some respect for Zhang Yimou.

Just like when we first met.

"Heh, this kid... he really knows how to pass the buck to me!"

Zhang Yimou got up and stretched, then pondered for a moment before saying, "When did Chen Jin say that 'The Flowers of War' was scheduled for release?"

"Spring Festival!"

Pang Liwei asked Chen Jin about this, and she actually didn't understand it at all.

"Spring Festival?"

Zhang Yimou frowned: "Isn't it inappropriate to celebrate the Lunar New Year?"

Although he didn't depict the tragedy in "The Flowers of War" in a particularly tragic way, he used side scenes to highlight the horror of the massacre.

There are no heart-wrenching scenes of massacre that would make you uncomfortable; but the ending will definitely make you cry, because the Thirteen Beauties are martyred!

This is the most tragic part.

"He said there's a lot of traffic during the Spring Festival. I don't know what traffic means, but it just means there are a lot of people watching!"

"This will make more people aware of the significance of the genocide!"

"That's not necessarily true."

Are there many people watching it during the Spring Festival?
Although Zhang Yimou is not very familiar with film distribution, he does know some release dates; there don't seem to be any films with high box office before the Spring Festival.

"However, if it's to be released during the Spring Festival, it can make it to Berlin!"

The entry threshold for the main competition units of the three major European film festivals all requires a world premiere.

That is, before participating in the exhibition, the film cannot be publicly screened on other platforms or in other countries. This is to highlight the authority and uniqueness of the film festival.

Of course, there are always exceptions to rules that are made by humans.

For example, "Parasite" was screened in the country before being exhibited in Cannes.

After the news was exposed, the official explanation given by the film festival was that it was a small-scale media preview and it eventually won the Palme d'Or.

There is also the old film "Roma", which was screened privately at the Telluride Film Festival before its premiere at the Venice Film Festival and was finally judged to be eligible for selection.

According to Chen Jin's plan, this film, which has special significance, was to be released during the 2012 Spring Festival, which obviously did not meet the time requirements of Berlin.

The 62nd Berlin International Film Festival next year will be held around February 9th.

This year's Spring Festival falls on January 23rd of next year, more than half a month apart.

This is why "The Flowers of War," which was originally shortlisted for the main competition at the 62nd Berlin International Film Festival, was only screened in the end.

It was shortlisted, but it didn't win an award.

It was because it had been released in China and North America beforehand, with North America becoming the first country in the world to premiere it on November 23, 2011.

It's more than half a month earlier than December 15th in mainland China.

Zhang Weiping wanted to make a big splash, relying on Bale's popularity; however, he did not expect to be boycotted by foreigners and thoroughly smeared by the media, and was eventually forced to pull the film from theaters and have it released in a limited number of theaters, only to earn a pitiful $31 at the box office.

It was shown on only 30 screens across the United States.

Sony and Columbia ultimately succeeded in preventing the release of "The Flowers of War," though they didn't manage to stop it from going to theaters; the outcome was essentially the same.

With a box office of 31, the total box office in non-Chinese markets worldwide was less than 218 million US dollars, almost the same as the film being cut off from release.

Two million US dollars only translates to a few hundred thousand viewers, which is hardly enough to generate any international media buzz.

And now, in this lifetime!
Half a month... that's actually feasible!
"I'll call Dieter tomorrow and explain the situation to him. This movie is aiming for the Golden Globes and Oscars, so the North American release will definitely be a few days earlier!"

"The world premiere may be out of the question, but if he really wants 'The Flowers of War' to participate in Berlin, he'll have to make some concessions!"

The reason Zhang Yimou attended Berlin in his previous life may have been because of Zhang Weiping.

But now, he's doing it for the international promotion of "The Flowers of War".

"it is good!"

Will Chairman Dieter agree?

Pang Liwei was somewhat uncertain.

"Whether he agrees or not, the nature of Berlin dictates that this film will be profitable!"

In recent years, the overt and covert competition among the three major film festivals has brought Berlin's political significance to its peak; "Jinling" is too well-suited to the nature of this film festival.

"Moreover, since Dieter made so many phone calls, he must be confident that Jinling can participate in the Berlin competition as scheduled!"

Zhang Yimou had confidence in this old guy, Dieter Kosslick.

Koslik is clearly a powerful figure in the global film industry.

He served as the chief of staff to the mayor of Hamburg in 1979 before moving on to become a journalist for the political magazine Konkret.

In 1983, he entered the field of film financing and served as the managing director of the Hamburg Cultural Film Fund. He served as the chairman of the Berlin Film Festival for nearly twenty years.

If anyone can help promote "The Flowers of War," the most suitable candidate is a foreigner.

Moreover, Berlin is a city inherently marked by "politics," having undergone numerous geopolitical upheavals.

This was the first time Pang Liwei had seen Zhang Yimou exude such a powerful aura.

Since becoming Zhang Yimou's assistant at the turn of the millennium, all I've heard about him are his numerous achievements and awards in the industry. He's always been a cheerful person, and even when making movies, the word "tyrant" doesn't suit him at all.

Therefore, Zhang Yimou's impression on him was that of a stubborn old man obsessed with film in his own world.

But now, for "Jinling," he seems to have returned to the uncrowned director who once dominated the three major European film festivals.

"Call Chen Jin first!"

"And then in Dieter!"

"Let me hear what Chen Jin has to say!"

Zhang Yimou gave instructions to Pang Liwei, who was holding her phone and only then realized what was happening.

It's nighttime in China right now, but it's daytime in North America!

"I'll come right away!"

Would you like to eat first, or rest for a while?

Pang Liwei still needs to pay attention to Zhang Yimou's diet and daily routine.

Zhang Yimou waved his hand and said, "Make the call. I'll be listening in. It's been a long time since I spoke to this kid. Let's ask him how he's been!"

Most importantly, Zhang Yimou wanted to ask him about his experience directing his first film.

Thinking of this, a familiar smile appeared on Zhang Yimou's face, a smile he hadn't seen in a long time.

(End of this chapter)