Generation Z Artists

Chapter 308 Giant Wave
Fang Xinghe knew that since he had won Best Director, he definitely had no chance of winning the Palme d'Or.

We've already won a resounding victory; it's impossible to win even more.

Therefore, he regarded this speech as his last chance.

"This is not the trophy I most want to win."

His very first words were an arrogant and blunt truth that broke anyone's guard.

Amidst laughter that was either well-intentioned or malicious, Fang Xinghe shrugged and continued to speak his mind.

"As the absolute leader of 'Less You,' I know what kind of work I have accomplished."

It's not a pioneering work with particularly innovative directing techniques, nor does it make overly bold attempts in terms of color and composition; it's simply a very conventional narrative film.

Fang Xinghe was well aware of the controversy that his Best Director award would cause.

I'll start by addressing the main point; you can do whatever you want.

"Narrative films move people with their emotions, and the core of those emotions comes from the story, while the power to move people comes from the performances. So, I actually put in far more effort into the script and the performances than into directing."

This is truly the truth.

Making this kind of movie is easy; anyone can do it.

The reason why "Better Days" took so long to film was mainly because of the difficulties in acting, so I deserve the Best Actor and Best Actress awards.

But the Best Director award is different; I never even considered that award.

My work was so comprehensive, so holistic, that I thought I should be competing for Best Picture—don't get me wrong, I mean, winning Best Director made me feel a little ashamed.

"The Best Picture" is a strong contender for Best Picture, while I am slightly less competitive in the Best Director category.

Directing is only a third or even less of my overall work, so I was very surprised and delighted that the jury awarded me this prize…”

A buzz erupted from the audience, and the laughter became slightly out of control.

What a load of bull!
Fang Xinghe's words were clearly an implication and a sarcastic remark—

I didn't put much effort into directing; you should give me the Palme d'Or, not Best Director.

It also carries a strong sense of pretentiousness—

My buddy just put in a little effort and he won Best Director. Sigh, there's nothing I can do about it.

The underlying meaning in the entire speech was truly infuriating, which made some of the judges' expressions quite unpleasant, and also turned Jiang Wen's laughter into a meme.

Fang Xinghe, however, didn't care at all.

"Better Days" will definitely be a benchmark for youth films, a classic of youthful love, and a masterpiece of film history that balances commercial appeal with realistic depth.

So what's wrong with me bragging a little?
If there's controversy surrounding my winning Best Director, shouldn't there also be controversy surrounding my not winning Best Picture?

Come on, answer me!
Although such things shouldn't be revealed by the person in question, Fang Xinghe has always presented himself as someone who has no taboos. Fans came because of this, and haters abandoned him because of this, so it no longer matters.

Controversy generates buzz, and saying a few words can save tens of millions of dollars in publicity costs, so why not?

Of course, Fang Xinghe was smiling when he said these words.

If there's a smile, then it's a joke. Whether you believe it or not, I believe it.

It's just a small thorn, don't worry about it.

After briefly expressing his dissatisfaction, Director Fang abruptly changed the subject and steered the conversation back on track.

"This is a very significant honor. As a young, new director, I have just started out and have received such an honor. It is both an encouragement and a wake-up call for me."

Director Luc Besson's praise makes me feel deeply humbled. I am by no means a master, but merely an apprentice still exploring.

I will continue to work hard to make better films, enrich the art world, and bring more laughter or tears to the audience.

Thank you to the jury, thank you to the Cannes Film Festival organizing committee, thank you to this tolerant era, and thank you to the temple of film art for opening its doors to everyone.

I am Fang Xinghe, a new generation director in China. Thank you everyone!

Amid applause, Brother Fang gracefully stepped off the stage.

Many people were surprised by this – why was his acceptance speech after winning Best Director relatively calm?

The previous Best Actor winner was so arrogant, but now that he's won Best Director, he's much more humble and cautious. You're really hard to fathom.

Patrice and the others breathed a sigh of relief, but their expressions were also somewhat confused.

After Gong Li hugged him, she also asked a question: "I thought you would continue to be flamboyant and never stop saying shocking things."

"That's not necessary."

After a pause, Fang Xinghe explained, "Whether it's publicity or building a personal image, there has to be a focus. You might want to think about what aspect of my identity the average viewer cares about most?"

After pondering for a while, Dong Youde and the others suddenly realized what was going on.

Industry insiders are certainly more concerned about Fang Xinghe's identity as a director, but for ordinary viewers, Fang Xinghe's role as an actor is more direct.

Therefore, from a publicity perspective, a 17-year-old acting master who establishes his own school of thought is definitely more newsworthy and impactful than a conventional best director.

The extreme and cruel nature of the Fang family's performance system, and the sacrifices made by handsome men and beautiful women for "Young You," will certainly be better selling points.

Therefore, it is not appropriate to publicize the acceptance speech for Best Director, otherwise it will create a dilemma of not distinguishing between the main points and the secondary points, resulting in an excessive dispersion of media influence.

Fang Xinghe handed the trophy to the excited crowd and sighed softly.

"In the end, it's still Best Director... If it were the Palme d'Or, you'd see how arrogant I would be!"

Gong Li and the others all rolled their eyes.

"We're already the biggest winners at this year's Cannes. Looking back at previous years, no one has ever been able to sweep all three awards. You really dare to covet the Palme d'Or... If you lost Best Actor and Best Director, would you take the Palme d'Or in return?"

"That definitely won't work."

Fang Xinghe waved his hand without even thinking.

"I want them all, I'd be heartbroken to lose even one."

Liu Xiaoli chuckled softly, "It seems our Xixi influenced Director Fang to win the Palme d'Or. If she loses Best Actress, maybe we can get Best Picture instead of Best Director~~~"

She was in a great mood and started joking with Fang Xinghe.

Gong Li, however, knew the inside story and immediately shook her head: "It's no use. The three major European competitions still emphasize balance, and the opinion of the jury chairman is crucial."

Given the nature of these European artists, their aversion to overly commercialized works is the fundamental reason. Winning these three awards is already a huge surprise, and the Palme d'Or was probably out of the question from the start.

Do you remember Patrice's remarks at the opening ceremony?

Auteur cinema, aesthetic innovation, profound themes...

They were very clear about what they wanted. If Jiang Wen hadn't been on the judging panel this year, I think we'd at most get the Silver Palm and an acting award.

"Pretty much, it really wasn't easy."

Fang Xinghe chuckled and nodded, agreeing with Sister Li's opinion.

Without his various antics and efforts to cultivate goodwill among the other judges, Jiang Wen alone would likely have been unable to carry the team.

The current result is already a great victory after doing our best; it would be impolite to be greedy.

"Anyway, I only need one more gold palm to complete the game, I'll try again next time."

"Well, you're already considered a Cannes protégé. Your first film was submitted to Cannes and won three major awards, so the jury will naturally favor you."

Gong Li analyzed the situation while offering comfort.

"For the next film of the same quality, the Best Actor award will require you to break through in your performance, the Best Director award will require you to innovate in your technique, but the Palme d'Or only requires quality. At that time, winning the Palme d'Or will be easier than winning the Best Actor award twice."

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately chimed in with agreement. "Yes! We'll win the Palme d'Or again next time!"

"This is the best outcome yet, raising the record for the youngest Cannes Best Director winner to 18. Who will be able to break your record in the future?"

"That's definitely impossible."

"A director who was 18 years old—that's unprecedented at any A-list film festival in the world, and it's unlikely to happen again. That's fucking amazing!"

"The country must be in chaos right now, right?"

"It's not that bad now, but it will definitely explode tomorrow."

"The whole of Asia will be blown away! With Best Actor, Best Actress and Best Director, 'The Young Ones' is bound to shock the entire Asia!"

"What about copyright, Lao Dong? I reckon it can fetch a good price, right?"

"Haha, hahaha! Ahahahaha..."

Dong Youde laughed hysterically, looking like a complete idiot, laughing whenever money was mentioned.

With everyone no longer concerned about the gold and silver palms behind them, and relaxed, they all immersed themselves in fantasies about the future.

Unsurprisingly, the Silver Palm went to "Uzak," while the Palme d'Or still went to "Elephant."

But this dark horse from the previous life also had a pretty bad time. Not only did Fang Xinghe steal the Best Director award, but its level of discussion was also close to zero.

The closing ceremony ended quickly, and the crew went straight to the hotel for an after-party.

At this point, Fang Xinghe finally met with this year's judging panel.

The compliments and encouragement he received during that time need not be discussed in detail; the most important thing was his meeting with Jiang Wen.

Old Jiang was very frank, patted him on the shoulder and said bluntly, "Brother, we did our best!"

Because the specific details had to be kept confidential, not a single word was said.

Fang Xinghe believed it, and was very grateful.

"Thank you, Teacher Jiang, you're so kind!"

"Don't call me 'teacher'!" Jiang Wen was very dissatisfied. "Call me 'brother'!"

After being generous, he became even more generous, directly making a request: "I won't do you any favors by humiliating you. If I come across a film that's suitable for you, you'll have to come and support me!"

Then, as soon as he said it, before Fang Xinghe could respond, he denied it himself.

"But it's unlikely. You're too damn beautiful. My movies are usually rough around the edges, and our styles don't match. It's hard to have a chance to work together."

He sighed, but still felt unwilling to give up. Then, a new idea came to him.

"How about this, next time you have any good ideas, ask me to act in them. I can act in anything, I'm no worse than Yuko Michiaki. As long as the script is good, I'll work for you even if you don't pay me!"

He didn't even give Fang Xinghe a chance to interject in the four sentences he spoke.

Then this guy looked up and saw a lot of people waiting eagerly, so he patted Fang Xinghe on the shoulder again and said something else.

"Alright, I'm leaving now. You're the busiest person today, so just leave everyone else waiting. Let's get together again when we get back to China, and have a drink, just the two of us!"

They came in a whirlwind and left in a whirlwind, truly showing Fang Xinghe that this person was unpredictable and capricious.

What many people don't know is that Jiang Wen doesn't actually have many friends in the entertainment industry.

This person is generous and righteous, but also overly self-centered, and truly doesn't tolerate those he looks down on.

This all-out effort to help Fang Xinghe was not based on personal favor, but simply to advocate for Chinese cinema.

"..."

Fang Xinghe watched his retreating figure, chuckled, shook his head, and muttered, "Interesting."

Making a film based on Jiang Wen's work is definitely out of the question.

But if one of my films needs an actor like Jiang Wen... then why don't I just cast Jiang Wu?
This person is better suited to be a friend; going to work with them is just asking for a fight.

If someone drinks and curses with you, that's definitely going to be interesting.

……

For the rest of the time, Fang Xinghe was extremely busy.

The copyright and distribution of "Less You" must be finalized as soon as possible. There's so much to do if we want to compete with those Angel Giants films by mid-June.

Dong Youde asked, "How should the copyright be handled?"

"open."

A cold glint of a sickle flashed in Fang Xinghe's eyes.

"We are now in a position to maximize our interests."

"So, one piece for Europe, one piece for North America, and one piece for China? Will Japan and South Korea be sold separately?"

"Japan and South Korea must adopt a cooperative distribution model, directly negotiating terms with their local distributors to establish our own distribution system."

Fang Xinghe has enormous ambitions toward Japan and South Korea.

Because they belong to the same Chinese cultural sphere, their market itself has huge potential.

Despite South Korea's anti-Chinese sentiment and Japan's preference for anime films over live-action films, they are still far superior to China's high-quality consumer market for at least the next 10 years.

While the direct profits from movies and TV series may be limited, the gains from personal influence can be substantial.

Fang Xinghe's cultural strategy has never focused on Hollywood.

What qualifications do Chinese films and television dramas have to counterattack Hollywood?

Thirty years later, only online novels and short dramas have made it in, the latter still in a localized form.

The truly suitable overseas markets for China are Japan, South Korea, and Southeast Asia.

They're obsessed with Chinese idol dramas. Regardless of the direct benefits, the cultural invasion is effective enough, and that's the point.

"Okay, then I'll sell the copyrights I can for a high price first."

Dong Youde went there eagerly.

Ultimately, Europe acquired the rights to "Less You" through a buyout.

The offer is... $5000 million!
This price set a new record for buyouts in the European film industry, and based on the best distribution and revenue sharing contracts, it is roughly equivalent to a share of 2 million in box office revenue.

EuropaCorp, having acquired the copyright, is unlikely to recoup its costs through screenings alone. Instead, it must rely on various copyright operation methods, along with certain operations at the cinemas, to generate profits over a considerable period of time.

Of course, profitability is almost inevitable.

With Fang Xinghe's personal influence and the three Cannes awards, a steady and profitable business model is sure to follow.

Fang Ge certainly didn't lose out either. Compared to receiving $5000 million in one go and slowly settling accounts over two or three years, the time cost of this sum alone was a huge profit.

Moreover, Europe's "kowtowing" brought an additional benefit—enthusiasm in many other places.

Because those markets were going to adopt a cooperative distribution model, the agreement wasn't reached that night and had to be discussed later.

However, Fang Xinghe demanded that EuropaCorp "disclose the buyout amount at the appropriate time," so this news is destined to bring a huge advantage to the distribution of "You Are My Destiny."

It is foreseeable that in the next few days or even weeks, the news in the film and entertainment sector will be dominated by "You Are My Destiny".

This is a new harvest season.

Winning the award is just the beginning; the real benefits, sensations, and clashes will unleash a massive wave that will shatter this summer...

(End of this chapter)