Entertainment: I am the peak

Chapter 553 Li Qiutang's Art Film

Chinese-language films were completely shut out at this year's Cannes Film Festival.

No team made it into the main competition, and no one served as a judge.

Moreover, Chinese-language films were absent from the Un Certain Regard section, the Short Film section, the Cornerstone section, the Camera d'Or section, and even the non-competitive screening section.

However, many Chinese celebrities still made it to the Cannes red carpet this year.

Therefore, the discussion about "carpet stars" has been the most heated this year.

Why do so many Chinese celebrities walk the Cannes red carpet when none of them were nominated?

Of course, no one said that Gong Li was there to crash the red carpet.

However, many people still criticize Liu Yifei for "crashing the red carpet" this year. Putting aside the fact that Liu Yifei had an invitation from a brand, she is already a well-known figure among Chinese filmmakers in Hollywood. She has achieved so much, yet she is still accused of "crashing the red carpet" when she goes to Cannes. Netizens are being too harsh on her.

But she didn't care and still walked confidently down the red carpet with her husband.

It's strange. Li Qiutang is a genre film director who has absolutely no connection with Cannes and doesn't have any new film to promote this year, yet no one says he's just trying to get attention by walking the red carpet.

Chinese netizens treated the couple differently.

Li Qiutang's visit to Cannes wasn't entirely to be Liu Yifei's red carpet mascot; he had serious work to do in Cannes.

The Cannes Market was busiest on the second day after the opening ceremony.

Autumn Pictures brought two films to Cannes for pre-sales this year: one is "The Butterfly Lovers" directed by Li Qiutang, and the other is "The Meg," a Sino-US co-production monster film that Li Qiutang acquired from Warner Bros.

Calling it a pre-sale isn't entirely accurate; Autumn Pictures' focus is actually on promotion.

In an interview, Li Qiutang revealed for the first time that his film "The Butterfly Lovers" is an art film.

"After making genre films for ten years, I want to try something different."

"It's not that I'm being willful, it's just that I felt the time was right and I wanted to talk to the audience in a different way."

The reporter saw that the English concept poster for "The Butterfly Lovers" at the Cannes market was titled "Marriage Story".

"Liang Shanbo and Zhu Yingtai never married, so why is the movie titled 'Marriage Story'? Is there any deeper meaning behind this?"

Li Qiutang couldn't reveal too many details yet, so she deliberately said, "Of course, there's a reason for using this name, but I can't tell you right now."

There's only a concept poster for "The Butterfly Lovers," and the reporter can't find out much about it. So instead of asking about the story of "The Butterfly Lovers," the reporter wanted to know why Li Qiutang suddenly wanted to make an art film.

This is no less astonishing than when Jia Zhangke announced 10 years ago that he would make a commercial film called "In the Qing Dynasty".

Six years have passed, and there is still no sign of "In the Qing Dynasty." Jia Zhangke has given up on the film.

Li Qiutang said she wanted to communicate with the audience in a different way, but that's too vague. The reporter wanted to know her more specific motivation.

Furthermore, they said, "Everyone knows that you and Yifei have a very happy life, so why would you make a movie about family and marriage at this time?"

Li Qiutang didn't want to talk to reporters who were just shills, but she couldn't reveal too much when she encountered reporters who actually knew what they were talking about.

Li Qiutang said, "I wasn't filming myself; I was just describing a phenomenon."

One last question: "Will you cast Yifei in it?" "It's not certain yet. We haven't finished writing the script, so we don't know how the story will turn out. We'll see when the time comes."

In fact, it's not just domestic journalists who are curious about Li Qiutang's art films; foreign media are also very interested.

Although Li Qiutang is not as well-known abroad as his wife, he is still somewhat famous. After all, he didn't win the Golden Globe Award for nothing, and "In Time" has been screened so many times around the world, which has boosted Li Qiutang's fame.

As a result, he also had to face interviews from five or six foreign media outlets every day.

He did want to say different things to each media outlet, but as time went on, he really didn't have that much to say.

He couldn't reveal too much about the specific story of "The Butterfly Lovers," and when he did, he only mentioned a few sentences.

However, in an interview with the film festival's program "Screen," Li Qiutang was asked: "In the more macro-level 'In Time,' you pointed to capitalism as the cause of the world's destruction. In this micro-level 'Marriage Story,' will you still retain your sharpness and criticism? Will you focus on the impact of postmodern culture on traditional marriage and family relationships?"

Li Qiutang is actually not very willing to talk about ideologies and deconstruction in interviews. Firstly, he is not a film scholar and his understanding of these topics is very limited. Secondly, he himself does not like to talk about these things.

So Li Qiutang thought about it and decided to just keep his mouth shut and not admit that he had any criticisms in "In Time". Five years have passed, and Li Qiutang has never publicly admitted that "In Time" was criticizing anything.

Then he talked about his new film: "I just wanted to realistically depict the life of a couple; I wasn't thinking about postmodern issues. I'm not very interested in overly macro-level problems." That's utter nonsense. If you're not interested, why did you make *In Time*?
"Many people have filmed married couples' family life. What do you think will be different about your 'Marriage Story'?"

"The most unique thing is that I directed this film." This answer is very distinctive. "To be honest, the stories of movies have been exhausted by our predecessors. There can't be any further progress in movie stories. What we see is how different directors tell the same story. 'The Godfather' showed me what Italian families are like, 'Desperate Housewives' depicts American families, and I wanted to make a film about East Asian families."

"Tokyo Story?" The reporter from Screen magazine really knows.

Li Qiutang humorously changed the wording: "Chinese family".

The reporter laughed and let Li Qiutang off the hook.

"Many commercial film directors experience difficulties adapting when they switch to art films. Do you have any concerns about this?"

Li Qiutang said, "No, if we worry about this issue before filming even begins, the movie simply won't turn out well."

"All a director can do is try his best to do it well."

The final question from The Screen was: "Would you like to bring this film to Cannes?"

Li Qiutang made another joke: "As long as the Cannes film selectors are willing to select, of course I will come."

"Okay, thank you for accepting our interview. We hope to see your film in Cannes in the future."

"Thank you." The two shook hands and parted ways.

At the same time, Liu Yifei was also being interviewed by domestic media. She was also asked about "The Butterfly Lovers": "This is Director Li's first art film. Did he ask you to act in it?"

Liu Yifei laughed and said, "He never mentioned this movie to me."

"So, do you want to act in it?"

"That depends on whether Director Li is willing to give it a chance." At this point, she became polite, but then added, "Directors Jiang Wen and Jia Zhangke both film their own wives."

The reporter understood her meaning perfectly.

(End of this chapter)