Who are you calling "little fresh meat"? I'm the king.

Chapter 604 Venice (23)

The Venice Film Festival has encountered many troubles in recent years. Marco Müller stepped down, leaving behind an unfinished cinematic palace. The new director, Barbera, favored the artistry and purity of film, but happened to be caught up in the rise of the Toronto International Film Festival and the aftermath of the European economic crisis. He wanted to revitalize the film festival market, but found that no one was interested. It was beset by internal and external troubles.

Prior to this year's film festival, various rumors circulated, including reports that Venice might reschedule to avoid competing with Toronto, and even the mainstream Italian media outlet Corriere della Sera published an article pointing out a sharp decline in festival registrations…

The Toronto International Film Festival is definitely making waves!

A host of Hollywood A-list stars, including Robert Downey Jr., Al Pacino, Reese Witherspoon, and Denzel Washington, have made appearances over the past few days, adding to the excitement and creating a lively atmosphere.

In contrast, the Venice Film Festival remains "quiet".

Some media professionals felt sorry for it and tried to find excuses for it, believing that its "aloofness" was a necessary condition for upholding artistic principles.

Yes, Barbera wants to stick to art and cut ties with Hollywood!
Over the past 20 years, hundreds of American films have premiered in Venice, including Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut," Oscar winners "Brokeback Mountain" and "The Hurt Locker," and George Clooney's "Michael Crichton."

During Marco Müller's tenure at the Venice Film Festival, Hollywood stars were always a major draw, with appearances by actresses like Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt giving Venice a chance to rival Cannes.

Unfortunately, after Barbera took office, she implemented a policy of cutting ties with Hollywood.

Then, the effect was amazing, and Venice now has a somewhat self-amusing feel to it.

Last year, "Under the Skin" skipped Venice and went to Toronto instead;

This year, two highly anticipated films, Benedict Cumberbatch's "The Simulation Game" and John Stewart's political drama "Perfume: The Rose," were snatched up by the Toronto International Film Festival.

Although Barbera also wanted to attract more high-profile films to ignite the Venice Film Festival, he didn't think much of most of them.

The films I had my eye on, "Gone Girl" and "Inherent Vice," were snatched up by the New York Film Festival...

However, one thing is certain: a trip to Venice is indeed quite expensive!

It is very expensive in all aspects.

Shen Yan would definitely choose to stay at the Lido Boutique Hotel and the Danieli Hotel. Both of these five-star hotels are very expensive, and there are transportation costs for taking a speedboat. If there is an emergency and you need to call a speedboat, the one-way price is generally more than $100.

However, the benefits of such a promotional trip were very limited.

Because American film studios won't choose to come to Venice!

Even A24 only stayed for three days—to buy the North American rights to "Burning"...

This is basically helping to generate buzz for "Burning"!
As for large companies that are willing to spend money on publicity, they will definitely prioritize the Toronto International Film Festival—it's closer to the North American market!

Therefore, Venice needs the attention of the Chinese film market!
Because of Shen Yan, Chinese media outlets accounted for more than one-third of the total media personnel visiting Venice this year!
And there were a lot more buyers…

Buyers of wholesale films!

The Venice Film Festival also has a screening section, but Barbera drastically reduced the number of films it screened from over 180 to just 55…

I have no idea what he's up to!

But for Shen Yan, whether the Venice Film Festival declines or revives is irrelevant...

He just wanted to win the award!

……

On their second day in Venice, Shen Yan, Reba, and Wang Kai experienced a boat trip...

To be precise, it's a gondola...

The experience was terrible!

The seawater was full of trash, a yellowish-green color, and emitted a foul odor. Even more embarrassing was that someone was urinating in the sea, making everyone feel extremely uncomfortable…

"Ugh, it stinks!"

"...The film festival opens tomorrow, so there will be a lot of tourists..."

Wang Kai remarked, "This isn't what I imagined!"

"Imagine?"

"The Gondolas of Venice, written by Mark Twain..."

The first sentence of the elementary school textbook article, "The Gondolas of Venice," is: "Venice is a world-famous water city, crisscrossed by canals, where gondolas are the main mode of transportation, just like cars on the streets."

"The water quality isn't good... Let's go to the church later and get something to eat!" "Okay!"

Okay, and then I experienced the cost of living in Venice!

Prices are outrageously high, whether it's a roadside shop or a restaurant.

A simple meal can incur a service charge starting at 12%, and that's not even the price of those waterfront restaurants.

For example, a small fridge magnet can cost four to six euros in Venice…

Moreover, the fishy smell of seafood is hard to accept.

It tastes terrible!

In my imagination, Venice is a beautiful place with many people rowing boats and singing, and there are many street performers and small shops selling handicrafts.

In reality... St. Mark's Square is full of pigeon droppings.

Moreover, Venice doesn't have free toilets, and sometimes when you walk through the alleys you'll see excrement that you can't tell if it's human or dog excrement.

There are quite a few commercial shops. The handicrafts made in Venice are generally very expensive, while the cheaper items are mostly made in Yiwu. There are also many big brand stores.

Restaurants are also popular spots for tourists or trendy eateries. The better restaurants are very expensive, so they're not really places to look for good food.

After wandering around and dealing with a few homeless people, Shen Yan bluntly said, "It's really not as good as our Wuzhen! It's not even as good as Zhouzhuang, but the prices are higher than in Shanghai!"

Dilraba nodded: "...Indeed, I'll never come again!"

"I heard from them that the outer islands are slightly better!"

"How about we take a stroll around the outer islands tonight?"

"Let's not go there, Italy's security situation isn't very good!"

Dilraba suddenly pointed to the side: "What's that over there?"

Shen Yan looked over and saw several policemen stopping a group of Chinese women. The three of them quickly went over and communicated in Chinese. They learned that the women were tired from walking and had sat down to rest when the police came to issue them fines…

Shen Yan immediately got angry and switched to English: "Are you kidding me? Is there a rule against sitting on the ground? Where did you get that rule? Is it a city law or a tourist regulation?!"

The police officers were quite annoyed and started rattling off a bunch of things in Italian…

"Don't speak Italian to me, I don't understand!" Shen Yan waved his hand, and then warned them, "I'm a Chinese director here to attend the Venice Film Festival. I have 5000 million followers in China. I'm going to tweet about what happened to me right now..."

"Are you a Chinese director here to attend the film festival?"

"Yes, my name is Shen Yan!"

The police officers looked at each other, then turned and left...

"Young man, what were those foreigners saying?"

"They said there would be a fine for sitting on the ground!"

"Huh? A fine? Why?"

Shen Yan casually said, "...It's a characteristic of the Italian police: extortion and bribery...The Italian police system is notorious for corruption worldwide..."

"really?"

Why would I lie to you? Where are you from?

"Paris…"

"How does it feel?"

"It's terrible, smelly and dirty... and so run-down!"

Shen Yan nodded: "I recommend you go to Sicily in the south. There's lots of delicious food and not many tourists. However, most people there speak Italian, so it might not be very convenient!"

Sicily? The Mafia?

"It's not that bad..."

(End of this chapter)