Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 233 A New Invitation

Beijing Film Academy.

The campus in early spring has not yet completely shed its chill, but the air is already filled with a restless energy that is about to burst forth.

A banner has been hanging above the school gate for several days now, written in the most "simple" and direct language:

"Warmest congratulations to Wu Chen, a student of the 2003 class of the Photography Department of our school, for winning four awards at the 79th Academy Awards, including Best Picture for his film 'Get Out'!"

The red background with white lettering, though not particularly well-designed, is eye-catching and powerful in the sunlight, drawing the attention of every student entering or leaving the school.

At this moment, in the photography department office, the door was not closed, the kettle was gurgling, and the aroma of tea was faintly wafting through the air.

"Are you here yet?"

"Almost there, almost there. The school office just said they've already entered the school gate."

"I heard she came with Liu Yifei. Oh no, it looks like the acting department is really going to win her over."

"."

Everyone here is a shrewd old fox, so of course they know that the relationship between the two is definitely not simple.

"It's better for our acting department to win it than for the Central Academy of Drama next door, otherwise the acting department teachers will start grumbling again."

"Hahaha!"

Laughter erupted inside the room.

"I'm going to check on Teacher Wang and the others. Call me when you get back." Liu Yifei waved to Wu Chen and walked towards the Performing Arts Department.

At this moment, Wang Jinsong stood by the window and glanced outside, just in time to see Liu Yifei preparing to go upstairs, his eyes filled with a smile:
"Iphie is back."

"You came back with Wu Chen, right?"

Cui Xinqin looked up and teased.

A moment later, a voice came from outside the office door.

"Teacher Wang, I'm back to see you!"

"You didn't come back to see me, did you? You just came back with Wu Chen on the way?" Wang Jinsong teased. "Please sit down!"

"Teacher Wong!"

Liu Yifei's pretty face showed the embarrassment of being exposed.

"What nonsense are you talking about? Yifei is absolutely a great contributor to our department, a great contributor!" Cui Xinqin said, pretending to scold, and walked up as well.

"Teacher Cui, why are you teasing me too?"

"."

Inside the photography department, a group of teachers were chatting and laughing when suddenly footsteps sounded at the door, accompanied by exclamations of surprise from the photography students.

Li Wei poked his head out and said, "Stop crowding around your senior brother, go do what you're supposed to do."

"Oh!"

"Wu Chen, quick, did you bring the trophy? Did you bring it? We're all waiting to see it!"

Mu Deyuan stood to the side with a smile.

Amidst laughter, Wu Chen placed a silver-gray airline case he was carrying on the tea table, and with a clatter, lifted it open, revealing five Oscar statuettes lying quietly inside.

"Five?"

Everyone was stunned.

"I had two copies made for the Best Photography award, thinking of putting one in the school history museum and the other in the photography department."

Wu Chen replied with a smile.

After hearing this, the office fell silent for a moment. The teachers exchanged glances and then burst into laughter.

"Great, that's very thoughtful. How come we didn't think of that?"

"That's very thoughtful. This is a great award. There are quite a few directors in the cinematography department, but the three major film festivals don't have cinematography awards, which means the department has never had many trophies like this."

"This replica is really good. Oh, why don't we get someone to build a display case and collect all the trophies? This will be written into the school history later."

"Let's keep this low-key and not let other departments hear about it. Otherwise, the director's department might say we're showing off in a meeting."

"."

For a moment, laughter, relief, and emotion filled the room.

Of course, the students in the directing department are the ones who are having the most difficult time right now.

The main reason is that no new directors have emerged in recent years, even Ning Hao, who is a graduate of a photography academy.

In the performing arts department, many students learned about Wu Chen's return, and of course, the news of Liu Yifei's return to school also spread.

"Mimi, what do you think? I have a feeling that Senior Sister Liu Yifei and Senior Brother Wu Chen probably have a complicated relationship. It can't be such a coincidence, can it?"

Yuan Shanshan and the others naturally had all sorts of wild thoughts.

Not only them, but everyone else had their own guesses.

After all, it would be difficult to keep it a secret if the two returned to school together.

"Probably not."

Yang Mi felt a little upset.

Originally, after Liu Yifei graduated, she had become the most popular person on campus in the past six months, and was considered a leader on campus.

Despite this, the gap between her and Liu Yifei did not narrow at all.

After nearly two years of silence, the other party not only showed no signs of decline, but became even more popular as a result.

The industry is eagerly anticipating the release of "Black Peony," especially since it's hailed by Wu Chen as the final installment of his thriller trilogy. Anticipation for it in China has skyrocketed, especially considering Wu Chen recently won Best Picture for "Get Out."

Moreover, *Get Out* is a thriller. "I feel the rumors are highly likely to be true. They were already on good terms, and if things are still like this now, I don't believe there's nothing going on."
"Yes!"

Zhang Xiaofei and Jiao Junyan are still quietly adding insult to injury.

Meanwhile, Get Out has been a huge success overseas these past few days. It has already been released in Hong Kong today, but mainland China will have to wait another day.

Netizens on the mainland are waiting anxiously.

"I heard that in Hong Kong, the DVD of 'Infernal Affairs' is sold out, and 'Get Out' is packed in theaters with very high ratings."

"Nonsense, Best Picture, do you think it's fake? It's a pity that it won't be shown until the early hours of the morning here."

"It seems there are also positive reviews in Europe, saying that Wu Chen politely exposed the hypocrisy of humanity, which can be considered a mockery of white people."

"Haha, the most important thing is that Wu Chen mocked them, yet they still had to give him an award. That's the most important thing. Hmm, that's strange, why is there so little coverage from Taiwan?"

"They're definitely unhappy. If Wu Chen takes it, doesn't that diminish Li An's special status? Didn't you see they were mocking Wu Chen before?"

"."

On the eve of its release in mainland China, overseas reports about "Get Out" also came back to the country. What was unpleasant was that the Taiwanese media only mentioned it briefly and incompletely.

Finally, on March 1st, Get Out was officially released in mainland China.

China Film Group also claimed to have imported the film without any cuts.
These words made many directors in the industry envious.

However, this was accompanied by a massive influx of viewers into cinemas, resulting in a 42% screening rate, with midnight screenings in first-tier cities being completely sold out.

Inside the movie theater, the lighthearted pace and jokes in the first half elicited quite a bit of laughter, especially the scene of "the parents' first meeting," where some audience members chuckled softly, "Is this supposed to be a comedy?"

After the protagonist entered the basement, the room gradually quieted down.

When the truth of the "operating room" was revealed, many viewers gasped in the darkness, and some girls immediately covered their eyes, exclaiming, "Damn, this is too horrible!"

"That moment was really scary, those black guys were so weird!"

"Damn it, this is the kind of setting that gets colder the more you think about it."

As the movie ended, many people stood in twos and threes at the cinema entrance, discussing the film endlessly, still feeling the excitement.

The box office figures for the first day were released quickly, and the combined effect of the Oscar for Best Picture truly surprised the industry.

[Get Out grosses over 1500 million RMB on its opening day, breaking the opening day record for domestic thrillers!]

[The thriller "Get Out," directed by Wu Chen, grossed over 1500 million yuan on its opening day in mainland China, receiving excellent reviews!]

【.】

"No way, this type of film can actually gross 1500 million on its opening day?"

"He's really lucky. Back then, 'Brokeback Mountain' wasn't even released in mainland China, but the DVDs sold quite a lot domestically. Wu Chen's film is considered the first domestically produced film directed by a Chinese person to win an Oscar."

"Word-of-mouth is so effective that there's no need for advertising."

"."

Meanwhile, at China Film Group, Han Sanping is only a short time away from taking the chairman's seat, but he is currently sitting in the general manager's office.

"Mr. Han, the Xi'an factory called, hoping to postpone the release date of 'Tuya's Marriage' to the 22nd of this month."

Gao Chengsheng said with a smile.

A film that won the Berlin Golden Bear has to postpone its release due to this situation. Both of them know who the "culprit" is.

Han Sanping was both amused and exasperated upon hearing this, and took the opportunity to shift the blame: "Well, let it be postponed then. Tell them it's not my fault; it was ordered from above to be released as soon as possible."

Although he initially set it for this day, it conveniently helped Wu Chen avoid other movie release dates.

However, after Get Out won Best Picture, the Bureau personally took notice, and after learning that the film was not as sensitive as Brokeback Mountain last year, it quickly approved the film.

"Okay, Mr. Han."

Gao Chengsheng nodded.

"Get Out" has seen its overseas box office soar due to its Oscar win, but the figures are only compiled weekly and have not yet been released.

On the contrary, in North America, the money started to surge on the day they won the Oscars, and they have already earned an extra 20 million US dollars in the past few days.

“If this trend continues, another fifty million dollars will be no problem,” Jason Blum said to Wu Chen with a laugh over the phone. “This is a really valuable thing, I love it!”

Universal Pictures, of course, wouldn't let this opportunity slip by.

A flurry of follow-up publicity has already begun, with NBC and Fox interview programs taking turns to cover the event, and even the financial sections of The New York Times, Entertainment Weekly, and The Wall Street Journal joining in the coverage.

"How did a movie with a budget of only three million dollars achieve a box office miracle of two hundred million dollars?"

However, Wu Chen's return these past few days haven't been as easy as he'd imagined, because he's received too many invitations.

On the one hand, there were invitations from some universities, hoping that Wu Chen could come to give lectures and exchange ideas; on the other hand, there were invitations from the media and official media to do exclusive interviews.

Even Zhang Huijun from the Beijing Film Academy hoped that he could hold another exchange meeting at the academy, this time a grander one, with more people invited to participate. After much persuasion, Wu Chen finally managed to decline.

After hanging up the phone, Wu Chen rubbed his temples and walked into the office area of ​​Xingchen Pictures.

Another version of the script for "Painted Skin" was completed. Just as Wu Chen was about to check the quality of this version and see if it could be finalized, a French phone call came in, starting with +33.

Wu Chen frowned, thought for a moment, and then answered the call.

“Mr. Wu, this is Thierry Frémaux, the artistic director of the Cannes Film Festival. We’ve met before.”

Thierry Frémaux's name, pronounced in French, is mixed with standard French English, with a soft, slightly nasal ending that immediately identifies him as an old Frenchman.

Wu Chen immediately guessed the other party's purpose.

"I am calling to formally express the Cannes Film Festival's sincere interest in your film 'Black Peony,' which is currently in production."

We believe this will be a unique experiment in artistic expression and visual form for Chinese cinema.

If conditions permit, we hope it can compete in Cannes.

(End of this chapter)