Director of Photography Department of Huayu

Chapter 682 Only the fuse is needed to ignite a blinding blaze.

As October approaches, the battle for box office revenue during the National Day holiday intensifies.

Amidst this clamor, "The Flowers of War" is also in action.
Zhang Yimou then approached Wu Chen, expressing a desire to borrow a screening room for a small-scale preview screening of "The Flowers of War".
"Sure, senior, feel free to use it. How about a preview screening in Beijing?"

Upon hearing this, Wu Chen immediately understood.

Clearly, Zhang Yi still harbors the ambition to win the Olympics this year.

The current rules for the Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film require that films submitted for consideration must have had a commercial screening in their home country for at least one week before September 30 of that year.

Zhang Yimou's choice to hold the preview screening at this time is self-evident.

"Let's stay in the capital. I'm too lazy to travel outside. Okay, then I'll trouble you."

Zhang Yi hung up the phone with a smile, unaware that he had just mentioned this matter to Zhang Weiping when he was met with strong opposition from the other party.

"Why do we have to use their Starry Sky Cinema? I've already contacted Wanda in advance, the contract is signed, and we can't break it!"

Zhang Weiping was very resistant.

A few days ago, Zhang Yi publicly supported Wu Chen in front of the media, which already made him very unhappy.

Now, seeing Zhang Yimou about to get involved with Xingchen, alarm bells are ringing in his mind.

If Zhang Yimou, this "big fish," is snatched away by Wu Chen, then he will suffer a huge loss.

Upon hearing this, Zhang Yi's expression immediately turned rather unpleasant.

How could he not know that the cinema had already been contacted?
Ultimately, with Zhang Weiping insisting that the contract could not be broken, Zhang Yimou had no choice but to call Wu Chen again to express his apology.

"It's alright, it's alright, senior brother."

Wu Chen didn't think anything of it.

However, he knew in his heart that Zhang Weiping was constantly on the verge of self-destruction, recklessly dancing to his death.

The friendship that the two companies had built up over a decade ago has probably long since been exhausted.

It's just one last fuse that's needed.

The news that "The Flowers of War" would have a week-long preview screening in Beijing in order to qualify for the Oscars spread quickly and sparked a lot of discussion.

Because Zhang Yimou's "The Flowers of War" and another sixth-generation director Wang Quan'an's new film "White Deer Plain" are the two most anticipated domestic blockbusters at the end of this year;

They are also two of the most popular contenders for the mainland's Olympic bid this year.

The media, on the other hand, were more interested in discussing the past between the two directors, a past filled with coincidences and entanglements that resembled a movie script.

The two men, one a representative of the fifth generation of Chinese directors and the other a representative of the sixth generation, are fifteen years apart in age, yet both hail from Shaanxi and belong to the Qin region.

Both of them have received the highest honor at the Berlin Film Festival.
The winner of the Golden Bear Award.

Both of them had a famous, high-profile romance with their respective leading ladies that lasted for several years.

Even more coincidentally, both of them received their second Silver Bear trophy from their ex-girlfriends after breaking up with them.

Immediately, various jokes and ridicule about the two directors emerged online.

"Hahaha! This is hilarious! How can their life trajectories be so similar?"

"I declare that Zhang Yimou and Wang Quan'an are the real 'best CP'! Even when he received the Silver Bear trophy, he received it from his ex-girlfriend! What kind of fate is that!"

"Wu Chen, please don't do that! Don't take the Silver Bear next time, just in case!"

"."

Wu Chen was naturally among those teased, as was his award-winning film, "The Warmest Thirty Days of My Life."

Without a doubt, "30 Days of Warmth" is also a contender for the mainland's bid to host the Olympics this year.
However, Wu Chen himself has not made any statement on this matter, nor has he announced the preview screening in advance like Zhang Yimou did.

In addition, the film belongs to the romantic comedy fantasy genre, which is already at a disadvantage in the Oscar selection for Best Foreign Language Film.

Wu Chen has a history of winning Oscars.

This time, the chances of winning are not high.
Therefore, most media outlets speculate that Wu Chen will not participate in the Olympic bid this time.

And things did indeed unfold as the media predicted. Inside the Starry Night Pictures office, Ning Hao, watching Wu Chen leisurely sipping tea, asked with some curiosity, "Really not going? To the Oscars?"

“I’m not going this year.” Wu Chen shook his head. “The film doesn’t suit the tastes of the Oscar judges. There’s no need to waste a spot for mainland China.”

After Wu Chen finished speaking, he brought the topic back to the main point and looked at Ning Hao and Lu Yang.

"Let's get down to business. When are you planning to release 'The Golden Era' and 'Painted Skin 2'?"

This year, Starry Sky Pictures only has these two films left that have not yet been released but have passed censorship.

"I feel like it won't be released this year." Ning Hao looked at the calendar on the wall and was troubled.

"There's definitely no place for us in the National Day film season."

"During the Lunar New Year film season, your *Interstellar* is sitting there like a behemoth. And there's Director Zhang's *The Flowers of War*. We can't just have our own people fighting each other, can we?"

Lu Yang, who was standing to the side, nodded in agreement.

"What about next year?" Wu Chen asked.

"For me, it'll have to wait until next year." Ning Hao sighed and looked at Lu Yang.

The latter nodded slightly: "I'll do it next year too. No rush, I'll try to secure a better time slot."

"alright."

After thinking about it, Wu Chen also felt that next year would be better.

It's really not appropriate to force your way in now.

"Oh, right!" Ning Hao suddenly remembered something else, "Xu Zheng called me."

He said that he's almost finished writing the script based on the framework you provided. He estimates that the first draft will be available after the National Day holiday.

"Okay. Then you can have him come directly to me when the time comes."

In the lead-up to National Day, one unpleasant thing after another has happened in the industry.

First, there was the incident of Li Tianyi driving a BMW and assaulting someone, which caused a huge uproar in society and was widely discussed.

The subsequent announcement of the Golden Rooster Awards' nomination list further fueled public outrage.

Besides Feng Xiaogang's "Aftershock," which led the field with 9 nominations and swept all the major awards, including Best Feature Film, Best Director, and Best Actress, becoming the biggest favorite;
The highly anticipated film "The Founding of a Republic" only received a nomination for Best Sound Recording.

Most of the other nominated films were so obscure that many viewers, and even some journalists, had to admit they had never seen them in theaters.
This year's Golden Rooster Awards have once again dazzled both industry insiders and outsiders.

"Holy crap! How dare they?!"

"This is fucking amazing! No wonder Director Wu and Director Jiang didn't go! What kind of movies are these? I've never even heard of them before?"

"Chen Kaige's 'Sacrifice' didn't even get a single award nomination? That's not right, is it? Even so, the film's visuals and art direction are still quite good!"

Wu Chen was amused when he saw the nomination list.

"Damn, these old guys."

The Golden Rooster Awards organizing committee, as always, chose to remain silent.

No explanation
However, what the industry finds most intriguing is "Aftershock," which became the biggest winner.

With Wu Chen, Jiang Wen, and others withdrawing from the competition, and Chen Kaige unexpectedly failing to be selected, Feng Xiaogang surprisingly became the only "big winner".

Behind this, there's something rather enigmatic and intangible about it.

Feng Xiaogang himself was surprised to see the nomination list turn out like this.

Surprisingly, he was the only one left.

For a moment, he didn't know whether this was a good thing or a bad thing.
"Damn."

A cold sweat instantly broke out on Feng Xiaogang's back.

Wouldn't this be tantamount to directly exposing oneself?
(End of this chapter)