Huayu: Serious director, who's eavesdropping on your thoughts?

Zhang Huijun's words were undeniably heavy-handed.

Those present are all leading figures in Chinese film education. Last year's disastrous performance at the first ISFVF was hailed as a disgrace to the Beijing Film Academy. Bringing it up again this time makes everyone feel ashamed.

"Enough of the small talk, let's get to the final confirmation of tomorrow's guests," Zhang Huijun said in a deep voice.

The head of the International Exchange Office at Nortel stood up, opened the document in his hand, and began his work report:

"Distinguished leaders, after final confirmation, the scale of tomorrow's opening ceremony will far exceed that of last year."

From the official and industry perspectives, Han Sanping, Vice Chairman and General Manager of China Film Group, has confirmed that he will personally lead the delegation to attend. Accompanying him will be Wang Zhongjun, Chairman of Huayi Brothers, Yu Dong, General Manager of Bona Film Group, and several leaders from the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television's Film Bureau.

Regarding the international jury, Mr. Pierre Reis, a senior selector for the Un Certain Regard section of the Cannes Film Festival and known as the godfather of cinema, has already joined the jury.

The Associate Dean of the USC School of Cinematic Arts and the Director of Academic Studies at Femis have both confirmed their attendance.

In terms of media coverage, in addition to the China Film Report team providing special coverage of the opening ceremony,

Print media includes a senior reporter for the culture section of Southern Weekly and the entertainment editor-in-chief of Yanjing Youth Daily.

On the online media front, Sina.com's entertainment channel will send a special team to provide full live text and image coverage.

After listening to the report, Professor Xie Fei bowed slightly, his voice gentle, and smiled:

"Since so many people have come, we'll have to change the old route from last year."

Last year's opening ceremony featured a montage of shortlisted films that lasted several tens of minutes.

Some foreign guests have told me privately that it felt like watching an extended trailer, which seemed unprofessional and disrespectful to the art of filmmaking.

He paused for a moment, then looked at Zhang Huijun:

"Old Zhang, since so many international masters have come this time, I think we should really show our mettle."

Therefore, I propose that this opening ceremony include an opening honor screening section, featuring several high-quality short films shown in their entirety.

Let's put our students' work to the test and have a real competition with the films from USC and other Chinese researchers.

This proposal is well-reasoned, well-founded, and demonstrates great courage.

"I agree. Let's put it to the test and see what it's made of. In front of everyone, our Beijing Film Academy must not show any weakness." Professor Zheng Dongtian was the first to agree.

Last year's crushing defeat left everyone present with a pent-up frustration, and they were determined to get their revenge this time.

After a moment's thought, Zhang Huijun immediately agreed: "Okay, let's change it. Hongwei, you're the head of the preliminary review group, and you know the film best. You come up with a procedure."

Wang Hongwei felt the pressure, took a deep breath, and opened the folder:

"This exhibition, adhering to the principles of international exchange and diversity, ultimately selected one hundred short films for consideration."

Regarding the short film screenings at tomorrow's opening ceremony, the international selections are relatively easy to finalize. Films like "Cyberspace" from USC and "Silent Seine" from France represent the current international top-tier standards and are suitable for screening at the opening ceremony.

Wang Hongwei paused here, hesitating slightly: "The key is the domestic part, I suggest choosing two films."

"For the first film, I recommend a powerful realist work called 'Thursday, Wednesday' directed by Ning Hao. This film is very mature, with a solid narrative and a steady visual style. It could be included in the opening ceremony screening."

"Ning?"

At this moment, Hou Keming, the vice dean in charge of teaching, frowned:

"Hongwei, are you mistaken? This person doesn't seem to be in the 98 or 99 cohort of our directing department's undergraduate program?"

"He's in the photography department," Wang Hongwei explained.

"There's no such person in the undergraduate program of the photography department either." Hou Keming has been in charge of teaching for many years and knows the students' situations very well. He is certain that there is no such person in either the directing or photography departments.

At this moment, Tian Zhuangzhuang chuckled and said, "I know this Ning Hao. He's from the adult education college's associate-to-bachelor's degree program."

"From a vocational college?"

Upon hearing this, Professor Zheng Dongtian, who was sitting opposite him, looked rather displeased.

He tapped the table, looking displeased.

"Hongwei, what's wrong with you? This is the opening ceremony representing the highest level of the Beijing Film Academy!"

The fact that only short films from Beijing Film Academy were selected would have drawn criticism from other universities.

You want to choose a work by a vocational college student to represent the Beijing Film Academy? That's ridiculous!

With so many students in our undergraduate directing program and quite a few graduate students, why did we end up choosing a film from the vocational cinematography program to lead the way?

If word gets out, won't people say that the undergraduate teaching quality of the directing department at Beijing Film Academy is worrying? That they don't even have anyone worth mentioning?

These words immediately created an awkward atmosphere in the meeting room.

Yes.

The directing department, which is Beijing Film Academy's flagship program, has now been overshadowed by a program that transfers students from junior college to university, even though both are from the same school.

But in any case, it's a bit embarrassing.

Tian Zhuangzhuang waved his hand with a smile, and said in a relaxed tone, "Old Zheng, you can't say that. We only value talent. It doesn't matter if they have a bachelor's degree or a vocational college diploma, or even if they're from a continuing education program. As long as the film is good, they're students of our Beijing Film Academy. Talent doesn't depend on background!"

Zhang Huijun nodded, trying to smooth things over:

"Old Tian is right, the quality of the film is the most important thing. Since Hongwei thinks Ninghao is a sure thing, then we can finalize the project."

"Please work hard tonight, everyone. Tomorrow is crucial. Although I trust Hongwei's abilities, just to be on the safe side, I suggest we review tomorrow's footage again. What do you think?"

That's all I have to say.

This one is confirmed.

No one present would raise any objections.

Whether it works or not, you'll know after watching.

Zhang Huijun pressed further: "Hongwei, what about the second domestic short film?"

Wang Hongwei suddenly felt a little uneasy.

During the initial screening, he finally decided to include "The Tuner" in the A-level core screening unit and to screen it three times.

But today Professor Xie suddenly proposed reforming the opening ceremony and even organized an opening ceremony honor screening.

This put him in a bit of a predicament.

The realistic film that Ning Hao just made is impeccable in every aspect, yet it was questioned for a long time because of the identity issue.

If we were to release a suspense film made by a freshman in college right now, purely for commercial purposes, with absolutely no profound artistic merit or suffering...

Will these old scholars turn on us in public?

Thinking about it this way, Wang Hongwei really couldn't make up his mind and was frozen in place for a moment.

He thought extremely quickly.

No!

We cannot take the risk.

If I'm criticized for being unorthodox, I, as the deputy director, will probably have to take responsibility. Forget it, I'll just pick a junior or senior's work to get by.

Just as Wang Hongwei made up his mind to give up on the sound engineer and was about to speak.

Tian Zhuangzhuang suddenly coughed.

He turned slightly to the side, seemingly chatting casually with Xie Fei beside him, but his voice was neither too loud nor too soft, just loud enough for everyone to hear:

"It's quite interesting, actually. A few days ago, a freshman came to me to borrow my equipment because he wanted to shoot a film and wanted to submit it. I'm easily swayed, so I lent him my old A-Lai from the warehouse. I don't know if that kid has managed to shoot it yet."

After saying that, he turned to Wang Hongwei and smiled casually:

"Hongwei, are there any films submitted by freshmen? If that kid's film is terrible and wastes my film, don't be lenient with me, just throw it away."

Wang Hongwei was startled, his expression one of surprise.

Director Tian, ​​have you seen this before? Are you targeting me?

He was naturally aware that Director Tian had mentioned Hitchcock in the first lesson of the semester, and he was quite surprised at the time.

But in retrospect, this may be a signal that the film industry is becoming more accepting of commercial films.

Why bring up this freshman again now?

Could it be that Director Tian is behind this film? Or is it simply an attempt to cultivate nepotism and promote younger generations?

His mind raced, and after weighing the pros and cons, he decided to report it. If he didn't, he would offend his superior; if he did, they could all investigate together.

With this in mind, Wang Hongwei could only bite the bullet and say:

"Director, you know what, there really is one called 'The Tuner.' It's a film by Zhao Huaiyuan, a freshman in the directing department. The style of the film is... well, it's a bit unique. Whether or not to screen it at tomorrow's opening ceremony, we'll need to ask the leaders to review it before making a decision."

"A freshman? Looks like this year's freshmen have produced a directing genius, huh?" Zhang Huijun was somewhat surprised, and he gave Tian Zhuangzhuang a meaningful look.

A freshman's work managed to surpass many juniors and seniors and successfully make it to the finals.

This is illogical.

However, as the dean, Zhang Huijun wouldn't make such a thing too obvious, especially since it was a minor matter.

Ultimately, the awards will be judged based on merit.

Besides, this practice of recommending talented individuals without regard to personal relationships is quite common in the industry.

The people present were all seasoned veterans, so how could they not understand this principle? Naturally, no one would jump out to say anything, and they all assumed that Tian Zhuangzhuang was intentionally promoting his relatives and younger generation.

Seeing the expressions on everyone's faces, Tian Zhuangzhuang knew he had been misunderstood, but he just smiled and didn't explain anything.

Some things get worse the more you try to explain them; it's better to just watch the film and let the evidence speak for itself.

Zhao Huaiyuan's film had already been reported to him after the initial review, and he had naturally seen it.

This person is absolutely talented!

Amidst the shock and joy, some thoughts inevitably arose in my mind.

The reason for raising this issue at this meeting is that I secretly hope to try to change the minds of some people in the school.

As a veteran filmmaker, he has a keen sense of smell.

The industrial wave of Hollywood is coming on strong, how similar it is to that of a hundred years ago? If we continue to be complacent, we will not only lose our ivory tower, but we may even uproot the roots of Chinese cinema.

The Beijing Film Academy has reached a point where change is inevitable.

"Since he's a promising talent that Lao Tian values, let's take a look. It won't hurt to do one more. Let's see how it goes before deciding. If the quality is good, then there's nothing to complain about," Xie Fei said from the side.

The implication is that if the film is of poor quality, then don't blame everyone for not giving Lao Tian face.

The projectionist began playing the short film.

The first two foreign films were visually stunning, with USC's special effects being explosive, while the domestic films were full of absurd and metaphorical philosophical themes.

Apart from the sound of the video, the meeting was completely silent, and the leaders all looked very serious.

This visible technological and ideological gap put immense pressure on everyone present.

Next up is Ninghao's "Thursday, Wednesday".

The film, with its standard realist style, drew frequent nods of approval from the elderly professors as soon as it finished playing.

The atmosphere in the meeting room, which had been somewhat suffocating due to the Hollywood special effects and the dark humor of the country, immediately eased.

This is a familiar context, and it makes me feel quite safe.

Zheng Dongtian's expression relaxed, and a smile appeared on his face: "Hongwei, I take back what I just said."

Although this young man named Ning Hao is from a vocational college, his skills are not only on par with undergraduates, but even more solid than many graduate students!

That's the right approach. Instead of chasing after flashy technologies, we should focus on uncovering our own local stories.

These words immediately drew agreement from those around him.

"Yes, as long as the roots are firmly planted, the things produced will stand the test of time. The roots of our Beijing Film Academy are ultimately in the soil of realism."

"Our students take great photos using the most traditional methods, don't they? This shows that our teaching approach is generally sound."

Xie Fei nodded slightly, his face showing approval: "It's really good. This film is definitely a contender at international film festivals. Old Tian, ​​it seems you were right when you said that heroes come from all walks of life."

"Next one!" Zhang Huijun was in high spirits.

The screen flickered, the style changed, and it jumped to "The Tuner".

Start playing.

The meeting room was eerily quiet.

Wang Hongwei felt uneasy and couldn't help but steal a glance at the many old professors present. He could only see that their faces were hidden in the darkness and he couldn't see their features clearly.

For a moment, he didn't know whether his decision was right or wrong.

The video is over!

"Snapped!"