The Rise of Chinese Entertainment in 2008

"Hello Director Chen, hello Teacher Chen Hong."

On the morning of the 28th, Gu Ning met the great poet Chen and his wife in the airport lounge and greeted them with a smile.

"Hmm." The great poet Chen nodded with a very aloof air.

"Hello, Xiao Gu."

Chen Hong responded enthusiastically, "I heard your movie was released and the box office is pretty good. How much has it grossed so far?"

"It's been two days since it was released, and the box office is only eleven million," Gu Ning said with a smile.

Yesterday's box office revenue increased significantly, exceeding six million.

"What do you mean by only eleven million? For a young person's first movie, that's already incredibly impressive."

Chen Hong smiled and said, "If you have any questions about directing in the future, you can come to my husband, Old Chen."

"Of course, of course. Thank you so much, Director Chen and Teacher Chen Hong, for your help this time."

Gu Ning glanced at the great poet Chen, who was staring in another direction, lost in thought.

Chen Kaige is called the great poet Chen not because of the poems he wrote.

Rather, his films often create a poetic atmosphere through cinematic language such as light, shadow, color, and composition.

Unfortunately, like Zhang Yimou, the visuals are stunning, but the plot is unbearable to watch.

However, compared to Zhang Yimou's thin story, the first half of Chen Dashi's film is quite good.

Later on, the great poet Chen began to let his imagination run wild, adding a bunch of his own ideas.

These two directors are undoubtedly skilled; if they hadn't interfered with the script and had simply followed it, their achievements would have been even greater.

You know what, at this moment, the great poet Chen did have a touch of poetic melancholy.

Gu Ning didn't really want to travel with the great poet Chen. The senior figure had a high status and was a bit arrogant.

Nothing beats the freedom of being alone.

However, since Director Chen helped him make the contact, he couldn't let him down.

Furthermore, Director Chen also mentioned that when traveling with the great poet Chen, someone would pick them up at the airport and arrange their itinerary.

This is something a director whose short film was nominated for can't enjoy.

Having lived two lives, this was Gu Ning's first time going abroad, and she was still a little apprehensive.

After chatting for a while, the boarding announcement came on, and the group began to board the plane.

Gu Ning was alone, while the great poet Chen and his group consisted of four people, along with an assistant and a translator.

Fortunately, their seats weren't together, which made Gu Ning feel much more at ease.

The flight from Beijing to Berlin takes about ten hours. It took off around 10 a.m., and when I woke up, I was already in Berlin.

Because of the seven-hour time difference, it's only just past noon in Berlin.

After getting off the plane, the assistant contacted the organizer, and I got directly into the organizer's car outside the airport and went to the hotel.

The temperature in Berlin is not much different from that in China, but it is damp and cold, somewhat similar to the south.

Gu Ning is originally from the South, so she adapted quite well.

Upon arriving at the hotel, we checked in as arranged by the staff.

"They're even discriminating against each other."

Gu Ning and the other staff left, grumbling as they put their luggage away.

My room wasn't on the same floor as the great poet Chen and the others.

He had just finished packing his luggage when he heard someone knocking on the door.

The door opened to find Chen the Great Poet's assistant; we invited him over for a meal.

Gu Ning went to have a "sausage" feast with the great poet Chen and the others, declined Chen Hong's invitation to meet other directors, and returned to his room.

His purpose in coming here was simple: to see if he could win an award, and if not, to sell the copyright for a high price.

As for these foreign directors, he had no intention of knowing them at all.

The rooms arranged by the organizers were treated differently; when meeting foreign directors, they were treated like lackeys.

He hasn't even figured things out in China, so there's no need for him to chat with these foreign directors and then go back and brag about it.

After calling her parents to let them know she was safe, Gu Ning then called Liu Sanxi to inquire about the roadshow.

"Everything's going smoothly here, don't worry."

Liu Sanxi said, "Old Gu has some good news for you. Because the movie is doing well at the box office, Yida will increase the number of screenings for our movie starting tomorrow."

Gu Ning was silent for a moment after hearing this, then said, "Please thank Jing Tian for me."

"You mean Yida increased our screenings because of Jing Tian?" Liu Sanxi asked in surprise.

"Otherwise what?"

Gu Ning said, "Although cinemas increase screenings based on occupancy rates, it doesn't normally happen this quickly. And isn't it strange that only Yida Cinema is increasing screenings?"

In order to make money, cinemas will indeed adjust their screening schedules in a timely manner.

But this usually applies to movies that become huge hits after their release.

"Lost in Thailand" has only been in theaters for three days, including today.

The box office was only decent, far from being a blockbuster, and it already had 20% of the screenings.

Even if a movie theater is optimistic about a show, it can adjust the timing of screenings instead of increasing the number of screenings.

Having spent so much time in the industry in her previous life, Gu Ning was quite familiar with the ins and outs of it.

"Old Gu, with this relationship, aren't you tempted?" Liu Sanxi asked in surprise.

"Don't worry about it. It's getting late, go to bed early."

After Gu Ning finished speaking, she hung up the phone immediately.

He knew perfectly well that Jing Tian had a powerful background, but that was precisely why he dared not provoke her.

It's not that I'm afraid of some poor kid being looked down upon.

In Gu Ning's view, emotions are the most unstable thing in the world.

He believes in true love, but he doesn't believe he'll ever experience it.

They also don't want to waste time on relationships.

Instead of getting involved with someone like that, it's better to wait until you're famous, so that women are after your resources and you're after their looks.

How wonderful it would be if everyone got what they needed, parted amicably, and had no psychological burden whatsoever.

Having lived two lives, the main theme is clarity and understanding.

There's no reason why someone who never experienced the bitterness of love in their past life should have to taste it in this one.

While the great poet Chen and his group were busy exchanging ideas with foreign directors, Gu Ning was carefree, hiring a Chinese student studying abroad as a translator and traveling around.

Before we knew it, it was February 5th, and the film festival officially opened.

On this day, a large number of popular celebrities from home and abroad attended, vying for attention on the red carpet.

Gu Ning walked the red carpet alone.

He wasn't entirely alone; he also had a translator.

Although short films are not valued, this very lack of attention gives them many advantages.

The film festival screens the selected films, but the number of screening rooms is limited, just like in a movie theater, and there are scheduled screenings.

Those feature films, which are one or two hours long, are only shown once or twice a day.

But short films are different; they are only a few minutes to a dozen minutes long, with the longest not exceeding thirty minutes.

The program team arranged two small screening rooms for the short film competition, one of which could only accommodate one or two hundred people.

However, the screening frequency was very high; Gu Ning's short film was scheduled for five screenings on the first day alone.

Unfortunately, there wasn't a single audience member during the first show.

Even the hired translator was worried about Gu Ning, but Gu Ning was unaffected. Instead, she had the translator keep an eye on the later screenings while she went to watch the movie herself.

He had anticipated this situation. With the film festival just opened, everyone would be heading to the feature films; who would watch the short films?

Many of those feature films were made specifically for film festivals and were never actually released.

For Gu Ning, this is also a great learning opportunity.

I watched two movies in the morning, had lunch at noon as arranged by the organizers, took a short nap at the hotel, and then watched more movies in the afternoon.

Gu Ning went to find the translator when it was almost over.

I learned from him that there were more than a dozen viewers watching in the afternoon, and they praised it highly after watching it.

Two other film companies expressed interest in purchasing the rights and left their contact information.

Gu Ning took the business card and told the translator to go back and rest.

He did not contact the two film companies, and before the awards were announced, the films wouldn't fetch much of a price.

The two men only left their business cards and didn't ask the translator to contact him. Either they didn't value it, or they wanted to appear indifferent so they could negotiate a lower price.

Regardless of the possibility, there's no point in contacting them now.