This director loves making friends.

Qin Keqing landed at Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris, and he didn't expect Pierre Lissent to come to the airport to pick him up in person.

Upon seeing Qin Keqing, Pierre-Lissent laughed heartily and tried to lean in.

"Qin, you've finally arrived. If you hadn't come soon, I would have been ready to go to Hong Kong."

Qin Keqing was prepared. He grabbed Pierre-Lissent's hand and squeezed it tightly. "Pierre, it's so nice to see you again."

The French have this problem: they don't like to hug acquaintances and friends, but they love to give each other cheek kisses, along with a "kiss" sound.

This is especially true for older, more established French men.

This made Qin Keqing particularly uncomfortable. He could tolerate cheek kisses with French beauties, but he absolutely couldn't stand it with an older white man.

"Come on, let me show you some things first, then I'll take you to the hotel."

Once Qin Keqing got into Pierre-Lissent's car, he said mysteriously, "It will definitely open your eyes."

Qin Keqing became curious, wondering what Pierre-Lissent was up to so mysteriously.

Pierre-Lissent helped Qin Keqing park the car, then strolled along the famous Champs-Élysées, smiling as he said, "Qin, do you know why I brought you here?"

Why?

"Look at both sides of the street."

Pierre-Lissent gestured for Qin Keqing to look towards both sides of the boulevard.

Qin Keqing turned his head and looked over, and then his heart skipped a beat. He understood what Pierre-Lissent meant.

The streets were lined with huge portraits of Catherine Deneuve, a French national treasure actress, but that wasn't the main point. The main point was that next to the huge portraits were smaller movie posters, prominently featuring "Farewell My Concubine".

Interestingly, all the posters for "Farewell My Concubine" feature Gong Li in the center, either as a solo poster or with Zhang Guorong and Zhang Fengyi in slightly smaller portraits behind her.

That's understandable.

Gong Li won the Best Actress award at the Venice Film Festival last year for her role in Zhang Yimou's "The Story of Qiu Ju," and her fame in Europe is definitely much greater than that of Zhang Guorong and Zhang Fengyi.

"This is……"

"That huge portrait is of Catherine Deneuve, the most famous rose in France. She just won the Best Actress award at the 18th César Awards for her role in Indochine and almost won the Oscar for Best Actress. She is currently being adored by the whole nation."

Pierre-Lissent smiled and glanced at Qin Keqing. "Do you know what it means when the poster for that Chinese film appears next to her?"

"This means a huge amount of publicity."

"That's right, that's exactly what I wanted to say. So, do you know why 'Farewell My Concubine' is here?"

Qin Keqing shook his head. He knew that Xu Fenglai of Tomson Group, the investor in "Farewell My Concubine," was working on it in France, but he didn't know the specifics of how it was done.

"The producer of 'Farewell My Concubine' is Xu Feng. She was the lead actress in 'A Touch of Zen,' which won the Technical Award at the Cannes Film Festival. I was the one who brought 'A Touch of Zen,' directed by Hu Jinquan, to Cannes."

Pierre-Lissent gave Qin Keqing a somewhat arrogant look.

"Through me, Xu Feng not only brought 'Farewell My Concubine' to Cannes, but more importantly, I also introduced her to an independent film distributor with deep ties to Cannes, the renowned ARP Films."

Xu Feng has already sold the European rights to ARP Film Company at an extremely low price. Covering the Champs-Élysées with posters is just the first step; there are many more plans to come.

This included renting a billboard at the entrance of the Hotel Maggis-Dick-Baria opposite the Palais des Festivals in Cannes, posting 9x9 posters, and securing interviews from dozens of media outlets, including Variety and Screen.

"Pierre, just tell me straight, what does all this mean?"

Qin Keqing could guess what Pierre-Lissent meant, but he didn't want to spell it out.

"Qin, my dear friend, I just want to tell you that the Cannes awards are not just the result of a few people's arguments on the jury. There are also many off-site factors involved, especially for films that want to win the Palme d'Or."

Foreigners don't really understand subtlety, so Pierre-Rister didn't beat around the bush and said directly, "So, if your film wants to win a major award, you need to spend money on promotion and marketing. Either you pay for it yourself, or you sell the rights to a company willing to pay at a very low price. As for me..."

At this point, he pointed to himself, "I can act as a go-between and help you find film companies that are willing to spend money, because we are friends."

Qin Keqing was silent for a moment, then suddenly laughed.

"Pierre, you haven't even seen my movie yet, so how can you be so sure that a film company will be willing to spend money on its promotion and production?"

Damn it, it's still not enough of a relationship. These white men are never as devoted to money as they are to "friendship".

In this respect, we Chinese are still better.

Both are casual acquaintances obtained with 10 points, but look at Zhang Yimou and Xie Fei, how come the difference between people is so big?

Zhang Yimou is willing to lend a hand when it's "convenient".

Teacher Xie Fei is impeccable; he mentors younger generations without ever considering personal gain.

And look at this Frenchman, Pierre Lissent; he's clearly trying to make a fortune from this.

Of course, this is understandable. Casual acquaintances are all about character. It's already quite remarkable that Pierre Lissent has said so much and offered so many suggestions. We can't expect everyone to be selfless.

"You were the assistant director of 'The Story of Qiu Ju,' which won the Golden Lion, and 'Woman Sesame Oil Maker,' which won the Golden Bear. Your directorial debut must be a highly artistic film."

Pierre-Leistert said matter-of-factly.

"Pierre, let's go to your place and watch the movie first, and then decide what to do next."

Qin Keqing suggested with a smile.

"Okay, are you sure you don't need to go to the hotel to rest first?"

"No need, I slept for a long time on the plane and I feel pretty good now."

"OK, I'll make a call and invite the heads of a few film companies to come and watch. They've all been very interested after I told them about you."

"No, Pierre, I think you should hold off on calling them for now. After the movie, you might change your mind and choose another film company instead."

Pierre-Lissent gave Qin Keqing a strange look, but for some reason, a bad feeling suddenly came to his mind.

The runtime of "A Bittersweet Life" is two hours.

Pierre Lissent watched very intently.

Even after the movie ended, he stared at the screen in the small projection room, the screen that had turned completely white, and remained silent for a long time.

"Qin, do you know, I originally wanted to create a huge gimmick, to build a 'Chinese Grand Ceremony' in Cannes."

Several minutes later, Pierre-Lysent finally spoke quietly.

His tone seemed somewhat resentful, as well as bewildered and indescribable.

"But Qin, why would an art film director make a film that's so obviously commercial? It's a joke, it's garbage, it's..."

Pierre-Lysent grew angrier and angrier as he spoke.

"Stop, stop, Pierre, I want to make one thing clear: 'La Dolce Vita' is not a purely commercial film. You should be able to see that it still discusses the brilliance of humanity."

Qin Keqing interrupted Pierre-Lissent and explained.

"Ha, ha, ha... The brilliance of humanity? Qin, are you kidding me? With just this superficial touch, it's a stretch for this film to even make it into the main competition. This is completely different from what I planned."

Pierre Lissent was so angry he laughed.

Qin Keqing's eyes lit up when he heard this. Was his selection for the main competition a bit of a stretch?

In other words, it's still possible to be selected for the main competition, right?

Pierre-Lissent waved his hand listlessly. "Qin, the hotel I booked for you is just 200 meters to your right. Go and rest. I'm going to look around a few more times and search carefully. I refuse to believe I can't find more artistic places..."