This director loves making friends.

"Snapped!"

Xiang Huaqiang, holding a newspaper, pushed open his brother's office door, slammed the newspaper onto his brother's desk, and couldn't suppress his smile.

"Look at this, Ah Xing has a good eye."

Xiang Huasheng looked up, adjusted his glasses, and glanced at his smiling brother, who seemed to be enjoying good news.

He picked up the newspaper, the Sing Tao Daily. The newspaper's entertainment section was extensive and provided timely information, making it an important source for citizens to obtain movie box office data and celebrity news.

"Good news? About Ah Xing?"

Xiang Huasheng flipped to the entertainment section, looking for possible related information as he spoke.

"It's not Ah Xing, it's that director from mainland China that he strongly promoted, look here..."

Xiang Huaqiang pointed to a news article with a large headline and laughed heartily: "Who would have thought that one day our Win's Entertainment film would appear at the Cannes Film Festival...tsk tsk..."

"Main competition section?"

Xiang Huasheng looked up, adjusted his glasses again, and asked, "Is the news reliable? Why didn't I receive it...?"

He stopped talking halfway through his sentence.

He was about to ask why he hadn't received a call from anyone who had gone to Cannes to congratulate him on the good news, when he suddenly realized that the mainland director had gone to Cannes alone in March, and the company hadn't sent anyone to accompany him at all.

"When I saw the news, I was also puzzled. I didn't even know that Win's Entertainment had submitted a film to the Cannes Film Festival. I even went to the production department to find out. I thought the Sing Tao Daily had printed it incorrectly."

Xiang Huaqiang shook his head with a smile, somewhat emotional, "They said the film's investment wasn't large, and the company didn't have any important promotional plans. It was the director who wanted to go to Cannes, and you gave your approval."

I called the French side again to confirm, and it was actually true! I was stunned. The production company for that movie was Win's Entertainment!

He then glanced at the newspaper and exclaimed again, "What a pleasant surprise! I never imagined that Win's Entertainment could produce a film that could be selected for the main competition at Cannes, haha..."

Xiang Huasheng spun around in his boss's chair, finding a comfortable position. Thinking back to the situation at the time, to be honest, he hadn't taken it very seriously then; he just thought it would be worth a try.

Xiang Huasheng knew better than anyone how "A Bittersweet Life" came about; it was entirely out of consideration for Stephen Chow and Anita Mui, and he personally made the final decision.

Stephen Chow, born in 92, was so popular that his company was definitely worth trying to recruit him.

Who would have thought that a film produced under such circumstances—with a novice director, no big stars, and a small budget—would actually become a hit!

This was absolutely unexpected.

What a surprise!

"You'd be surprised if you didn't know the director's background. I had expected this film to be selected for the Cannes competition, which is why I immediately approved a million dollars in funding for the director's project."

Xiang Huasheng crossed his legs, looking at his tenth brother with a knowing smile, as if he had just expected this.

"Does he have a powerful background?" Xiang Huaqiang asked curiously.

"You should know about 'The Story of Qiu Ju,' the mainland Chinese film that won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival last year, right?"

"Yes, I know. It's directed by Zhang Yimou, and Sil-Metropole Productions also participated. It's a co-production between Hong Kong and the mainland."

"Qin Keqing... is our director. He was the assistant director of 'The Story of Qiu Ju'."

Xiang Huasheng smiled mysteriously and said that he only remembered that Qin Keqing seemed to have worked in the crew of "The Story of Qiu Ju", but he didn't know what she did, so he simply mentioned the most likely position.

"No wonder he can make such good movies, it turns out he has such an experience."

Xiang Huaqiang nodded thoughtfully, but he felt that it still lacked persuasiveness.

While an assistant director of a Golden Lion Award-winning film cannot be said to have no connection with the film itself, the quality of the film is not necessarily directly related to the assistant director's role.

Xiang Huaqiang has been involved in the film industry for many years, acting in numerous films and participating in the management of Win's Entertainment, so he certainly understands the film industry.

To be honest, what can an assistant director decide in a film? He's just an assistant, only responsible for a small part of the specifics.

"You've probably heard of 'Woman Sesame Oil Maker,' which won the Golden Bear at the Berlin Film Festival this February, right?"

Xiang Huasheng didn't know what his tenth brother was thinking, but that didn't stop him from taking the opportunity to show off in front of his tenth brother.

Xiang Huaqiang nodded. "I know. After all, it's a Chinese-language film that won the Golden Bear right after the Golden Lion. I remember it won the award together with Li An's 'The Wedding Banquet,' so it has a lot of influence."

"Qin Keqing was also the assistant director of 'Woman Sesame Oil Maker'."

Xiang Huasheng looked up, a smile playing on his lips, eager to see his tenth brother's surprised expression.

Xiang Huaqiang was indeed taken aback.

Being an assistant director for a Golden Lion-winning film might not seem like much, but being an assistant director for a Golden Bear-winning film right afterward is a different story.

Regardless of whether Qin Keqing from mainland China became the assistant director of these two films because of his ability or because of his background or connections, it is undeniable that his luck was absolutely top-notch.

People in Hong Kong really believe in luck, or rather, destiny.

"Ah Sheng, you do have a long-term vision and you've considered everything thoroughly."

Xiang Huaqiang praised his younger brother profusely, but then asked with some doubt, "The Cannes Film Festival is one of the top three in Europe. Given its importance and your high regard for Qin Keqing, why did you only give him one million in event funding?"

One million dollars in funding seems like a lot, but that's Europe, that's France. One million Hong Kong dollars isn't one million US dollars. What can that do?

"Ah Sheng, you're still too cautious. Before I came here, I specifically looked into some information. You know about 'Farewell My Concubine,' which was also selected for the main competition at Cannes, right?"

Xiang Huasheng knew about "Farewell My Concubine," which was also a co-production between Hong Kong and the mainland, starring Zhang Guorong and Gong Li. Win's Entertainment was preparing Stephen Chow's "Flirting Scholar," and had already signed a contract with Gong Li.

"I know, it's a film co-produced by Tomson Group and mainland China."

"I heard that Tomson Group directly contributed 400 million HKD as event funding for this Cannes Film Festival, and Taiwan's Hou Hsiao-hsien's 'The Puppetmaster' also received 300 million HKD in event funding."

Xiang Huaqiang shook his head. "One million is too little. We need to cover publicity, write press releases, find reporters for interviews, attend parties... This amount of money is more than enough to get the film selected for the Cannes main competition."

He didn't directly complain about Xiang Huasheng's "stinginess," but his words implied that Xiang Huasheng was being a bit too "cautious."

Even if you have connections in Europe, don't you need to maintain those connections? Don't you need to spend money on them?

What are the characteristics of Europeans? Most of them only care about their own interests.

If the film can't compete with others and doesn't win any major awards, it will definitely be due to insufficient funding!

Xiang Huaqiang sighed inwardly. If it were him, he wouldn't even blink an eye if he threw in five million, let alone one million.

The potential benefits brought by the Cannes Palme d'Or far outweigh a mere few million.

My younger brother is so petty!

Qin Keqing is worth winning over!