This director loves making friends.

What to make for the second film was a question Qin Keqing had been considering since Cannes.

He has two choices.

First, we will continue to make art films, but this time they can only be art films, not experimental films with artistic but commercially driven narratives.

The reason is simple: "A Bittersweet Life" can be marketed as an experimental film, and with a little guidance, critics and the media can accept it because it was filmed in Cannes.

After Gilles Jacob took office as director of the Cannes Film Festival in 1978, he redefined Cannes, aiming to create a balance between art and commerce: neither as industrial entertainment and box office-oriented as Hollywood, nor as extremely biased towards art and avant-garde experimentation as Venice.

Therefore, even the Cannes Film Festival jury could accept the commercial narrative of "A Bittersweet Life".

However, Qin Keqing's next film certainly won't wait until Cannes next May. Whether it's the Venice Film Festival in September or the Berlin Film Festival next February, there are still some things to keep in mind in this era.

In other words, it's impossible to make so-called artistic and commercially successful narrative films in Berlin and Venice. Forget about winning awards; even getting selected for the main competition is a difficult hurdle.

Secondly, he shot stylized action films, establishing his position as a pioneer of new violent aesthetics and firmly cementing the name "Qin Keqing" in the status of "creator of a new genre".

The movie "A Bittersweet Life" was originally a South Korean film released in 2005.

At that time, there were already many films in the world that featured cold, realistic fighting, abandoned fancy moves, and were real confrontations without wire work or fancy editing, emphasizing extreme oppression, fatal blows, and visceral violence.

Therefore, while the fight scenes in "A Bittersweet Life" were praised as spectacular, they were just spectacular and wouldn't be elevated to an unrealistic level.

However, it was 93, and no film with this sharp and cold style had yet appeared in Hong Kong, Hollywood, or anywhere else in the world.

Qin Keqing never expected that he would become the "pioneer of new genre stylization" and create a new track. Some media and directors have already begun to "elevate" the fighting style of "A Bittersweet Life".

To solidify this position and generate buzz to "elevate" its status, another film of the same type must be made.

The first film merely carved out a niche in a blank market, allowing audiences to experience this entirely new style for the first time, before they could even process it.

The second work of the same genre aims to widen this gap into a new track that everyone agrees on, and to personally weld the "genre rules" to the ground in a track that no one has ever trod before.

If Qin Keqing chooses to shoot an art film, it will definitely be too late to participate in the main competition of the Venice Film Festival in September; he can only go to the Berlin Film Festival in February next year.

It's only the end of June now, and there are still more than seven months until February next year. Qin Keqing felt that these seven months seemed enough to produce two movies.

If it were Wang Jing, seven months would be enough to produce six or seven movies.

At the beginning of the year, when Qin Keqing was preparing for "Sweet Life", Wang Jing was filming "Fight Back to School 3". By the time "Sweet Life" was released on June 10, Wang Jing had already released "Fight Back to School 3", "City Hunter", "The Smiling, Proud Wanderer", "Once Upon a Time in China: Iron Rooster vs. Centipede" and "The Seven Princesses of Wuxia".

During this period, a production cycle of more than three months was considered "long" for Hong Kong films.

Thus, Qin Keqing made his decision.

First, solidify the position of the pioneers and produce a movie that continues the fighting style of "La Dolce Vita".

Since it's a continuation of the style, the new film should not only be a purely commercial film in terms of action, but also, like "A Bittersweet Life," achieve a balance between emotional depth and visual style within the framework of the action genre.

In other words, it is possible to achieve emotional depth, such as the redemption of characters, on the basis of realistic violent aesthetics, which is commonly known as having high-class style.

Qin Keqing is now recognized by Cannes as a director of "art films" with a stylized approach; at least his first few films couldn't be too cliché.

It needs to look good and have a high-class feel.

Ideally, while subsequent films in the same genre are still merely imitating the surface of your first work, you will have already redefined the ceiling of this category with your second film.

From now on, when people in the industry mention this genre, your name will always be the first one that comes to mind. This is what truly solidifies your position as the "pioneer," rather than being the "first person to try something new" who gets overwhelmed by similar works from later generations.

Just then, Qin Keqing thought of a very interesting movie.

When this movie came out, there were already movies of this type, theme and style around the world, and there were several acclaimed classics, but it still attracted more than 620 million viewers and became the highest-grossing movie in South Korea that year.

If this movie were released in 93, before a host of similar films with the same theme and style had appeared, and even before that classic film that had been praised for many years had been released, what kind of effect would it have?

I dare not say anything else, but he has more than enough to solidify his position as the "originator" of a new fighting style.

This time, Qin Keqing doesn't plan to seek investment from other companies. He intends to register a film company and try to use the "money-making" model of Hong Kong films, selling trailers to try and obtain enough funds for film production.

If that doesn't work, we'll think of other ways.

Just as Qin Keqing was preparing for company-related matters and the film, she received a call from Wang Jing.

Before the release of "A Sweet Life", Qin Keqing went to the producer Zhang Min for approval several times, and at the same time, she also made a cameo appearance in the background of Wang Jing's films a few times.

He once told Wang Jing that this was his greatest hobby.

Wang Jing even told people about it as a joke behind their backs, without taking it seriously.

Unexpectedly, just a few days after the incident at the celebration banquet, he invited Qin Keqing, saying that he was filming a new movie and asked Qin Keqing to have time to play a small role.

Qin Keqing's first reaction to this was that Wang Jing was very well-informed.

When the Xiang family got into trouble, most people in the film and television industry assumed that Xiang Huasheng had offended the third daughter of Li Zhaoji, one of the four major families, and was being retaliated against by the Li family.

Only a few people know what's going on.

Wang Jing probably received some advice from his father, otherwise he wouldn't have taken the initiative to call and show goodwill.

That's right, this cameo invitation is definitely a gesture of goodwill.

Qin Keqing met Zhang Min when she was filming Wang Jing's movie. At most, they were just nodding acquaintances. Even if Wang Jing knew that Qin Keqing "liked" making cameo appearances, he would not have called to invite her.

Wang Jing's father, Wang Tianlin, mentored many people in the film and television industry. Currently, many famous directors in Hong Kong are his apprentices. He himself is also a veteran of TVB and has a wide network of connections.

Qin Keqing would certainly not refuse Wang Jing's invitation.

That's exactly the effect he wanted—to make people think that making cameo appearances was his hobby.

If all directors in Hong Kong were like Wong Jing, and everyone would want to cast him in a cameo role in their new films, would they still have to worry about points?

Qin Keqing only learned after arriving that Wang Jing had produced another film, "Super School Overlord," scheduled for release on July 15th, and was currently filming "Chasing Boys," scheduled for release on August 12th.

Wang Jing also told Qin Keqing that he had another movie called "The Supreme Thirty-Six Strategies: Stealing the Sky and Changing the Sun," which already had a title and cast the male and female leads. He would start filming "The Supreme Thirty-Six Strategies: Stealing the Sky and Changing the Sun" once "Chasing Boys" was finished.

"Have you finished writing the script?"

Qin Keqing regretted asking the question immediately; Wang Jing had no script whatsoever for his movies.

"No, the script isn't important. Once the movie has a name and we sign the actors, we won't have to worry about funding. We can just write the script as we film."

Wang Jing chuckled and said, "Wait for my call, and I'll have my assistant pick you up for your cameo role."