This director loves making friends.

Throughout almost the entire 1990s, the management of the Venice Film Festival differed from that of the Cannes and Berlin Film Festivals.

Both the Cannes Film Festival and the Berlin Film Festival had permanent artistic directors during this period. The Berlin Film Festival also had a president. Although the president and artistic director of the Berlin Film Festival were the same person, at least the Berlin Film Festival had a clearly defined president.

The Venice Film Festival is a bit "odd".

During this period, the Venice Film Festival only had a deputy director in charge of daily administration, but no artistic director or president.

The affairs during the Venice Film Festival are directly managed by the Biennale Organizing Committee and the Biennale President, and all decision-making power rests with the Venice Biennale Foundation and its President.

The films selected for each section of the Venice Film Festival are chosen by selectors responsible for specific regions, with the actual selection process carried out by the Biennale's internal committee.

In short, this phase of the Venice Film Festival, much like the Italian political scene, was chaotic in terms of organization and coordination.

However, it was precisely because of the chaotic internal management that the film selectors in charge of a certain region had a lot of power, and most of the films they recommended were selected for various sections.

After all, the Venice Biennale's internal committee knows absolutely nothing about film art. In the eyes of all the Venice Film Festival's selectors, it's just a cultural institution with extremely deep administrative and financial ties to the Italian government and the Venice city government.

After arriving in Venice, Qin Keqing listened to Pierre Lissent's introduction to the Venice Film Festival, but he was a little confused.

In his view, isn't the Venice Film Festival an independent entity? How come it has such a deep and strong connection with the Italian government at this time?

There isn't even a film festival chairman or artistic director?

This is quite unexpected.

"So, Pierre, what do you mean? 'The Professional' can't be screened?"

Qin Keqing was a little confused as to what Pierre Lissent meant by rambling on about the Venice Film Festival, so he asked curiously.

The English title of the film "The Man from Nowhere" was not a direct translation, nor was it the original English title given by South Korea.

Qin Keqing named the film "The Professional," which can be translated as "professional," but actually refers to the protagonist's identity as an assassin before his retirement.

Actually, Qin Keqing chose this name for another reason: the English title of the movie "Léon: The Professional," which will be released a year later, in September of next year.

Since they want to replace "Léon: The Professional," they must be well-prepared in all aspects.

"No, no, no, Qin, my dearest friend, you've misunderstood."

Pierre Lissent laughed and said, "The reason I'm saying all this is to let you know that it wasn't easy for me to get 'The Man from Nowhere' into the screening section."

Qin Keqing had some understanding of foreigners' personalities. Pierre Lissent was the kind of person who would talk about his achievements and efforts, unlike Xie Fei, who would quietly do his work and pave the way.

"You also mentioned before that if 'The Man from Nowhere' could be completed and submitted to Venice before August 25th, it could be selected for the main competition. The screening section should be easier than the main competition, right?"

Pierre-Lissent shook his head. "Qin, this shows you don't understand Venice. If it were Cannes or Berlin, the main competition would indeed be much more difficult than the other competitions, but Venice is a bit special. In fact, the level of difficulty is about the same regardless of the competition."

"Um?"

Qin Keqing looked at Pierre-Lysent with some confusion.

"Look, look, you didn't understand a single thing I said before."

Pierre-Leiston shrugged and spread his hands, saying, "Venice is different. Whether it's the main competition, the Critics' Week, or the non-competitive screenings, to be selected, you nominally have to go through the Biennale's internal committee."

However, not only does the Biennale's internal committee need approval, but the regional heads of Venice also need to submit nominations, meaning it involves two processes, and the process is equally cumbersome for each section.

At this point, Pierre-Risterte laughed again, boasting, "So, Qin, now you know how difficult it was for me to get 'The Man from Nowhere' screened at the Venice Film Festival, right?"

Qin Keqing nodded. Pierre Lissent's "home ground" is Cannes, so it's really not easy for him to achieve this in Venice.

"What about the closing film? Is there a chance that 'The Man from Nowhere' could be the closing film?"

Pierre-Lysten shrugged again: "Qin, I've done my best. That's why I suggested you go directly to the main competition. For me, getting into the main competition is just as difficult as getting into the screening section."

"Alright, Pierre, thank you for your help. I'll try to see if I can come up with a solution."

"Qin, I'm not trying to discourage you, but Venice... it's a complicated place. Because there's no clear person in charge, things get really complicated. Qin, I need to remind you, this isn't a place where one person can call the shots. Don't let anyone fool you."

Pierre Lissent felt he had been very tactful; he didn't believe Qin Keqing could come up with a way to make "The Uncle" the closing film.

Normally, the opening and closing films of the Venice Film Festival are announced along with the films in the main competition.

The last batch of films selected for the main competition this year was announced on August 25.

However, because Pierre Lissent had been working to make "The Man from Nowhere" the closing film, and the closing film of the Venice Film Festival is sometimes the most significant non-single award-winning film in the competition section, this caused an internal dispute, and the closing film will not be announced until August 31.

Pierre Lissent just received news yesterday that the Venice Film Festival will most likely continue its tradition.

In other words, the closing film may be selected from the main competition section.

Pierre Lissent still didn't believe that Qin Keqing could change the outcome.

After saying goodbye to Pierre Lissent, Qin Keqing was also in a dilemma. After all, according to Pierre Lissent, the management of the Venice Film Festival was very chaotic, meaning that there was no "powerful" figure.

Therefore, he wanted to "make a friend" but couldn't find a suitable person, and didn't know who to look for.

This made him feel powerless.

You can't possibly turn the Venice Biennale organizing committee, the Biennale president, and the film selection officers for each region of the Venice Film Festival into "friends," can you?

He doesn't have that many points either.

In the afternoon, Qin Keqing was still worrying about this matter when he received a strange phone call from someone who called himself Du Amei.

"Director Qin Keqing, my husband and I both studied in China. We are good friends with Zhang Yimou, Tian Zhuangzhuang, and others, and we also have a good relationship with their teacher, Mr. Xie Fei... My husband and I would like to invite you to dinner tonight. Do you have time?"

Although the other person's Mandarin had a slight accent, it was already excellent for Qin Keqing, who had gotten used to Hong Kong-style Mandarin during this period.

When Qin Keqing heard the other party mention Zhang Yimou and Tian Zhuangzhuang, and even specifically mention Teacher Xie Fei, he had a sudden realization and roughly guessed who the couple was.

"Is this a 'gift' from Teacher Xie Fei for my enrollment?"

Qin Keqing couldn't help but think of it.

Just a few days ago, Xie Fei called him and said that he had settled his graduate school application.