This director loves making friends.

Pierre Lissent is busy interpreting and promoting "The Man from Nowhere" in order to increase the royalties.

He was very motivated to do this because Qin Keqing had already appointed him as the agent for the European rights to "Uncle". Otherwise, even as a "friend", he would not have been so concerned.

Meanwhile, Marco Müller was also busy.

Qin Keqing has "commissioned" him to find a suitable North American distributor for "The Man from Nowhere".

Friends who share common interests are the ones who truly care about you!

Marco Müller did not rush to "sell" the North American rights to "The Man from Nowhere." Instead, through his efforts, Qin Keqing first won the Pasinetti Award for Best Director.

This award is an independent, non-official award presented by the Italian National Union of Film Journalists during the Venice International Film Festival, covering categories such as Best Film, Best Director, and Best Actor/Actress.

As for its authority...

According to Marco Müller, although it's not a main competition award, it still helps in selling the film's European rights.

Subsequently, "The Man" won the Kinsey Award for Best Film.

This award is a non-official award selected by independent film critics, media, or industry organizations during the Venice International Film Festival. The selection criteria also include films and actors that are nominated for the main competition or parallel sections.

As for its authority, it claims to reflect the inclinations of the media and commentators.

Qin Keqing didn't know if that was true or not, and he didn't know much about these non-official awards, but they could at least increase the film's popularity and influence.

Otherwise, Marco Müller wouldn't have been able to run these things.

After that, Qin Keqing received the FIPRESCI Prize.

This award is much more well-known. It is an independent award presented by the International Federation of Film Critics and is not affiliated with any film festival. It aims to recognize the most artistically progressive and innovative films in film festivals around the world.

This award is an independent, non-official competition award, and is usually presented concurrently at the three major film festivals in Cannes, Berlin, and Venice, as well as other international film festivals.

Every year at the film festivals it partners with, the International Federation of Film Critics (IFCC) assembles an independent jury of 3-5 international professional film critics who watch all the films and make their own selections, claiming to be free from any interference from the organizers.

The award ceremony was quite formal, with a special press conference held after the award was presented.

Marco Müller said he used a lot of connections to get the FIPRESCI Prize, which contradicts the International Federation of Film Critics' claim that it is not subject to any interference from the organizers...

Qin Keqing specifically checked the "Make Friends" system for the Kinsieak and Pasinetti Awards he had previously received, but found no changes in his points.

But after winning the FIPRESCI Prize, Qin Keqing was surprised to find that he had gained 2 more points!

This was completely unexpected.

This is a remarkable achievement, proving that the FIPRESCI Prize is quite prestigious.

No wonder the International Federation of Film Critics not only established this award at the three major European film festivals, but also promoted it to numerous other international film festivals such as the Locarno Film Festival, the San Sebastián International Film Festival, the Warsaw International Film Festival, the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival, the Toronto International Film Festival, and the Busan International Film Festival.

Not only Marco Müller, but also Pierre Lissent highly regarded the award, saying that it has a substantial boosting effect on film distribution, film festival invitations, and fund support.

The day before the Venice Film Festival awards ceremony, Qin Keqing was notified to receive another award. However, this award was not orchestrated by Marco Müller, but was presented to Qin Keqing voluntarily; it was called the Catholic Culture Award.

It's no surprise that "The Man from Nowhere" won the award because of its "redemption" theme.

Qin Keqing wasn't initially very interested in the award and planned to let Lin Guobin go and accept it.

However, Pierre Lissent told him that the Venice Film Festival's Catholic Culture Award could endorse the film's subject matter.

This award is a recognition of the film's artistic achievement in terms of "humanity and ethics, suffering and hope." It may not have a significant impact on commercial box office, but it can help attract European art-house cinemas.

In other words, this award can increase the copyright fees for "The Man from Nowhere" in Europe!

You should have said so earlier.

So Qin Keqing went to accept the so-called Catholic cultural award in person.

This award comes at just the right time. Pierre Lissent and Pathé Films still have some disagreements regarding the European rights fee for "The Man from Nowhere," and perhaps this award can smooth things over.

The most shocking thing these past few days has been Xu Qing.

She was somewhat numb when she saw Qin Keqing return and bring back the "big prize" again.

Xu Qing had lost count of how many awards this was; "The Mister" had won so many awards, one after another, that she didn't even know how to describe her feelings.

From initial excitement, excitement, excitement, and more excitement, to a numbness tinged with a hint of excitement now...

Although she had heard of few of these awards, this was the Venice Film Festival, and what could be so bad about the awards won at the Venice Film Festival?

"Director Qin, we...we're not going to win the Golden Lion tomorrow, are we?"

Xu Qing asked expectantly.

She looked at Qin Keqing with shining eyes, her peach blossom eyes practically overflowing with tears.

If Qin Keqing were to say "it's possible," she would pounce on him without hesitation; otherwise, she couldn't suppress the restless urge within her.

"What are you thinking about?"

Qin Keqing immediately dashed Xu Qing's hopes, saying, "I can tell you with certainty that, not to mention the Golden Lion, 'The Man from Nowhere' will win any of the awards in the main competition tomorrow."

"Why, why?"

Xu Qing looked at Qin Keqing with some suspicion, "I've read the relevant reports. Among the off-site awards that 'The Uncle' won, several were touted as indicators of the main competition."

"Don't be silly. Anyone who claims to be a trendsetter is just trying to make themselves look good. The three major European film festivals don't have any trendsetting capabilities."

Qin Keqing smiled, shattering Xu Qing's last shred of hope. "The judges for the main competition are just a few people, and they don't overlap with the judges for any of the off-site awards. They even have different professions. How could they possibly agree?"

Xu Qing was greatly disappointed.

However, Xu Qing is still very good at understanding people's feelings...

After confirming that "The Uncle" was unlikely to win an award, he did his best to comfort Qin Keqing, allowing her to forget the disappointment of "losing" the Venice Grand Prize with a brief moment of joy.

The 50th Venice Film Festival awards ceremony was held as scheduled on September 11.

However, before walking the red carpet at the awards ceremony, Qin Keqing signed two agreements for the transfer of distribution and screening rights.

One agreement was signed with the French film company Pathé, which bought out the distribution and screening rights for "The Man from Nowhere" in Europe for $70, also known as the European rights.

The other deal was with Miramax, an independent film studio founded by the Harvey Weinstein brothers. This studio was just acquired by Disney in April of this year and now has a lot of money and is very willing to spend it.

When the six major Hollywood studios purchase film rights, they tend to focus on foreign films with high commercial potential. On the contrary, independent labels such as Miramax, New Line Cinema, and Lionsgate tend to focus on films in the main competition sections of the three major European film studios.

These film companies typically purchase films through either a "buyout of regional distribution rights" or a "minimum guarantee plus revenue sharing" model. Miramax originally intended to use the "minimum guarantee plus revenue sharing" model to purchase the North American rights to "The Man from Nowhere".

However, Qin Keqing refused.

He doesn't trust Harvey Weinstein's character; this man has cheated too many filmmakers, treating European and Asian filmmakers equally and showing no mercy in his schemes.

Let's take advantage of Miramax's current financial strength and high bid and let them buy out the North American distribution rights in one go.

Miramax is indeed wealthy now, having directly paid $100 million for the North American distribution rights of "The Man from Nowhere," exceeding Qin Keqing's expected price of $90.

Generally speaking, because the North American market is larger, the expected commercial returns are higher, and there is also the possibility of winning an Oscar to gain more revenue, the copyright in North America is more expensive than that in Europe.

As a result, "The Man from Nowhere" has already sold its copyright for US$170 million even before its release, which translates to HK$1326 million at a fixed exchange rate of 7.8.

Pure profit.