Chapter 160 [Li Yishu: The Palme d’Or is great, I’ll take it for you! ]

Cannes is located near the port city of Nice in southern France. It is a scenic leisure town on the Mediterranean coast.

When they arrived at the destination, Li Yishu was attracted by the endless Mediterranean scenery. This place is different from Venice, where there is water everywhere. Cannes is a coastal town. The U-shaped town just half covers the Mediterranean Sea.

Although the sea water smells a bit fishy, ​​the scenery is still very beautiful. Now it is almost May and the Cannes Film Festival is about to be held. In addition to the crews who come to the film festival in advance, there are also many movie fans and tourists from all over the world.

They all wanted to run into some familiar movie stars at the Cannes Film Festival…

Inside a seaside hotel with a sea view.

After Li Yishu came in, his eyes were fixed on a few people sitting in the hotel lounge not far away.

There are both men and women, and the woman seems to be Ni Ping?

Just when Li Yishu was wondering if she had seen it wrong, Amy came over and said, “Boss, the hotel is ready.”

“Well, have you and Yongmei also finished it?”

“It’s all done. Yongmei and I will be sharing a room.”

Hearing this, Li Yishu frowned and said, “One room per person. We don’t need this little travel money. Go and open another room for Yongmei.”

Li Yishu is not a stingy person. Since he is on a business trip, he naturally wants to live in a better place. It doesn’t cost much anyway.

“No thanks, boss.”

Yongmei quickly shook her head and said, “I’m still practicing my English communication skills. I live in the same room with Sister Amy, and she can teach me.”

Seeing that Yongmei herself was unwilling, Li Yishu did not say anything. Suddenly, he remembered Ni Ping and asked, “Yongmei, is that the CCTV host Ni Ping over there?”

Hearing this, Yongmei looked in the direction the boss pointed and said in surprise, “It seems to be Miss Ni Ping.”

So, Brother Chen Kai also came to Cannes early?

Speaking of which, this is Chen Kai’s third time at the Cannes Film Festival. The works he brought the first two times were “The King of Children” and “Singing While Walking”. Originally, the third time should have been “Farewell My Concubine”, but it was snatched away by Lee Yi-su.

Although I haven’t seen the movie “Tree” that I’m introducing now, I think it shouldn’t be too bad. After all, Brother Chen Kai is not too proud of himself yet.

Thinking of this, Li Yishu frowned. It seems that the Cannes Film Festival really needs some public relations.

“Director Li, you are so kind.”

At this moment, Ni Ping came over with a smile and said, “I’m so sorry Director Li, I thought it was you just now, but I wasn’t sure.”

“Hello, Miss Ni Ping.”

Li Yishu smiled and shook hands with Ni Ping: “I just saw you too, so I’m not too sure.”

“Haha, that’s fate.”

Ni Ping covered her mouth and laughed. Suddenly, she noticed a few people coming out of the elevator and shouted, “Brother Kai, come quickly. Director Li is also in Cannes.”

Upon hearing the news, Li Yishu looked over and saw that it was none other than Arthur’s father, the poet Chen!
He also walked forward enthusiastically: “Hello, Director Chen, I have heard of you for a long time, and today I finally get to meet you in person.”

Li Yishu can be described as admiring Brother Chen Kai, as she has heard of his name for a long time, because his movie “The Promise” pioneered the first domestic prophecy film.

The affair between Zhang Baizhi and Xie Fengwei was predicted by Director Chen several years ago.

“Hello, Director Li.” Chen Kai did not expect to meet Li Yishu at this time, but the other party greeted him with a smile. Even though he was not very happy with Li Yishu, he still smiled and said, “I didn’t expect Director Li to come to Cannes so early.”

Li Yishu said, “Yes, the competition at the Cannes Film Festival this year is fierce. With Director Chen’s masterpiece that took him seven years to prepare, I naturally have to come to the Cannes Film Festival early to prepare.”

At this point, he changed the subject and said with a smile: “I remember Director Chen’s previous films “King of Children” and “Walking and Singing” were both shortlisted for the Cannes Film Festival?”

“Not bad.” Brother Chen Kai raised his chin and nodded. He felt that he should win an award this year no matter what.

After being nominated three times in a row, it would be really unreasonable if the Cannes Film Festival didn’t give it another award.

What’s more, Brother Chen Kai is quite confident about his movie “Tree”, which he has been working on for more than a year.

Li Yishu quickly asked, “Director Chen is very experienced in the Cannes Film Festival process. I wonder if I can come to ask Director Chen for advice in the next few days?”

“no problem.”

Chen Kai agreed readily, “This is Director Li’s first time being shortlisted for the Cannes Film Festival, so it’s normal that he’s not familiar with some of the festival’s procedures and circumstances… By the way, you’re also staying at this hotel, right?”

“Yes.”

“Then if you have any questions in the future, Director Li, just come find me.”

“Haha, thank you so much, Director Chen.” “…”

After the greetings, Li Yishu waved goodbye to Brother Chen Kai with a smile, and then went upstairs with Amy and Yongmei.

After they left, Ni Ping said, “I think Li Yishu is very polite and respectful to you, a senior in the film industry.”

“He was quite polite. It seems that Old Teng is really unreliable. Fortunately, I didn’t say anything in the newspaper at that time.”

Brother Chen Kai had a smile on his face. He liked being praised by others. Although Li Yishu didn’t say anything flattering just now, her every word and action made people feel that she respected this senior in the film industry. This also made Brother Chen Kai change his previous impression of Li Yishu.

I didn’t publish the article in the newspaper, but wrote a letter directly to the Popular Film magazine.

Ni Ping felt helpless, but seeing that Brother Chen Kai was in a different situation, she took the initiative to speak: “That’s right, Teng Wenji is probably jealous. You should not continue to hang out with such people in the future. Li Yishu is a good young man, but in his mouth, he is a person who does not respect his elders and has talent but no morals.”

“Okay, what Old Teng did was wrong, but he was just giving a reminder. Many young people today still need to be disciplined, otherwise they will become complacent if they have some achievements.”

Brother Chen Kai was not very happy about Ni Ping talking about Teng Wenji, because he had a very good relationship with Teng Wenji.

What’s more, because of his preconceived notions, Brother Chen Kai was not very fond of Li Yishu.

Even if the other party just performed very well, once the impression is left, it is basically difficult to change.

After Mr. Chen stopped being an actor and turned to being a photographer, everyone forgot about the roles he had played in the past and started to pay attention to the artistic photos of baby’s breath that he took.

upstairs.

In the room, Yongmei took the initiative to help Li Yishu pack her suitcase, especially the suit that she had ordered in Hong Kong before. She had to take it out and put it away first, as she would have to wear it to attend the opening and closing ceremonies of the film festival.

Seeing the boss coming out of the bathroom to wash his hands, Amy couldn’t help but ask curiously, “Boss, I remember that you didn’t seem to have a very good relationship with that director Chen Kai just now, why were you so enthusiastic just now?”

“Haha, who said the relationship is bad? I still recognize Director Chen’s talent.”

Li Yishu smiled brightly. He would never say that he was so enthusiastic just now. He just wanted to trick Chen Kai and find out if the other party had a public relations.

In fact, Li Yishu was overthinking, or she underestimated the influence of the Cannes Film Festival in China these days.

Today, in the minds of domestic filmmakers, the Cannes Film Festival is superior to the Berlin Film Festival and the Venice Film Festival.

There are two reasons. So far, the Cannes Film Festival has not awarded the Palme d’Or to any Chinese-language film, and even all major awards have not been awarded to any Chinese director or actor.

As the saying goes: What you can’t get will always cause you trouble.

This award, which has never been won, is naturally what all Chinese filmmakers dream of.

Everyone wants to be the first.

With this blessing, the Cannes Film Festival has become the dream of many filmmakers, and naturally they will not secularize the “dream”.

But in fact, no matter what film festival or award it is… as long as it is linked to “people”, there will basically be no absolute fairness.

If we really want fairness, people all over the world should give the scores together, rather than letting the seven or eight people on the jury decide who can win the award and who cannot.

Since there are people, there will naturally be dirty things.

Didn’t the Oscars, which were hyped up later, also have a scandal? The hungry woman Lawrence’s words directly tore off the Oscars’ fig leaf.

But now domestic filmmakers still have a filter for Cannes, including Chen Kai. Since he participated in the Cannes Film Festival with “The King of Children”, he has regarded Cannes as the place to pursue his dreams.

From “Singing While Walking” to this year’s “Tree”, Brother Chen Kai gritted his teeth just to get the honor of being the first Chinese director to win the Palme d’Or.

In other words, Li Yishu didn’t know what Chen Kai was thinking, otherwise she would have said: The Palme d’Or is great, I’ll take it for you!
Amy didn’t quite believe what her boss said. Having known him for such a long time, she knew a little bit about his personality. However, as a subordinate, Amy would never and could not say such words.

Li Yishu suddenly said, “Amy, go ask Sister Xu later and ask her to find a public relations company in Cannes.”

Since Chen Kai has not thought about public relations, then Li Yishu must do appropriate public relations. He has checked the list of this year’s jury, and the chairman of the jury is Louis Malle.

He is a veteran French director. Many people don’t know him very well, but many people should have seen “Pretty Baby”, which he collaborated with Brooke Shields. The artistic content is not very high, but it is French enough.
Amy nodded: “Okay, boss.”

“Yongmei, stop it.”

Li Yishu glanced at her watch and saw that it was almost one o’clock. She said, “Let’s go, I’ll take you to have a French meal. I’ve heard that French food has a unique taste. Now that we’re in Cannes, we have to try it. Amy, you should have eaten French food, right?”

“French food is good.”

Amy smiled and said, “The French food in Hong Kong tastes pretty good, but I don’t know how the French food in Cannes tastes.”

(End of this chapter)