Chapter 161 [Venice starts poaching people? ]

the next morning.

Li Yishu got up early and took Amy, Yongmei and Xu Suo with her to the Cannes Film Palace.

Li Yishu originally thought that since the film festival hadn’t started yet, there shouldn’t be many people here, but he found out that he was wrong. There were more than just a lot of people, it could be described as a sea of ​​people.

Looking around, the entrance of the Cinema Palace in the distance was crowded with people.

Men, women, old people, children…almost all of them.

It doesn’t feel like a film festival, but more like a market.

Xu Xu smiled and asked, “Director Li, how do you feel about coming to Cannes for the first time?”

“It feels like there are a lot more people than at the Venice Film Festival.”

“Haha, yes, the Cannes Film Festival is indeed much better than the Venice Film Festival, mainly because the Cannes Film Market is the largest of the three major European film festivals.”

As Xu Suo was talking, she also said to a man next to her, “Ajie, introduce me to Director Li.”

Ajie is the head of the department of Tomson Films, which is mainly responsible for purchasing foreign language films at the three major European film festivals.

Every year, I bring people to Europe to participate in the three major film festivals, and then buy some movies with high “artistic content” and bring them back to Taiwan to screen.

There is an R-rated film system in Taiwan, and cinemas are allowed to show Hong Kong Category III films, including some R-rated films from Europe and the United States.

European films are world-famous for their openness. A large part of the income of Tomson Film Company comes from purchasing these films with high artistic content and bringing them back to Taiwan for screening and making videotapes.

“Okay Mr. Xu.”

Zhang Jie smiled and said, “Director Li, the Cannes International Film Festival is now the largest film trading market in Europe. The two months from March to the end of May when the Cannes Film Festival ends are the peak period for film trading. On average, the number of films traded at this time of year will exceed tens of thousands…”

Li Yishu winked at Amy, and she immediately began to listen carefully. Yongmei also took notes silently in her heart.

The art film company’s current business is only Lee Yi-su making movies, so it can be said to be a studio. If it wants to truly develop, it must make a profit without Lee Yi-su.

Whether you are investing in filming, distributing films, or purchasing overseas film copyrights to make videotapes and later VCDs, you need some guidance to develop.

Amy had never come into contact with it before, let alone Yongmei.

Following Zhang Jie’s introduction, Li Yishu gained a preliminary understanding of the film trading market at the Cannes Film Festival. Unlike the Venice Film Festival, the organizers provided the venue for film trading.

But things in Cannes are more complicated. In addition to the film trading market set up by their organizers at the Riviera Palace near the Film Palace, there are also some private film trading markets set up around the Riviera Palace.

The private film trading market is mainly run by some well-known film companies and some intermediary companies that make money from film festivals.

This kind of private film transaction is basically some substandard films shot by independent producers, but any film, no matter how bad it is, will have an audience.

This is like the famous German director Uwe Boll, who is known as the king of bad movies, but this does not prevent him from making one movie after another.

You have to know that very few European and American filmmakers work for love, and independent producers don’t have the funds to pay for their feelings.

The reason why Uwe Boll can continue to make movies after making some terrible movies is not only because of his image as the “King of Bad Movies”, but also because he reduces the cost of film production.

It can be said that as long as the copyright price is cheap enough at the film festival and the cost of film production is not very high, it is very easy to make money.

Even if the copyright of a country only sells for one or two thousand dollars, if film companies from dozens or hundreds of countries around the world come to the film festival to purchase films, you can still sell them for hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Of course, it would be best if the film had some “artistic elements”, which would sell better.

There are too many beautiful young girls in Europe who want to be stars. In addition, due to the trend of European films, they do not think there is anything wrong with taking off clothes to shoot large-scale movies. This leads to too many “star-studded” works in Europe.

With just a few tens of thousands of dollars, you can make a movie with a high artistic content, and sell it at film festivals under the name of an independent production or art film.

You can imagine how popular it is.

As they walked and talked, the group soon entered the Film Palace through a special channel.

At this time, film producers have begun to set up the venue at the Film Palace. As a veteran who has participated in Cannes Film Festival several times, Xu Suo’s investment in “Farewell My Concubine” has been shortlisted for the main competition unit of the Cannes Film Festival. Naturally, he was warmly received by the staff. When he learned that there were no tickets for admission in Cannes, and there would be no ordinary fans and audiences, Li Yishu was still very surprised. He always thought that the three major European film festivals should be the same. In the previous Venice Film Festival, there was a session for selling tickets to ordinary fans.

“That’s how it is here in Cannes.”

Xu Suo said, “Only invited people can watch the films in the main competition unit, which is different from Venice, which is open to the public.”

Cannes is the only one of the three major European film festivals that does not sell tickets to the public. At the Cannes Film Festival, there are only two types of screenings for each film section: media screenings and screenings, where the screenings include premieres attended by the film’s main creators.

This means that you must have either a press pass or an invitation letter for a single film in order to watch films in the main competition unit at the Cannes Film Festival.

After a brief introduction, Xu Xu smiled and said, “I came early this time to prepare for the invitations. We must prepare a batch of invitations in advance, and then contact the distribution companies and film producers, as well as various media reporters… Thanks to your current popularity, Director Li, I believe that most people will be happy to accept the invitations we send out.”

Ajie beside him smiled and said, “Director Li, every year during the film festival, there will be a large number of fans holding signs asking for tickets at the entrance of the Film Palace. It has become a beautiful landscape in Cannes.”

“That’s it~”

Li Yishu nodded slightly. No wonder the Cannes Film Festival has been getting better and better over the years. To some extent, it has even surpassed Berlin and Venice. It turns out that the level of the festival is high enough~~
People working in the film industry more or less feel a little superior to others, especially those well-known media reporters and film critics.

There are no movie websites that allow netizens to rate movies these days.
This leads to the public’s understanding of the quality of a movie entirely through articles written by film critics in newspapers.

It also created those famous film critics who were treated as VIPs by film producers, who only asked them to be as smooth as possible in their articles.

Over time, these people began to feel that they were superior to others.

The high-standard and high-style behavior of the Cannes Film Festival, which only allows invited guests to watch movies, just satisfies the superior mentality of these film critics.

“plum!”

Just at this moment, someone suddenly shouted from behind.

Li Yishu looked back and saw that it was Abraham, the chairman of the Critics Week section of the Venice Film Festival. He walked up to him enthusiastically and said, “Chairman Abraham, why are you here?”

Lee Yi-shu is very grateful to this person. When Lee Yi-shu was able to win the Golden Lion Award, this person must have made a lot of efforts, especially in the Italian Film Critics Weekly, he gave high praise to Lee Yi-shu’s “The Postman in the Mountain”.

Abraham said, “Li, I’m a film critic, so of course I have to attend the Cannes Film Festival and write some film reviews. And there are so many good movies here, so of course I have to come and see them first.”

Lee Ye-seo smiled and said, “I’m looking forward to your review of my new movie.”

“Don’t worry, Li. Ever since I saw you on the shortlist, I’ve been ready to write an exclusive film review for you.”

Abraham smiled and suddenly said, “By the way, Li, you should actually bring your work to Venice.”

This is when the digging started~~
“I’m sorry Chairman Abraham, this film has already been planned.”

“I know, so I invite you to participate in the Venice Film Festival with your next film. Believe me, your film will definitely shine at the Venice Film Festival.”

“No problem, I will definitely go to the Venice Film Festival again next year.”

Li Yishu also readily agreed. He will be collaborating with Takeshi Kitano on “Fireworks” next year, and it is likely that he will also register for the Venice Film Festival.

“Really?” Abraham’s eyes lit up. He had just made a casual invitation, but he didn’t expect it to actually work out.

“of course.”

Li Yishu smiled and said, “I already have a film company here, and we are going to participate in the Venice Film Festival next year.”

“Haha, that’s great.”

Abraham smiled heartily and said, “Lee, are you coming to serve as a judge at the Venice Film Festival this year?”

“Well… I’m afraid there’s not enough time. I have a few movies to shoot in the second half of the year.”

Li Yishu refused without hesitation. He has a lot of tasks this year. “Central Station” has just entered the post-production stage, and “Nobody” is about to start shooting. In the second half of the year, he will film “The Reader” with Qingxia.

I just don’t have the time to go to Venice to serve as a film judge for more than a month.

(End of this chapter)