Chapter 239 249 [Berlin Raiders, Two Tickets Obtained]

1 month 26 number.

Li Yishu took the main creative staff of “Central Station”, investor Qiu Fusheng and producer Han Sanping, and flew to Berlin, Germany.

That night.

Inside a large hotel in Berlin.

“Yishu, why do you want me to prepare these materials?”

Gong Li looked at Li Yishu with curiosity as she sorted out the relevant information about Jinan’s old railway station. Many of them were German versions that had been translated in advance.

“Of course it’s to add weight to the movie.”

Li Yishu smiled and said, “Have you forgotten what I told you last year? This movie has a lot of BUFFs.”

“Is it really possible?”

Gong Li was a little skeptical. The old Jinan railway station was indeed designed and built by a German architect in the early 20th century, but what did this have to do with the Berlin Film Festival?
Li Yishu smiled and said, “Of course, but it depends on whether it can be successful.”

This year’s Berlin Film Festival has a total of 9 jury members. The jury chairman, Jeremy Thomas, is British. He participated in the production of “The Last Emperor” starring John Lone and has spent a lot of time in China.

Compared to those who have never been to China, Jeremy Thomas has a great chance of winning this vote.

Among the remaining eight judges, there is Xu Lu, and she will definitely be able to get his vote.

Speaking of the news that Xu Suo was a judge, Li Yishu only learned about it when she was in the United States. (Xu Suo really was a judge in 1994)

He was very shocked at the time. He did not expect that Xu Suo would be invited to serve as a judge at the Berlin Film Festival. However, the judges of the three major European film festivals are all selected by the chairman of the jury, and it basically depends entirely on the chairman of the jury’s preferences. He did not think much about it, but was ecstatic instead.

Because this means his chances of winning the Golden Bear Award have increased.

In addition, there was an African-American actor, Morgan Freeman, whom Li Yishu was familiar with on the jury, which was also something Xu Lu secretly told him.

After all, the list of the jury must be revealed to the public ten days before the opening. It cannot be announced earlier because announcing it earlier will give people room for behind-the-scenes manipulation.

Morgan Freeman is indeed an actor with great acting skills, and he is considered a very familiar black actor in China. However, in a world of fame and fortune like Hollywood, no one is a good bird. Li Yishu knows that there will be news in Hollywood in the future that this old guy has hooked up with his step-granddaughter.

In addition, the other party had some other negative information that had not been exposed at this time, so after learning the news, Li Yishu also began to prepare for canvassing for votes.

Of course, it is not as simple as just giving money directly, because if you give money directly, there is a possibility of being exposed in the future.

After much thought, Li Yishu gradually came up with an idea, which was to win over the other party with a film project and increase her weight in the internal voting of the jury at the upcoming Berlin Film Festival.

And this film project is “12 Years a Slave”!
This movie caused a sensation more than a decade later, not because it was well-made, but because it was full of political correctness. During the period when Black Lives Matter was a major issue, when the movie was first released, the box office in its first week was only a pitiful 339 million US dollars.

However, after receiving nine Oscar nominations and eventually winning the three major awards of Best Picture, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Adapted Screenplay, it instantly became a global hit. After its re-release, the North American box office exceeded $1.8 million, and the global box office reached $1853 million. The movie ” Years a Slave” is adapted from a novel written by a black man in .

The novel is actually not very famous in North America, and few people want to film it, otherwise it would not have been adapted into a movie until the Black Lives Matter period in 2014.

No one is definitely interested now, but Morgan Freeman is a black man, and if someone clearly expressed his desire to invest, he would definitely be interested in this subject matter.

So Li Yishu went directly to Columbia’s president Hisao Morishima and specially invited Morgan Freeman to discuss the idea of ​​collaborating on this film.

Lee Ye-su will definitely not be the director of this movie. On the one hand, he is not interested in Black Lives Matter, and on the other hand, he wants to win over Morgan Freeman.

So when discussing the cooperation, he took the initiative to shift the topic to Morgan Freeman, believing that only he could make this movie about the tragic fate of black people, and sincerely invited him to be the director of the movie.

Although Morgan Freeman is just an actor, no one can resist the temptation of being a director, especially when the movie is about black people with positive themes.

Although this film project has not been officially finalized, Li Yishu asked Morgan to contact a black screenwriter and begin trying to adapt the novel.

Of course, it’s just a show. Whether to spend money to shoot the movie depends on whether Morgan Freeman is willing to agree. If he votes for him in Berlin, Lee Yi-su wouldn’t mind investing several million dollars with Hisao Morishima to make this movie.

Anyway, during the conversation, Li Yishu had “inadvertently” revealed that she would be attending the Berlin Film Festival next, and there was also an insider named Xu Suo on the jury. If Morgan did not vote for her, then the movie would naturally fail.

In today’s America where black people are oppressed and discriminated against, Morgan Freeman knows too well how hard it is to get this opportunity. As long as he is not a fool, he will definitely vote for Li Yishu.

This is a piece of cake in itself. After all, liking a certain movie is a personal subjective feeling. Otherwise, why are the juries of European Film Festivals always odd numbers?
There are a total of 9 judges including the chairman of the jury. Xu Su and Morgan can be considered as the solid votes, and the chairman of the jury Jeremy Thomas has half a vote. For the remaining votes, Li Yishu directed her criticism at two of the German judges.

The information about Jinan’s old railway station that he asked Gong Li to prepare was the key to winning over the two German judges and also the key to stirring up a wave of public opinion in Germany.

After half an hour.

Li Yishu handed the compiled information to Zhang Jie, who was in charge of European copyright transactions at Xuluo Tangchen Pictures, and asked him to wait until the Berlin Film Festival officially opened, and then contact major newspapers, media and weekly magazines in Berlin to publish the information.

At the same time, he also asked Zhang Jie to find a way to contact the descendants of Hermann Fischer, the designer of the old Jinan Railway Station.

The multi-faceted publicity, including history, humanities, exchanges, China-Germany friendship, etc., is aimed at increasing the popularity of the film in Berlin, and at doing public relations for the two German judges and the organizers of the Berlin Film Festival.

China and Germany established diplomatic relations as early as 1972. Not to mention that the relationship between the two sides gradually stabilized in 1992, last year Germany also formulated an Asia strategy with China as the focus. It can be said that most of Germany’s foreign trade and economic development is now conducted with the mainland.

Although Li Yishu doesn’t know whether this method will work, at least it will not work if she doesn’t try. In recent years, the Berlin International Film Festival has been very favorable to domestic films.

Since 1988, when Zhang Yimou won the Golden Bear Award for “Red Sorghum”, except for 1991 when no one won the award, until last year 1993, a total of 6 years, he won three Golden Bear Awards, and the probability of winning the Golden Bear Award was as high as 50%.

After Li Yishu’s public relations work this time, his chances of winning the award are definitely high. Just counting the votes from the jury, he has already secured two votes.

(End of this chapter)