Chapter 245 256 [You must give me enough benefits if you use me as a token of your loyalty]

“My dear, you are so amazing! Time magazine even called you the Godfather of Asian movies!”

Monica excitedly raised the European edition of Time magazine in her hand. There were three people on the cover, all of them were Li Yishu, but they were taken at different times. They were photos of her when she won the Golden Lion Award, the Palme d’Or, and the Golden Bear Award, and were cut into one picture by Time magazine.

Three different periods, but they all wore the same suit, and the trophies they held in their hands were different.

“What is the Godfather of Asian Cinema? That’s just an exaggeration by Time magazine to increase sales.”

The corners of Li Yishu’s mouth curled up, and that smug expression had already betrayed him, he was definitely saying one thing and thinking another.

The Godfather of Asian Cinema!!

Who wouldn’t take a second look at this title?

What’s more, to some extent, Lee Yi-shu does deserve this title. Without mentioning other aspects, just in terms of awards, he is indeed qualified to be the godfather of Asian films.

After all, everyone has different preferences for watching movies. Some people think Kurosawa Akira is a master, some think Xie Jin is a great director, and some think Li Hanxiang’s erotic films are classics…

Therefore, when it comes to selecting a good director, the most intuitive and reflective factors are nothing more than two points: awards and box office.

Lee Yi-su has won three major awards and her film “The Sixth Sense” grossed over $4 million worldwide. Her other films also performed well at the box office.

In the global field, Li Yishu does not dare to call himself the godfather, but in Asia, he is indeed worthy of the title of godfather!

She is just a little young, and I guess many people are unwilling to accept her reputation. But in a few decades, Lee Yi-su will definitely be recognized as the godfather of Asian films.

“Even if Time magazine is exaggerating, don’t forget, dear, you are a great director who has won three European awards!”

Monica Bellucci is Italian, and Italian films are definitely among the best in Europe. Having worked in this industry, she naturally knows how valuable the three European awards are. Directors who can win the three awards are, without exception, the leaders of European art films.

But how old are those Grand Slam directors?
The last Grand Slam director was American director Robert Altman. Born in 1925, he is 74 years old this year. He won the Palme d’Or in 1970, the Golden Bear in 1976, and the Golden Lion in 1993.

In addition to Li Yishu, the youngest director to win the triple gold grand slam is French director Henri-Georges Clouzot, who was born in 1907. He won the Golden Lion Award in 1949, and then won the Golden Bear Award and the Palme d’Or in 1953 for “The Wages of Fear”.

Don’t be fooled by the fact that a movie won two awards. That was because the three major European film festivals had just been established not long ago and had not yet formed the rules of the later international A-level film festivals. After a movie won an award at a film festival, it could no longer participate in a film festival of the same level.

This is done to avoid one film dominating the three major film festivals.

On the other hand, although Lee Yi-su failed to win two awards for one movie, she is young and won the Grand Slam at the age of 24. She is a true genius!

Even though there are a lot of human relationships and political factors involved, winning the triple gold grand slam is winning it. If you want to question it, you should question the film festival, not question the quality of Lee Yi-seok.

“I don’t care about these. I’m just curious about why Time magazine would do this to me.”

Li Yishu took the Time magazine from Monica’s hand. Not to mention the obviously carefully prepared cover, just looking at the content of the article inside, even Li Yishu, the person involved, was praised so much that she felt a little embarrassed and ashamed.

Winning the triple golden slam is impressive, and in a sense he is indeed the godfather of Asian films, but Time magazine is an American magazine. How could they promote a Chinese director so well?
“Honey, of course it’s because you’re amazing.” Monica Bellucci smiled widely. She didn’t think there was any exaggeration in Time magazine’s evaluation. In her personal opinion, Li Yishu was naturally the best and most amazing.

“Time, Time Warner…” Li Yishu noticed that behind the weekly magazine there were publishing companies, Time Magazine and Time Warner.

Warner Bros?

It seems that Time magazine’s parent company has now merged with Warner Bros. to form Time Warner.

Li Yishu touched his chin and suddenly remembered something. If he remembered correctly, the production company behind “The Fugitive” was Warner Bros. Pictures.

If so, that makes sense!

Li Yishu suddenly realized.

After all this time, it turns out that it’s not that I’m so powerful that I’ve convinced the Americans, but that Time Warner, the current parent company of Time magazine, wants to use me as a token of allegiance!

The production company of “The Fugitive” is Warner Bros. Pictures, and Li Yishu remembers very clearly that the first American blockbuster introduced to China was “The Fugitive”. He remembers that when this movie was screened in China, it caused an uproar in the film industry.

Just because compared with domestic films, this movie is definitely a dimensionality reduction attack.

Train hopping, car chases, gunfights, suspense…

A standard Hollywood commercial popcorn movie. For later audiences, this movie can only be described as mediocre, neither good nor bad. You can already know the ending after watching the beginning.

But in this period, American blockbusters of the quality of “The Fugitive” really gave people an inexplicable sense of shock. No one thought that movies could be shot like this.

After figuring this out, Li Yishu felt that she couldn’t let Time Warner get away with it so easily! Although she didn’t know whether the other party would be able to make “The Fugitive” the first American film introduced to China as planned by using her as a token of loyalty, at least one thing was certain: Li Yishu couldn’t just give herself to someone as a token of loyalty for nothing.

Although the title of Godfather of Asian Film sounds good and is recognized by large news media with global influence such as Time magazine, this verbal cannon is of little significance.

Li Yishu has already thought about the benefits he wants, which is to ask Time Warner to participate in the development of China’s film industry!

I’ll tell Han Sanping about this later, and then communicate with the leaders of the Radio, Film and Television Bureau. I believe they will definitely be willing to use this to lure Time Warner.

Compared with the United States, China today is really vulnerable. The film industry is no longer a rare thing in Hollywood, and they don’t think that China can handle it.

After all, no one could have expected that in just 30 years, the Chinese would have built an economy and a huge industrial base that took the United States many years to complete.

Japan.

Kurome district in Tokyo.

Izumi Sakai is currently writing a new song at home. She just released an album called “この愛に泳ぎ悌ても” at the beginning of the month.

This album was released on February 2nd and quickly became popular in Japan, selling an astonishing 2 copies in the first week. As of now, almost three weeks have passed, and a full 45 million copies have been sold.

It can be said that this album made Izumi Sakai the top singer in Japan.

Jingle Bell……

At this time, Ichiro Tanaka called and said excitedly: “Ms. Sakai, did you know that Supervisor Li won the triple gold grand slam?”

“Yes, Mr. Tanaka, I know about it. I even made a cross-border call.” Izumi Sakai raised the corners of her mouth. She was very proud of Li Jun. This was the first Asian to win the triple gold grand slam.

“Not only that, I just saw in the Asian Times magazine that Director Li is regarded as the godfather of Asian movies…”

Ichiro Tanaka talked about Time magazine’s comments on Li Yishu one by one, and Izumi Sakai was so excited that she almost jumped up!
She is a person with a gentle exterior but a warm heart, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to be a rock singer. Now, hearing that her man has become the godfather of Asian films, she is much more excited than if her own album had sold millions of copies.

“Which one… Miss Sakai, I called you this time not only to tell you about Supervisor Li’s news, but also to ask for your help with something.”

“what’s up?”

“It’s like this, Ms. Sakai. Our Toho Corporation has joined forces with several other Japanese film companies to hold the 10th Sino-Japanese Film Literature and Drama Symposium in Osaka in May. I’m just not sure if Director Li has time…”

“This… Mr. Tanaka, I’m afraid I can’t answer you.”

Izumi Sakai frowned. In fact, she was still a traditional Japanese woman at heart and never made any promises on behalf of her husband outside.

“It’s okay, Ms. Sakai. I just want you to tell Supervisor Li in advance so that we can test the waters. We will also invite him formally afterwards.”

“no problem.”

“Okay, okay. That’s too much trouble for you, Ms. Sakai.”

“You’re welcome Mr. Tanaka.”

After hanging up the phone, Izumi Sakai didn’t pay attention to Ichiro Tanaka’s request. Instead, she threw down the pen and paper, excitedly picked up her bag and went out, ready to buy a copy of Asia Times magazine to read.

There is currently no Time magazine in the mainland, so we cannot get the news first, but the Hong Kong Xinhua News Agency and the Silver Capital Agency, after learning the news, also sent the magazine and its content back to the country as soon as possible.

What Li Yishu can think of, the people above can naturally think of as well. As for Time magazine praising Li Yishu so much and positioning her as the godfather of Asian films, isn’t this the same as Murdoch’s News Corporation suspending BBC programs last year?

People from the radio, film and television department, the film bureau and the propaganda department held an internal discussion on this matter.

There is only one conclusion that can be drawn, that is, Time magazine’s obvious “fawning” behavior is probably because its parent company Time Warner wants a share of imported films and their media group to enter the mainland market.

Since the migration to the south in 92, China’s foreign trade and economic development have also made great strides. In the past decade or so, they have been driven more by Hong Kong and Taiwan capital, but in the future they will mainly be driven by overseas capital.

Since Time Warner has made it so obvious, the people above will certainly not ignore it. The film industry welcomes investment, and those who want a share of imported films are also welcome to talk.

But how to do it specifically still needs to be discussed above to come to a conclusion.

The issue of introducing foreign films has basically been finalized, and the agreement is now being perfected. The subsequent selection of which one will enter the domestic market first will depend on the other party’s sincerity.

After all, opening up the mainland film market to foreign films is itself a helpless move, so there must be enough benefits.

(End of this chapter)