The King of Huayu Science Fiction

Chapter 434 The politically correct buff of "The Ninth District"
Every year, Cannes can occupy a lot of space in China.

This is a movie event that is no less famous than the Oscars, and with the advent of the Internet age, its reputation is getting bigger and bigger.

However, people who eat melons in Huaguo generally have the impression of Cannes as the competition on the red carpet. It is a fashion party where celebrities come up with different tricks to take departure photos, red carpet photos, and compete for beauty with various high-end dresses.

In this sense, Cannes is more popular and commercial than Oscar.

This is exactly why Cannes is not as good as Oscar in Chen Jingxing's mind.

Because Oscar relies on the Hollywood film industry, it tends to be more commercial in its awards-at least compared to the three major European awards, which makes Oscar relatively purer.

It might sound like a contradiction, but it is.

It is precisely because Cannes's award criteria are more "artistic", so Cannes's shortlisted films are more unfamiliar to the public. Not many audiences will pay attention to Cannes's shortlisted films, and they may not even go to see them in their lifetime.

Therefore, if Cannes wants to expand its popularity, the final result is to hype the red carpet, hype the fashion, and all aspects are extremely commercialized, relying on the glamorous Vanity Fair to establish its image.

Even invitations to the Cannes red carpet have already been "clearly priced" in the intermediary market, and have become a profitable business. Many merchants also provide celebrity photo services. In addition to the Cannes red carpet, peripheral dinners and receptions can also be paid for entry.

Because apart from these for the people who eat melons all over the world to discuss, what else is there to discuss?

Discuss the movie itself?
Then let's talk about something else.

Although Oscar movies are far from the mainstream, and the distance is getting further and further away, they are generally closer to the general audience and more commercialized.

At least every year, the shortlisted films have made many ordinary audiences interested in watching them. Domestic filmmakers often buy Oscar-nominated films as batches of films to be released in China after the Oscar awards, and there are quite a few of them with a box office of over [-] million.

As for the competition works in Cannes, even the feature films in the main competition unit are too lazy for many fans to watch, let alone ordinary audiences.

Even if a domestic film is shortlisted for the main competition in Cannes, most audiences don't bother to watch it. Of course, if you win an award, netizens will definitely cheer for you, but most people still won't watch it.

Therefore, for most people, Cannes is more like a symbol, a symbol of honor that is separated from the popular film itself. The higher his status in a niche group, the farther he is suspended from the public.

But since it is a high honor recognized by the public, it is meaningful.

Therefore, the news that the film "The Ninth District" jointly produced by DreamWorks and Universal Pictures was shortlisted for the main competition unit of the 2018 Cannes Film Festival still attracted the attention of the media and netizens.

And this time, two domestic films have entered the main competition unit of Cannes, which can be regarded as a rare highlight moment in recent years.

As one of the largest film carnivals in the world, the Cannes Film Festival has a large scale, fancy awards, and more units than other film festivals.

In addition to the main competition unit, there are also various units such as attention, short film competition, film cornerstone, and director's fortnight.

In fact, many filmmakers and works from Huaguo enter Cannes every year, but many of them are units of attention and short film competitions. Europe's largest film market.

Only the entries that can be shortlisted in the main competition unit are recognized entries, and the weight is also heavier.

Together with "The Ninth District" was shortlisted for the main competition unit is "The Old Man in Mountains and Rivers" by the sixth generation director Jia Kechang.

Although Jia Kechang won the Golden Lion Award in Venice, he has been focusing on Cannes 10 years later, and can even be said to be the darling of Cannes.

Considering that this year is the fifth time it has been shortlisted for the Cannes main competition, it is not really big news at all.

Moreover, movie fans basically know the style of Jia Kechang’s movies. After "The Good Man in Three Gorges", it is basically the same style. There are still some poetic features that movie fans talk about, but there is no breakthrough, and they have begun to move towards documentary. In terms of timeliness, collage is addictive, and there are several eras and several formats at every turn.

"The Old Man of Mountains and Rivers" should be this kind of routine just by hearing the name, and it is probably "24 Cities" that selects a certain character or a few characters to show the changes and development of the characters in the 60s, 80s and 90s in the era.

The movie shouldn't disappoint. Chief Jia's quality control is still trustworthy, but Chief Jia no longer has a sense of mystery in the hearts of movie fans. They all know that's what it is, so they don't have much expectations.

This may also be the reason why he went to Cannes every time but always accompanied him.

For ordinary viewers who are not movie fans, it is even less interesting. Not many people watch the films of Director Jia.

On the contrary, "The Ninth District" caused a greater response and made people more curious.

Because the films participating in the film festival are usually films that have not been screened, let alone a film festival of the level of Cannes, so it is different from Chen Jingxing who brought "Gravity" and "Matrix" to the Golden Globes or Oscars. Those who have watched the movie will not be curious about the plot of the movie itself, only the suspense of the awards.

But "The Ninth District" is a work that everyone has never seen, and they don't even know what it is about, so they are even more curious about this movie.

Especially fans.

Can you not be curious?
According to the information disclosed so far, "The Ninth District" is not only a Chinese-American co-production, but also a science fiction movie, or a movie about aliens.

That's Cannes.

It feels like these two are totally incompatible paths.

Because the last blockbuster co-produced by China and the United States was "The Great Wall" by Guoshi, fans' impression of "The Ninth District" is almost a sci-fi movie about fighting aliens. Even if DreamWorks participated in the production, there will be no "Great Wall" "It sucks, but it should be about the same as "Edge of Tomorrow".

In the end, he signed up for Cannes and was selected for the main competition. How could this not make netizens curious.

Therefore, the news that "The Ninth District" was shortlisted for the Cannes main competition and the rumored news that Chen Jingxing was invited to serve as the chairman of the jury for this year's Cannes main competition became topics that netizens talked about together.

The Cannes jury is actually not as high standard as the public usually thinks.

The highlight of Cannes is its internationalization, so every year, celebrities from the film and cultural circles of various countries are invited to be the judges.

Be careful, it's famous people.

They are not award-winning people, nor are they artists or film masters, especially actors.

So even some actors who have not won any major awards, as long as you are a well-known actor, preferably with some international fame, you may be invited to be a judge.

Therefore, the professional level of the judges and the appreciation level of the film are not as high as ordinary audiences imagine.

It’s just that the threshold for the chairman of the jury is slightly higher. They are usually filmmakers with honors, and most of them are directors, and the chairman has a lot of power to speak, especially in awards such as the Palme d’Or, best director, and jury awards. It is almost the power to make the final decision, so it is a guarantee of the professionalism of the jury.

But no matter how high the threshold was, Chen Jingxing was definitely qualified.

It's not that the Cannes Film Festival has never invited a commercial director to be the chairman of the jury.

Moreover, the division of commercial director and art director is meaningless at Chen Jingxing's current level, not to mention that he also holds the Oscar for best director, and it is more than enough to be the chairman of the jury at the Cannes Film Festival.

It's just that Chen Jingxing's age is too young, and that's why this incident surprised people.

However, Chen Jingxing's refusal was very straightforward. It's not that he no longer has any ambitions for fame and fortune, and he doesn't care about the title of Cannes jury chairman at all. In fact, he mainly considers "The Ninth District".

Being the chairman of the film festival jury is not impossible to "play favoritism". In fact, the chairman of the Cannes jury often influences the results of the awards with his personal likes and dislikes, creating "legacy" or "injustice".

In addition, support and favoritism from the same township, clan, and country are also normal.

When Guoshi was the chairman of the three major European jury committees, he was unabashedly partial to Chinese films. He even dared to give the highest award to two Chinese films in the same year as a double yolk egg. Ang Lee's Golden Bear and Golden Lion were both in the same year. The national teacher got it when he was the chairman, and he fought against all opinions.

In fact, what Lao Mouzi has done is not too much. The nationality advantage brought by the chairman of the jury is a common issue in the three major European film festivals, and it is not only Chinese people who do this.

However, it is obviously too much for the same company, and the Cannes organizing committee cannot allow this to happen.

Now that Chen Jingxing has decided to let "The Ninth District" sign up for Cannes, naturally he can't be the chairman.

Although they signed up for "The Ninth District", Chen Jingxing and Tian Xinye were quite happy when the shortlist was announced.

Chen Jingxing was not sure how the selection committee members of the Cannes Organizing Committee viewed a sci-fi film like "The Ninth District".

It's just that he knows that this is probably the best opportunity for DreamWorks.

"The Ninth District" is not without its advantages. This is a movie about aliens in the slums, but it is actually a movie about racial conflict and segregation.

Especially the filming location and the background in the movie are all in South Africa.

When setting up the project, Chen Jingxing also hesitated to choose Southeast Asia, Tianzhu, or South Africa in the original version.

But in the end, he still chose South Africa as the background of the original film in the previous world.

Because this can bring some kind of buff to "The Ninth District" outside of the movie.

Chen Jingxing himself didn't care too much, but he knew that someone cared.

There are many slums in the world, but there are still very few slums created purely on the basis of apartheid, mainly in South Africa.

And there are also famous white slums in South Africa.

South African history will give District [-] extra-film interest.

Huaguo or Asia may not be sensitive to this, but Europe and the United States are definitely sensitive.

The fact that "The Ninth District" did not register for the European Film Festival in the previous life was not because he was not qualified, but because he didn't have time.

Venice is too avant-garde to be suitable. In fact, "The Ninth District" is very suitable for Berlin and Cannes. In terms of timing and fame, Cannes is the most suitable choice at this time.

(End of this chapter)