Hong Kong Entertainment: The King of Kung Fu

Chapter 677 Asian Rising Star Director

More than a thousand guests came to Zhuhai to participate in the event, making this small city as festive as Chinese New Year.

Many citizens called their friends and went to the film festival to watch movies.

Citizens from neighboring Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhongshan and other places also came to the festival after hearing the news, bringing the number of viewers to over 500,000.

A total of more than 19 films participated in the exhibition, and films were shortlisted to compete for eight awards.

The participating films were also very respectful and sent their directors and leading actors to endorse the films.

While watching the movie, citizens can also interact with the stars and take photos with them, which makes them very excited.

In addition to films from Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan, the Hollywood film "The Joy Luck Club" also participated in the exhibition.

"The Joy Luck Club" is the first Hollywood film with an all-Chinese cast. The director, screenwriter, original novel, and leading actors are all Chinese.

It tells the story of the ups and downs in the lives of four women who immigrated from mainland China to the United States on the eve of liberation, as well as the psychological barriers, emotional conflicts, and grudges between them and their American-born daughters.

After its release, it earned more than 1993 million US dollars at the box office and was selected as one of the top ten films of by the American Film Critics Association.

Although it was not eligible to compete for the awards of the Pearl River Film Festival, it was invited to participate in the exhibition, which demonstrated the ambition of the Pearl River Film Festival to build a global Chinese-language film festival.

There are eight heroines in "The Joy Luck Club", four mothers and four daughters. Yang Ye is a little interested in one of them, that is the stunning fairy Yu Feihong.

A few days later, the award ceremony was successfully concluded.

Anita Yuen won the Best Actress award at the first Pearl River Film Festival for her role in Love Without End, while Niu Zhenhua won the Best Actor award for her role in Back to Back, Face to Face.

The Best Director award went to Derek Yee for Love Unforgettable, and the Best Film award went to Huang Jianxing for Back to Back, Face to Face.

"Back to Back, Face to Face" is a very interesting movie, with a high funny score of 9.5.

This rating is second only to "Farewell My Concubine" among Chinese-language films, but the number of people who rated it is a little smaller, making it a niche masterpiece.

This movie tells the story of the various intrigues, the intricate human relationships, and the endless ugly officialdom in a county-level public institution... It is a movie that makes people applaud.

It’s a pity that there will never be such a movie again in the future.

In addition to the award ceremony, filmmakers from both sides of the Taiwan Strait and the four regions also discussed many things with the leaders of Zhuhai.

Some people have suggested building a festival palace specifically for the Pearl River Film Festival, following the example of international film festivals such as Cannes and Venice.

Then celebrity hotels, theaters, golf courses, etc. were built nearby, making it Zhuhai’s film and television cultural business card.

Deputy Mayor Li, the initiator of the Pearl River Film Festival, was very interested in this.

However, Zhuhai has no money. The municipal government said that if there are investors willing to invest, they can allocate a piece of land specifically for this purpose.

On the spot, Taiwanese filmmakers expressed their willingness to work on this matter and invited Taiwanese businessmen to come and investigate.

However, there was a wealthy man at the scene who had no tact at all.

Someone immediately suggested that the richest man Yang was right here, so why go so far away?

But Yang Ye didn't want to eat alone, he thought about it and said, "I am willing to invest in building the Film Festival Palace.

But I don’t understand businesses like hotels and golf courses, and I have no interest in doing these businesses.

I suggest that the city should put this up for bidding, and anyone who wants to do this business can come and bid.”

Now that the Zhuhai Film Festival has landed, if Yang Ye is willing to fund the construction of the Film Festival Palace, or invest in building a hotel or something like that, as soon as Zhuhai releases the bidding news, there will definitely be many people rushing to do it.

Building a film festival palace is also a very good business. After it is completed, it will not only serve the Pearl River Film Festival, it can also have many other functions.

For example, the Palais des Festivals in Cannes is not only the official venue for the film festival, but also has a casino, a nightclub and many conference halls.

The Palais des Festivals can host concerts, plays, exhibitions, dance performances and various sports events.

The Film Festival Palace of Zhuhai Film Studio is allowed to do anything except setting up a casino.

The Pearl River Delta has a developed economy. Once completed, it will definitely become a tourist card for Zhuhai.

Even casinos, because they are adjacent to Macau and have natural soil, can also be granted special approval.

The prospects of this project are so broad and the financial prospects are so bright.

The Zhuhai government's eyes lit up, and they immediately discussed the matter with Yang Ye and others. As soon as they came to an agreement, they would submit an application.

They first said that they could allocate a piece of land in Jinding, which was seven square kilometers. Yang Ye looked at the map and was not very satisfied.

He also said that a piece of land could be allocated on Hengqin Island. Hengqin Island is the largest island in Zhuhai and is separated from Macau by a river. The location is actually quite good.

Yang Ye frowned. Why are they all in the suburbs? Can't they be in the city?
Yang Ye pointed to Yeli Island near Xiangzhou and asked, "Can we do it here?"

Deputy Mayor Li was shocked. Yang Ye's eyes were so damn vicious.

Yeli Island is the closest island to the mainland, less than 400 meters away.

Next door is Zhuhai’s iconic Fisherwoman Statue, and the beautiful Lovers’ Road passes by it.

You say it is located in the city center, but it is just an undeveloped desert island with nothing on it.

The city government is currently building a bridge to connect it to the land.

However, Yeli Island is quite small, only 0.3 square kilometers, so it is impossible to build a golf course or something.

Yang Ye has no interest in that thing. It wastes water and land, so he just doesn't want to do it.

Rich people in Hong Kong all like to play golf, but Yang Ye never plays and won’t go even if invited.

Deputy Mayor Li thought for a moment and said, "It's not impossible, but we originally planned to build an opera house on Yeli Island."

Yang Ye knew that this opera house was the Zhuhai Grand Theater in later generations. It was composed of two shell-shaped buildings, also known as the "Sun and Moon Shells". It was very beautiful and was a landmark building in Zhuhai in later generations.

Yang Ye liked this and immediately said that he could invest and that they could agree on a business term.

For example, after 30 years, when most of the money has been earned, it will be returned to the Zhuhai government.

When the God of Wealth arrives, everything is easy.

The conditions proposed by Yang Ye can promote the prosperity of Zhuhai's tourism industry and the development of its cultural undertakings, which will be of great benefit to Zhuhai.

Therefore, the two sides had a very harmonious discussion.

After the general plan is completed, it is time to submit the application, and Yang Ye only needs to wait for news.

……

After the Pearl River Film Festival, Yang Ye returned to Shenzhen to continue filming "The Matrix".

Taking advantage of the opportunity of the Pearl River Film Festival, Shenzhen established contact with many filmmakers at home and abroad.

The next step is to prepare for the promotion meeting of Guangming Film and Television City, which is scheduled to be held in late August.

For this conference, Yang Ye decided to launch an "Asian Rising Star Guide Program".

This program was actually initiated by Liu Hua's Art Film Entertainment in 2005. The program selects six young directors from across Asia and funds them to make films.

Ning Hao's "Crazy Stone" stands out because of this plan.

Many years later, when "The Wandering Earth" was released, the words "Thanks to Mr. Liu Hua" were specially printed in the end credits.

Liu Hua was confused. Why thank me? I didn't act in the film, I didn't invest, I didn't do anything!
That was because Ning Hao became famous and became a famous director because of Liu Hua's investment in "Crazy Stone". Later, Ning Hao launched the "Bad Monkey 72 Transformations Film Project" and invested in Guo Fan.

Liu Hua is the source of their rise to fame in the film industry.

However, Liu Hua gave up after only two rounds, and the second round was not completed. He planned to invest in six films, but only made one in the end.

Yang Ye initiated this plan eleven years in advance because he wanted to persevere in doing this.

In the first twenty years of Yang Ye's career, he was a successful director and leading actor, and became a leading figure in the Asian film industry.

Now that he is over 40, he hopes to change his identity and stay more behind the scenes to support newcomers in the industry.

Besides, with his forward-looking vision, he only picked out good works and didn't give up halfway like Liu Hua.

He can also take advantage of the opportunity to recruit talents for his own film empire and gain both fame and fortune.

After the idea came up, Yang Ye immediately promoted the news within the industry.

Across Asia, new filmmakers who want to enter the industry can bring their graduation works, amateur short films, or their own scripts to compete for filming funds.

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Yang Ye possesses the largest film and television resources in Asia. He can not only provide funding, but can also provide help in actors, music, martial arts directors, distribution and other aspects.

As soon as the news came out, countless newcomers who had dreams of making movies were excited and sent their works and film plans with full of hope.

Yang Ye threw all these things to the creative department of Baiyang Film Company and gave them preliminary review.

Pick out some distinctive ones and give them to Yang Ye for review.

Soon, he received some good stuff.

This is mainly due to the fact that Yang Ye is so famous that many people hope to get his favor and shoot the work of their dreams.

Especially in China, students from Beijing Film Academy, Central Academy of Drama, and Shanghai Theatre Academy were all excited when they heard the news.

Since private film production was not allowed in the country, if one wanted to make a movie, one had to join a state-owned film studio, start step by step, and slowly work one's way up to the position of director.

Or you can buy a spot from a state-owned film studio.

Film studios such as Beijing Film Academy, Changchun Film Studio and Zhuhai Film Studio are allocated a number of film quotas every year.

But they simply cannot finish the filming, so they choose to cooperate with some private companies.

Sell ​​them the filming opportunities and share the profits after the film is released.

This is very troublesome and you must have connections. Otherwise, even if you have a lot of talent, you can only watch helplessly.

The "Asian Rising Star Mentoring Program" proposed by Yang Ye gave them a new path.

……

In July, summer vacation is coming.

"The Yellow Skin Grave 2", which Zhang Yimou spent two years producing, is finally released.

This movie was completed last year, but the post-production took some time. The Spring Festival schedule was not suitable, so we had to wait until the summer vacation.

During this period, Zhang Yimou also filmed his life's masterpiece "To Live".

Yang Ye has basically handed over the "Ghost Blows Out the Light" series to Zhang Yimou.

Zhang Yimou is now working on one art film, and another one, "Ghost Blows Out the Light".

"To Live" has been released in Hong Kong, and the local box office has reached 820 million Hong Kong dollars, which is pretty good as an art film.

"The Yellow Skin Grave 2" tells the story of Hu Bayi, Wang Pangzi, and Ding Sitian following a man named Lao Yangpi on an adventure to the Mobei grassland.

Yang Ye took some time to watch the sample film, which turned out to be quite good.

The movie is full of suspense from beginning to end, and the horror atmosphere is very strong, making people feel very nervous.

Zhang Yimou is very good at creating a tense atmosphere. "The Great Wall" is a recognized bad movie, but this movie is not completely useless.

For example, when the soldiers defending the city are preparing to fight against the Taotie, there is majestic music at the beginning.

When everyone was ready, the music stopped and only the whistling wind could be heard. The soldiers were quietly waiting for something.

At that moment, the tense atmosphere reached its maximum.

Zhang Yimou knew very well how to handle some details, but he could not control the entire project.

The stupidest operation in "The Great Wall" is probably the so-called "zipline attack".

The female soldiers tied a rope and held spears, and jumped down from the Great Wall to stab the Taotie to death.

This operation is so shocking, what idiot could have come up with this?

In fact, this operation has a source.

There is a very famous novel in the United States called "Eragon", which was later made into a movie "Dragon Rider", but the movie flopped at the box office and only one was released.

Later, someone imitated this novel and wrote a novel called "The Spear Knight".

The story structure of "Spear Knight" is the same as that of "Dragon Knight", except that the mount is changed from a dragon to a griffin.

In the novel setting, the griffin is relatively small and can barely seat one person, who fights with an extremely thin spear in his hand.

How can you fight if you are flying in the sky with a spear? You can't stab anyone!
The author designed that the griffin falls from the sky at an extremely fast speed, and the knight on it stabs the enemy to death with a spear. The griffin is indestructible and anyone hit by it will die instantly.

This scene is a bit similar to a golden eagle fishing. The golden eagle can dive at a speed of up to 320 kilometers per hour, and no fish can escape its attack.

"The Great Wall" probably got the inspiration from here, and created a light female soldier who jumped from the Great Wall and, with the help of gravity acceleration, stabbed the Taotie to death in one blow.

Judging from the scenes in the movie, Da Tiantian stabbed several Taotie to death with great efficiency.

But you can poke it all you want, but you also want to put in a few scenes of female soldiers feeding Taotie and exaggerate the tragic and heroic scene. You are really bored.

Moreover, in "The Spear Knight", in order to reduce the burden on the griffin and achieve the fastest speed, the knight wore only a pair of shorts and held a wooden spear.

The female soldiers in "The Great Wall" have to wear armor that is so heavy that it would be inconvenient to pull the Taotie up even if you stab it to death.

If Da Tiantian was like in "The Spear Knight", wearing only a pair of shorts...

Back to "The Yellow Skin Grave", Zhang Yimou spent a lot of effort in recreating the monsters in the novel in this movie.

Giant centipedes, giant scorpion snakes, giant money snakes, etc., are all made to look very scary.

The battle with them took a lot of effort and it looked thrilling and exciting.

In the movie, Lao Yangpi's identity is revealed. It turns out that he was a tomb robber when he was young and once followed a man named Chen to rob tombs.

This led to the proposal of the Xiangling Lishi sect, the introduction of the character Chen Yulou, the leader of Xiangling, and a preview of the next movie, "The Wrath of the West Hunan".

Yang Ye said when "Mojin: The Lost Tomb" was released that all the stories he knew about tomb robbing were told to him by a man named Blind Chen in Kowloon Walled City.

It is obvious that the next movie will tell the story of Blind Chen.

At the end of the movie, when the subtitles were halfway through, an easter egg appeared. Chen Yulou flashed by, waving a folding fan and wearing a long robe. I don't know who played him.

(End of this chapter)