Started as an independent producer in 1988

Chapter 269 This is called an international film festival!

On June 1, the Asia International Film Festival preparatory meeting was held for the first time.

The first thing to discuss is the selection of the opening and closing venues of the film festival.

There are various proposals for the choice of venue. Some say that a new one should be built, some say that it should be placed in the Beijing Film Studio, and there are also Grand View Garden, Temple of Di, Temple of Heaven and so on.

The Beijing city government hopes that the opening and closing ceremonies can be separated and held in two places, so as to better showcase the style of the capital.

Chen Shiping guessed that the Huairou Film and Television Base had not yet been built.

Otherwise, the capital would probably have to put one end in Huairou and the other end in the Temple of Heaven.

It's not far, the straight-line distance is only tens of kilometers, and there are screening theaters all over the capital.

Focus on a comprehensive display!

This is what the Beijing International Film Festival did later.

Chen Shiping didn't want people to come to the film festival and have to travel all over the capital.

First of all, transportation issues aside, how do filmmakers communicate with each other when they are so dispersed?

In the morning, I watched a movie on the North Third Ring Road, and in the afternoon I went to the South Third Ring Road to attend a seminar.

Chen Shiping didn't want to be so troublesome, and the closing and opening ceremonies couldn't be spread too far apart.

He looked at the leaders in the capital and said without giving in:

"I still stick to my original opinion and renovate the Grand View Garden Photo Studio. The opening ceremony will be held in the Grand View Tower and the closing ceremony will be placed in the Temple of Heaven!"

The Temple of Heaven and the Grand View Tower are much closer, and it's not far to go back and forth by car.

The screening will be done in seven or eight cinemas from Xidan to Wangfujing.

As soon as Chen Shiping finished his proposal, some people began to refute, saying that the distance was too close, that the Daguanlou Cinema was small in size, and currently only had one screening room, etc.

In addition to this problem, they are still saying that there is no way to show the style of the capital.

Chen Shiping was so numb, he really regarded the film festival as an investment promotion!

Forget it, let them discuss it sloppily first. If they don't finish talking now, they won't have a chance to make a decision directly.

The meeting continued to discuss a series of details about the preparation and location of the film festival.

People from the Shanghai International Film Festival were called over to provide advice.

After all, the Shanghai International Film Festival has been held once, so it can be considered experienced.

Although Chen Shiping has a complete plan, the newly established preparatory group still needs to discuss it again.

Otherwise, you and Chen Shiping will be left alone. What is the significance of this group?

What is the point of joining the group?

After discussing various trivial issues for more than an hour, the meeting took an intermission.

Chen Shiping went out to smoke irritably. Xie Tieli walked by and said with a smile, "Are you impatient?"

"Thank you, Mr. Chen." Chen Shiping put away his cigarette, shook his head and said, "It's not that I'm impatient, I'm thinking about other things."

Xie Tieli patted Chen Shiping on the shoulder and said: "The film festival is a big event, don't put so much pressure on yourself, don't have so many worries, just show your courage."

Chen Shiping smiled and said, "You're right, I'll pound the table later."

Xie Tieli laughed and said, "I didn't ask you to pound the table. After all, all parties have their own considerations."

This is true. The Filmmakers Association has its own demands, the General Administration has its requirements, and the Beijing government has its expectations.

Each party has its own ideas, and it takes courage and time to reconcile.

Chen Shiping could only communicate and negotiate one by one.

It is not difficult to do something well, but it is difficult to satisfy everyone.

After a short break, the meeting continued, and Chen Shiping also became serious and began to communicate with all parties.

After spending a few days, Chen Shiping gradually sorted out various matters of the film festival, and also coordinated and communicated with all parties on the final plan.

First of all, we need to determine the opening and closing, the reception and route of the film festival.

Since the capital wanted to show the city's style, Chen Shiping placed the designated reception hotel a little further away.

You can see the scenery of the capital on the way to the opening or closing.

This will save you a lot of trouble during the film festival.

It was originally planned to be placed in the Jingcheng Hotel or the Capital Hotel, but now Chen Shiping has directly secured it at the Shangri-La Hotel.

Take Xisi, make a circle, take West Chang'an Avenue, then go around the entrance of the Forbidden City, then cross Qianmen Street to the Daguan Tower, and finally take the overpass to the Temple of Heaven.

The cinemas showing the film festival are also on this route. Geological Auditorium, Victory Cinema, Red Mansion, Capital Cinema, etc. have all been selected as screening cinemas.

Different cinemas will assume the screening tasks of different screening units.

During the film festival, special buses and minibuses will be arranged to pick up and drop off films at regular intervals and at fixed points according to routes.

Five themed forums will be held during the film festival.

Film Industry Forum, Film Technology Forum, Film Creation Forum, International Film Cooperation Forum, and Asian Young Filmmakers Forum.

The forum locations will be at the National Center for the Performing Arts, China Film Archive, Beijing Film Academy, Beijing Film Studio, and Temple of Heaven Park.

At the same time, the Asian Film Festival Carnival will be organized.

It includes a tour with good films (screening of hundreds of Chinese classics), a dream-building tour with light and shadow (visiting the Beijing Film Studio), a leisurely landscape tour (visiting the scenery of Beijing), children's & animation film sections, film concerts, etc. different activities.

The carnival activities that follow are to make money, and the organizers also want to make money!
It’s okay if you don’t spend some money when you come!
Is it okay to take you on a sightseeing trip without buying some souvenirs?

It’s okay to go to the movies without buying a ticket!

Is it okay to go to a concert without buying tickets or records?
Ordinary tourists can also participate in these activities, providing a multi-level cultural experience!
Isn’t cultural promotion just a little bit like this?
People from the Shanghai International Film Festival originally wanted to come over and provide some experience.

Now after seeing these preparations made by Chen Shiping, I have learned from them.

The first Shanghai International Film Festival was really imitated bit by bit based on the various brochures that director Wu Yigong brought back from Cannes. It was not mature at all.

Now that I have seen the film festival organized by Chen Shiping, the festivalgoers are completely convinced.

What the hell is a film festival? This is a film festival!

After the big plan was decided, Chen Shiping stopped participating in the subsequent discussions.

Chen Shiping doesn't have time to worry about those details now. The other members of the preparatory team will do it first, and he will make the final decision.

These are not big things, the big thing is getting people to come to the film festival.

It doesn’t matter if there are just a few people participating, you have to have a sufficient number of film producers.

Otherwise, if someone comes with a movie and finds out in the end that there is no film distributor, the movie cannot be sold, then who the hell would come?

The film trading market is the most important part of a film festival!
Chen Shiping is now going to contact major film producers around the world to participate in the Asian International Film Festival.

Some he is familiar with, and some he is not familiar with must also be invited!
No matter how powerful the studio is, everyone is invited! Individual film producers are not spared either.

World-renowned independent producers and investors are also invited!
Financing is also a part of the film festival!

Chen Shiping wants to make Asian filmmakers not want to leave once they come here!
One-time full service in place!

From investment to production to participation in film festivals and distribution issues, we can handle it all at once!
I don’t believe those directors can run away when they come!
In addition to these, Chen Shiping also needs to invite world-renowned film critics and media to participate in the film festival and reach a cooperation agreement.

Otherwise, when people come to the film festival and they ask you to provide a media brochure, you can’t even provide it, and you’re just trying to make a fool of yourself!

It took Chen Shiping nearly three months to complete these tasks.

It's September now, and Chen Shiping still has a lot of work left to do!

Film selectors from various regions in Asia, selection of jury members, guests at the opening and closing of the film festival. However, these tasks are not that difficult. Chen Shiping relied on his reputation and connections to complete it in a few days.

At the same time, mainstream film media magazines around the world began to place advertisements for the Asian Film Festival.

Just for these advertisements, Chen Shiping spent millions of dollars!

However, these are one-time investments, and the film festival promotion is mainly for filmmakers.

As long as the first session is successful, there will be no need to spend money on publicity in the future.

And the more lively the promotion is now, the more interested the film producers and media will be.

The aroma of wine is also afraid of the deep alley!
In the office of Beijing Film Studio, Chen Shiping hung up the last phone call, leaned on his chair and let out a long sigh of relief.

After closing his eyes and concentrating for a while, there was a knock on the office door.

Han Laosan came in with a bunch of documents, looked at Chen Shiping and said with a smile: "Director, do you have time now?"

Chen Shiping rubbed his temples and said, "I have time, what do you want?"

"Let me report to you on the film situation in the factory."

Han Laosan sat opposite Chen Shiping, handed over a document and said: "The factory has produced a total of twelve movies this year, three are co-productions, and four are in production. Thirteen have been completed so far, and several more are being filmed."

Chen Shiping took it and took a look, raised his eyebrows and asked, "Haven't Kong Fansheng finished filming yet?"

“Some shots have to wait for the season.”

Chen Shiping nodded and asked, "What's the situation with Cheng Long's simple police story? Why has no one told me about it?"

Han Laosan said with a smile: "I told you last time that you were too busy and probably forgot about it. It was a coincidence."

"Cheng Long is pretty good, and he didn't forget to come back after developing in Hollywood."

Chen Shiping said with a smile: "Rush Hour's global box office is pretty good, nearly 100 million U.S. dollars. He has gained a foothold."

Han Laosan said with a smile: "Li Lianjie seems to have a hard time getting along with him. This year, he and Wang Jin made a movie called Mouse Hard."

Chen Shiping couldn't help but shake his head. It's normal for Kung Fu superstars to have conflicts, not to mention Li Lianjie still remembering to avenge Lizhi to relieve his anger.

Talking about Jet Li, Chen Shiping couldn't help but ask: "How are the preparations for Mission: Impossible? Have you started filming?"

"The preparations are almost complete. Xu Ke is in the late stages of working on The Bourne Supremacy 2 and will be ready to start filming soon."

Chen Shiping nodded and said, "Keep a closer eye, I'm too busy now to take care of these things."

Han Laosan nodded and reported to Chen Shiping on the box office situation of this year's movies.

Shouting Summer in the Drizzle was released together with White Night Walk.

The box office of the former was very low, only 10 million, and this was due to the blessing of Cheng Kaige winning the Cannes Jury Prize.

In comparison, the box office of White Night Walk is very high.

It was just released a few days ago and took in over RMB 76 million at the box office, but it did very well at the box office in Japan and South Korea.

It also dominated the charts during the summer season in Japan.

A total of more than 27 million US dollars was received at the box office in Southeast Asia.

Li Shaohong's "Pink" also performed well, taking in 37 million at the box office in the Mainland.

Zhang Yimo's "Grandma's Bridge" did not perform very well. It has been released for more than ten days now, and the box office has only reached over 10 million.

Chen Shiping was quite helpless. In order for the film to be released, he made a special trip to the bureau when preparing for the film festival.

Unfortunately, the final performance was not very impressive.

After chatting for a while, Chen Shiping talked about his movie.

"How many days until Hearing Girl is released?"

Han Laosan was convinced. You changed the schedule yourself, you didn’t know!

"The day after tomorrow, Victory Cinema."

Chen Shiping smiled awkwardly, changed the subject and said, "How is The Truman Show going?"

"I just went to the production department today to ask about this. The preparations are done and I'm waiting for you."

"We will start filming after Hearing Girl is released. Please notify Zhou Xingxing to come over."

After chatting with Han Laosan, Chen Shiping leaned on his chair and turned around in circles.

After being busy for several months, I was really not used to it when I was suddenly free.

After being dazed for a while, Chen Shiping went out for a walk.

Go to the TV Drama Creation Center.

I don’t know how the shooting of the Condor Shooting went.

I don’t know if Xu Yajun can play Guo Jing well.

However, Xu Yajun's acting skills are good, and his appearance is more like a junior, so he shouldn't be too bad.

Anyway, it can’t be worse than Li Yapeng.

But it is probably a bit difficult to surpass Huang Rihua.

This is the first Jin Yong drama in Mainland China, so let’s get it off to a good start.

Chen Shiping wandered to the TV Drama Creation Center, but he didn't see Mei Juan and there was no one in the office.

After asking around, I found out that they all went to Water Margin in Chengde to watch the crew filming.

Chen Shiping didn't have time to go there, so he asked about the condor and left.

Chen Shiping didn't go home at night and went to Chen Hong's place.

In the bathroom, Chen Hong wiped Chen Shiping's back with soap and muttered.

"I went to burn incense yesterday and donated a lot of money."

Chen Shiping asked strangely: "Why are you going to burn incense?"

Chen Hong said unhappily: "If you have something to ask, I can ask Bodhisattva. I have tried hard for so long and nothing happened, so I can only ask Bodhisattva."

"What are you asking for? A child?" Chen Shiping turned around and asked with a frown.

"It won't delay your having a child."

"You know what I mean."

"I won't make trouble, and I'm not stupid. What good will it do to me if I make trouble?"

"Let's wait two years before we talk."

"You deserve to be hurt to death! There's no need for it anyway!"

Chen Hong angrily gave Chen Shiping a shower and pushed him out.

Chen Shiping was helpless. This kind of thing could be said to be big or small.

But it is better to be careful during this critical period.

Infidelity in marriage is actually not a big deal, it is usually just a warning or a demerit.

But if there is an illegitimate child, it will be a big deal, and he will be dismissed 100%!

The Asian International Film Festival hasn't been held yet. If something goes wrong at this time, I don't know how many people will jump out to pick peaches.

When the Asian International Film Festival is held next year, Chen Shiping will be considered successful!
At that time, even if there is a problem, it will become a minor problem.

(End of this chapter)