Chapter 672: Go ahead
Teng Jinxian hesitated for a moment, but still said, "But this is the first time that the Shanghai Film Festival is held, so it's not big enough. We can only cast a wide net. You are the best screenwriter at the Oscars and Cannes, so you are more than qualified to be a judge at the film festival."
He asked, "How is it? Is it okay for you to be a judge?"
Old Teng had just helped him, and he had rejected other people's kindness before. If he refused again this time, it would be too disrespectful and it would be difficult for them to be friends with him.
"No problem." Lin Weimin said. He thought about it again and decided to help people to the end. He asked, "Who are the judges invited? Do you need anyone else?"
Teng Jinxian's eyes lit up when he heard this, "Who do you want to invite?"
"How about Alan Resnais? I'll ask first. I can't guarantee that he will come."
Teng Jinxian clapped his hands, that’s great.
He then asked: "Can you still contact Bertolucci? Can you invite him to come too?"
"I bumped into him last time when I went to Italy to receive an award. Forget about inviting him. The movies he's working on now are not very friendly to China."
Personal friendships are personal friendships, but the last work of the "Oriental Trilogy" that Bertolucci is working on has a bit of a crooked bottom.
Lin Weimin had no way to stop others from making movies, but he also couldn't be so shameless as to invite them to participate in the Shanghai Film Festival.
Teng Jinxian didn't know the inside story of the movie and was a little surprised when he heard Lin Weimin's words.
"I heard that Ying Ruocheng cooperated with him for the second time, didn't he?"
Teng Jinxian smelled gossip and his eyes lit up.
"Oh! What am I afraid of?"
…
After the two of them finished chatting, Lin Weimin contacted Alan Reinay when he returned.
In 1987, Lin Weimin went to France to receive the Prix Goncourt, where he met Alain Resnais, and they have kept in touch over the years.
Alain Resnais is now 71 years old, but he has not retired from the film industry. It's just that he has focused more on stage plays in recent years.
Last year he directed the feature film "Smoking/Don't Smoking", which was adapted from a stage play. It just participated in this year's Berlin Film Festival and was nominated for the Golden Bear Award. He has nothing to do now.
After receiving Lin Weimin's invitation, Allen Reinier readily agreed. Lin Weimin also wrote back to Teng Jinxian, which could be considered as returning a favor.
The next day, Lin Weimin received a call from Shanghai. The caller was Wu Yigong, director of the Shanghai Film Bureau, who specially expressed his gratitude to Lin Weimin.
When organizing a film festival, the two most worrying things are the judges and the source of films. The two complement each other.
For a new film festival, the influence and connections of the judges largely determine the quality and quantity of the films entering the festival.
Alain Resnais is the standard-bearer of French New Wave films, a representative figure of Left Bank directors, and a master of modernist films. His status in European film history is in no way inferior to that of Jean-Luc Godard.
Jonathan Rosenbaum, a famous American film critic, even called him "the greatest French filmmaker", greater than Jean-Luc Godard.
Lin Weimin's ability to bring Alain Resnais into the Shanghai Film Festival jury has undoubtedly greatly enhanced the international publicity of the first Shanghai International Film Festival.
Wu Yigong talked about another issue on the phone. Originally, Xie Jin had been confirmed to be the chairman of the film festival's jury, but now Alain Resnais has arrived.
Given his historical status in the world film industry, it is definitely an honor for him to come to the Shanghai Film Festival. If he only condescends to be a judge, it would be a bit too disrespectful.
After hearing Wu Yigong's concerns, Lin Weimin smiled and said, "It's okay. I've already told him about this. Just think of the old man as someone who's here for a trip. Don't think of it as anything complicated."
With Lin Weimin's words, Wu Yigong felt relieved. He expressed his gratitude again and hung up the phone.
"Old Mou, just continue with your story." Lin Weimin put down the phone and said to Mou Chunzhi who came to report on his work.
Mou Chunzhi went on to say: "Hangzhou Printing Factory is the first large-scale state-owned printing factory in Zhijiang Province, and it is also one of the largest printing factories in China. They are also very happy to cooperate with us this time. In recent years, the sales of publishing houses in various places have declined. Their factory has been expanding blindly before, and it just happens that there is excess production capacity.
Our cooperation with them has solved our urgent needs. Another advantage is that Hangzhou is located in East China, and its logistics and transportation can cover many provinces in the south, which also saves our transportation costs in disguise.
In addition, the expansion of the Huangcun Printing Factory will take about three months to complete. The president has raised enough foreign exchange reserves. The computer printing equipment installed in the new expansion will have a production capacity of more than 200 million sheets, which will greatly meet the printing needs of the company. "
After listening to this, Lin Weimin nodded with satisfaction, "Well done. The printing crisis in the first half of the year was finally overcome safely. You have made great contributions through hard work!"
Mou Chunzhi quickly said, "This is all my job. You are fighting in the front, and the president is protecting us from behind. This is all thanks to you and the president."
Mou Chunzhi's words may seem like flattery, but most of them are sincere.
It is almost June now, and half of 93 has already passed.
At the beginning of the year, all major newspapers and magazines were redesigned, ushering in the so-called "reform wave."
Unfortunately, the thunder was much ado about nothing, and the rush of "reforms" did not produce any fruitful results. The so-called reforms of most newspapers and magazines were nothing more than self-entertainment.
On the contrary, the Guowen Society has kept silent and never mentioned any reforms, but everything it has done is innovative.
In April, the second volume of "World Literature Classics Collection" - Chinese Literature was officially launched for sale. It was still limited to 3,000 volumes per month and was sold out in less than half a month.
There are 3,000 volumes of books, each with 40 books. The content of the Chinese literature volume is more than that of the French literature volume. The pricing of individual books remains unchanged, but the pricing of individual volumes is naturally more expensive.
One volume of the series is priced as high as 516 yuan. Despite such a high price, it was sold out in just half a month. There is no doubt that "World Literature Classics Collection" has formed its own strong brand power and has a group of devout and wealthy fans.
Together with the French literature volume which has been a best-seller since October last year, the two volumes of "World Literature Classics Collection" now generate nearly 2.7 million yuan in sales for Guowen Publishing House every month.
Mou Chunzhi has now gradually come to appreciate the beauty of what the editor-in-chief calls "hunger marketing," and he truly understands people's hearts.
This is not only a sales strategy, but also a powerful means of publicity. When Mou Chunzhi occasionally has dinner with friends from the publishing and cultural circles, they always talk about the "World Literature Classics Collection" published by Guowen Publishing House.
Even though some people have already bought the book, they still feel fortunate to have collected it. They also remember to say hello to Mou Chunzhi and ask him to reserve a few volumes for them when the next volume comes out.
That scene inevitably reminded Mou Chunzhi of when Guowen Publishing House published the "Newly Printed Jin Ping Mei Cihua" a few years ago, and all kinds of people begged and pleaded to buy a set at a high price.
In the one and a half years since the project was launched at the beginning of last year, the "World Literature Classics Collection", which is considered to be the most authoritative library product in the history of Chinese publishing, has completely established a strong reputation and brand effect in the cultural and publishing circles and among readers.
In addition to the "World Literature Classics Collection", the Ragdoll Series directed by Lin Weimin also achieved amazing results in just a few months.
It has been more than two months since the first three works, "Wasted City", "The World of Bitterness" and "The Season of Flower and Rain", were published. "The World of Bitterness" sold 450,000 copies, "The Season of Flower and Rain" sold 750,000 copies, and "Wasted City" was the most exaggerated, with sales catching up with the already popular "Spirited Away", reaching a staggering 1.9 million copies.
The Rag Tiger series of books, redeem yourself in one battle!
This made countless domestic publishing colleagues envious and jealous.
Such exaggerated achievements also made the name of the "Rag Tiger Series" famous across the country, becoming another powerful book brand of Guowen Publishing House after the "World Literature Classics Collection".
At present, the second batch of selected books for the Ragdoll Series has been determined.
Liang Xiaosheng's "Extinction", Zhao Mei's "Langyuan", Cui Jingsheng's "Paper Necklace"... a total of five works will be launched on the market in mid-June.
During the past six months, Wei Fengjun, who is in charge of the distribution business, has been very successful and has already become a guest of honor in the Xinhua Bookstore system and secondary channel booksellers across the country.
Now that the second batch of works in the Rag Tiger Series is about to be released, the people in the Xinhua Bookstore system are at least quite restrained and at most they just treat the guests to a meal. However, the secondary channel booksellers from all over the country who rushed to Yanjing after hearing the news are using all means.
They couldn't win over the three giants in the company, so Wei Fengjun, the person in charge of distribution, was naturally their key target.
Mou Chunzhi would hear gossip about Wei Fengjun from time to time, and he always felt envious. Although he was in charge of the printing business of Guowen Publishing House and had been doing quite well in the past year or two, printing business was a hard job after all, and was far from as comfortable as Wei Fengjun's.
However, while he was envious, Mou Chunzhi was also very rational. He knew very well that Wei Fengjun's current situation was actually not optimistic.
Even I heard it, and it was widely spread in the company. Is it possible that several senior leaders in the company and even the leaders in the department didn't know about it?
You never know when something might happen!
"Old Mou!"
Mou Chunzhi was distracted for a moment and only reacted when he heard Lin Weimin calling him.
"Editor-in-Chief, I'm sorry."
"It's okay." Lin Weimin waved his hand and continued, "At present, the sales of "The Last Hun" and "Eight Miles Love and Hate" are good. It should not be difficult to break one million copies within a year. In addition, the second batch of works in the Buhuhu series will be launched soon. You must keep a close eye on the printing factory. Especially the Hangzhou Printing Factory. This is the first time we have cooperated with each other this year. Both parties are still in the running-in period. Don't be careless."
"I have remembered everything you said and will strictly follow it."
After Mou Chunzhi left, Lin Weimin packed up and left work.
As soon as he got home, Xu Feng called him.
The national release date of "Farewell My Concubine" has been officially confirmed, set for June 18th.
Different from the later release of "Farewell My Concubine", this time, with the help of Teng Jinxian and Tian Congming, Lin Weimin and Xu Feng discussed and decided to return the favor and support the new initiative of film reform.
"Farewell My Concubine" was no longer distributed by China Film Corporation like many other domestic feature films, but was instead distributed under the name of Yanying Studio and handed over to provincial distribution companies.
At this time, although Document No. 3 had been issued for more than four months, the struggle between the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television and local governments was still ongoing. Nearly two-thirds of the provincial distribution and screening companies across the country were opposed to the reform.
The novel of "Farewell My Concubine" has a strong readership base in China, the film has a large investment scale, many stars, and it has just won the highest honor of the Cannes Film Festival, the Palme d'Or. Putting so many eye-catching elements together, it is no exaggeration to say that it can replicate the box office miracles of "Shaolin Temple", "The Horseman" and "Lush Mountain Love".
Xu Feng had just contacted two or three provincial distribution companies when distribution companies from all over the country started calling him non-stop.
This is all money!
Of course, not all distribution companies were coveting the profits that "Farewell My Concubine" could bring. After the news spread, many provincial distribution companies were still waiting and watching. After Lin Weimin and Xu Feng discussed it, it was a simple matter.
If the provincial issuing company does not do it, then it will be handed over to the municipal issuing company.
This immediately made those stubborn provincial distribution companies anxious. Their younger brothers had been relying on them for their livelihood, and now that their younger brothers had new jobs, how could they still be the big brothers?
After only a few days of resistance, these provincial issuing companies that had been resisting stubbornly could no longer hold on.
After all, it was all money that could be put into one's pocket easily. Watching it all flow into the pockets of his younger brothers, he was forced to not fight for a share. This was not only a loss of 800 yuan to himself, but also an increase of 800 enemies.
Just give in!
What can I do?
It’s not like we haven’t struggled before!
I have some things to do at home, so I will only update twice in the next few days.
(End of this chapter)
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
