Chapter 833 Donghai Literature Grand Prize
The name Lin Weimin cannot be avoided in the Chinese film industry in September and October 1996.
In early September, there was "Life is Beautiful", and in late September, there was "Good Talk". Both films were adapted from Lin Weimin's novels, and both won major awards at the world's top film festivals.
Both films were released in China one after the other, and were warmly welcomed by the audience, achieving excellent box office and reputation.
"Life is Beautiful" was released 35 days ago and has grossed 123 million yuan, becoming one of the few films in the Chinese film market in recent years to have grossed over 100 million yuan. The China Film Corporation, which was responsible for introducing the film, made a lot of money this time, and theaters across the country also benefited greatly.
During the film's release, many domestic publications published critics' reviews of the film, which were almost unanimously positive.
"If You Are the One" was released right after "Life is Beautiful", and now its box office potential is almost exhausted. Judging from the current trend, the box office should be between 85 and 90 million before it is withdrawn.
As a domestic film, "If You Are the One" is rarely able to compete with imported blockbusters at the box office.
Some commentary articles also put forward the view that it is not that domestic audiences do not like to watch domestic films, but that the production level and aesthetic standards of domestic films are still stuck in the past ten years and have not kept up with the audience's aesthetic needs, so they are at an absolute disadvantage in the competition with imported blockbusters.
It didn't take long for this argument to be widely spread. The relatively objective remarks helped many film industry practitioners to clear the fog before their eyes, restore some confidence, and boost industry confidence in the entire film market.
At the end of the release of "If You Are the One", "The Emperor's Ode", jointly produced by Xi'an Film Studio and Hong Kong Film Company with an investment of 40 million RMB, was officially released.
The film held a press conference and premiere in Yanjing, with the press conference coming first and the premiere coming later.
Lin Weimin and Wu Tianming, the director of Xi'an Film Studio, have been friends for many years. Wu Tianming put a lot of effort into the release of "The Emperor's Shadow" and invited many friends to attend. Lin Weimin was also invited to attend.
When he arrived, the press conference had already ended and the premiere was about to begin.
When they met, Lin Weimin first greeted Wu Tianming warmly, and then saw Jiang Wen, who was in high spirits.
Jiang Wen has reason to be so flamboyant recently. His movie "If You Are the One" just won the Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival and took in over 80 million at the box office. It hasn't even finished showings yet, and now another big-budget movie "The Emperor's Song" starring him is about to be released. He has recently become the darling of many domestic media, and some media even shouted out the slogan "Jiang Wen Yue".
"Big Shot Jiang!" Lin Weimin joked.
Jiang Wen nodded and bowed, "Teacher Lin, you are really good at joking. There is no big shot in front of you. Xiao Jiang!"
Xu Qing on the side laughed out loud. She was the typical Yanjing beauty admired by Jiang Wen, Feng Xiaogang and others, but her appearance also had a bit of the charm of a Jiangnan girl. She was in her early thirties and was full of charm.
Lin Weimin nodded and smiled at her, and Xu Qing quickly greeted him.
Lin Weimin greeted Ge You again, and Lu Wei, who was standing next to director Zhou Xiaowen, greeted Lin Weimin, the screenwriter of "Farewell My Concubine".
After chatting with his acquaintances for a while, Lin Weimin also politely chatted with director Zhou Xiaowen, and then sat down next to Wu Tianming.
The movie started playing, with the familiar opening credits, and it began with the shocking double N-point feeding scene.
Lin Weimin is no stranger to "The Emperor's Shadow". As one of the rare big-budget movies in the 1990s, it was also reported to have been temporarily withdrawn and banned. How could Lin Weimin, as a movie enthusiast in later generations, not have seen it?
If we put aside the director's point of view, the standard of this movie is actually not low. From a purely viewing perspective, it is a pleasure.
Of course, the most profound impression this movie left on Chinese movie fans was probably the actress who fed N at the beginning.
It is full and surging, with a primitive vitality, very much like the flavor of Mo Yan's books. The director must have read a lot of them, referring to Mo Yan's books.
Speaking of actresses, there is only one actress' name in the cast list of "The Emperor's Shadow", and that is the heroine Xu Qing.
As for the actress who was fed N at the beginning, there was no information about her from beginning to end.
Even after more than 20 years, no one still knows the name of this actress.
This incident has also become one of the unsolved mysteries in the Chinese film industry.
The 130-minute movie screening ended. As one of the guests invited to attend the premiere, Lin Weimin was invited to speak. He is familiar with commercial mutual promotion.
Besides, their movies are really well made, at most they are not commercial enough.
The movie premiere was over and "The Emperor's Shadow" was officially released. Lin Weimin didn't take the movie seriously, but Yu Dong and Zhang Yimou were extremely nervous.
In the first few days after the release of "The Emperor's Shadow", Yu Dong called everywhere to ask people about the box office situation of "The Emperor's Shadow".
At that time, box office data statistics were not well developed, and the easiest way was to ask the people in the theater chain directly. However, the movie had just been released and the box office had not yet been counted, so the people in the theater chain could only give Yu Dong a vague explanation.
The audience was not as large as when "Life is Beautiful" and "Say It Well" were released.
After inquiring for two or three days, Yu Dong received the same news from almost all theaters across the country, so he felt relieved.
"The Emperor's Ode" has the same theme as "Hero", and even the plots are somewhat similar. They are direct competitors. If its box office is good, it will not be good news for "Hero".
Yu Dong had just put his mind at ease when, without any warning, the hotly anticipated movie "The Emperor's Shadow" was suddenly pulled from the screens. This was only four days after the release of this big-budget movie.
When the news came out, the Chinese film industry was in an uproar.
No one expected that a movie produced by Xi'an Film Studio, with an investment of 40 million RMB and starring many big names such as Jiang Wen and Ge You, would be suddenly withdrawn four days after its release. For a while, there was a lot of speculation in the industry.
Some say it’s because the film reflects politics, some say it’s because the Xi’an Film Studio offended the leaders of the Film Bureau, and some say it’s because the Hong Kong producer disliked the low box office and took the initiative to withdraw the film…
The sudden withdrawal of "The Emperor's Shadow" has become a mystery in the Chinese film industry, just like the actress in the title sequence.
But this mystery is not difficult to solve. After the chaos of various rumors in the first few days, the reason why the movie was suddenly taken off the screen gradually became clear.
Since the film was released, the problems in the film's historical explanation have been criticized by some experts and scholars. Although it has not been officially confirmed, the reasons should be similar.
Yu Dong was delighted by the sudden withdrawal of "The Song of Qin". Although this attitude was a bit unkind, he still couldn't help but feel happy.
He also knew that his idea of hoping that his opponent would make mistakes was very unpromising, but "Hero" was too important to him, to Wenhua, and even to Chinese films, so he couldn't help but worry about gains and losses and couldn't muster the so-called demeanor of a general.
It's November now and the crew of "Hero" has gone to Inner Mongolia for filming. The conditions at the filming location are difficult and the crew is working very tight.
Yu Dong is going to visit the set to cheer and encourage the crew.
Before going to the crew, Yu Dong greeted Lin Weimin in advance. Lin Weimin asked him, "Are you going just like that?"
"How could that be possible with 10,000 yuan?" Yu Dong said.
"There are so many people in the crew, what can you do with the little money you bring? Ask the finance department to take more. This is the 'fuel fee' and you can't save it."
It’s not that Lin Weimin cannot accept that “there are fish in the water”, but the prerequisite is to do a good job and be moderate in loving money.
"Hero" is the highlight of Wenhua Films next year. To a certain extent, it will even affect the development of Chinese films. At this time, morale should be boosted rather than discouraged.
Two days after Yu Dong left, Lin Weimin suddenly received a call from Shi Tiesheng, telling him good news.
Shi Tiesheng's short story "Notes on the Old House" won the gold medal of the "Donghai 300,000 Yuan Literature Prize" sponsored by Zhijiang's "Donghai" literary monthly, with a prize of 50,000 yuan.
On the phone, Shi Tiesheng's tone was somewhat excited.
The reason why he was so happy was that he won the prize, but the more important thing was the 50,000 yuan prize money.
Shi Tiesheng has been engaged in writing for many years, but his output is not very high. Many of his works received good responses after publication, but the sales after being published in collections were average. The 50,000 yuan prize is almost equivalent to his income for two or three years. For him, who has never lived a wealthy life, there is no better news than this.
When Lin Weimin heard the news, he was also very happy for Shi Tiesheng.
Last year, Da Jia magazine contacted Shi Tiesheng and proposed that as long as he published "Notes on the Empty Chamber" in Da Jia, he could win the 100,000 yuan grand prize of the "Da Jia Honghe Literature Award" jointly sponsored by Da Jia and Honghe Cigarette Factory.
But Shi Tiesheng felt that he might not be able to write many novels in his lifetime, so he finally resisted the temptation of a huge bonus and submitted the novel to Contemporary Magazine for publication.
After the publication of "Notes on Work" in "Contemporary", it received a warm response and the critics gave the novel very high praise, but it received mixed reviews among readers, which has a lot to do with Shi Tiesheng's creative approach.
The novel was published a few months ago, but its sales were mediocre and did not bring much profit to Shi Tiesheng.
Now, "Notes on the Old House" has won a gold medal worth 50,000 yuan, which can be regarded as God's reward for Shi Tiesheng's persistence.
The two chatted on the phone for a long time, and Shi Tiesheng said that he was still planning to go to Hangzhou to receive the award.
In later generations, the name of the literary monthly "Donghai" is not well-known, but it actually has a long history.
Donghai was originally the journal of the Zhijiang Federation of Literary and Art Circles, named Zhijiang Literature and Art, founded in 1951, renamed Donghai in 1956, and ceased publication in 1964. Later, in 1975, it was renamed Zhejiang Literature and Art, and in 1978 it was renamed Donghai again. It is the only provincial literary monthly in Zhijiang Province.
After the reform and opening up, this publication also regained vitality, with sales exceeding one million copies at one point, becoming the starting point for many writers in Zhijiang Province at that time.
In 1995, most domestic literary journals were facing survival difficulties, and "East China Sea" was no exception. The magazine suffered losses and morale was low.
At this time, Zhao Ruiyong was transferred to the "Donghai" Literary Magazine as president and editor-in-chief. He begged for funds from Li Shiqing, chairman of Yongkang Brothers Holding Group, and established the "Donghai Literature Award". The first prize was 300,000 yuan, and the slogan "Donghai 300,000 Yuan Literature Prize" was promoted to the outside world.
This slogan may be a bit vulgar, but such a huge prize money has indeed brought countless attention to "Donghai" magazine. It has also made the "Donghai Literature Award" have a wide influence as soon as it was born, becoming the most anticipated event in the domestic literary world.
"Okay, okay, go and receive the award, and I'll celebrate with you when you come back!"
The two of them talked for a while, and Lin Weimin was happy. He decided to leave early and go to Shi Tiesheng's house to celebrate with him.
When he arrived at Shi Tiesheng's home, many of his friends who had heard the news also came, and everyone was happy for Shi Tiesheng.
Cheng Ximi enthusiastically prepared a sumptuous dinner.
That night, everyone gathered at Shi Tiesheng's home, talking about literature and ideals, laughing and chatting, as if they had returned to that brilliant literary era.
It was already past 10 o'clock in the evening when Lin Weimin returned home. He fell into a deep sleep, still a little drunk.
At some point, a shrill ringing sound suddenly rang out.
(End of this chapter)
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