Chapter 790
Anyone who knows Lu Yanhe, or even those who don't know him but know a little about him, knows what kind of personality he usually has.
When Lu Yanhe said, "I have lived up to everyone's expectations," those who knew him understood his unspoken words, while those who did not laughed at his arrogance and lack of humility.
Lu Yanhe couldn't be bothered to care.
He deeply realized that it is impossible for one person to satisfy or please everyone.
A youth who isn't reckless and impetuous is a wasted youth.
He ignored them.
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Once the film festival officially began, Lu Yanhe focused all his efforts on the screening and trading section.
Each individual will host a grand media exchange event.
The first character to be screened and traded was Lu Yanhe himself.
Six films were screened, each with a screening ceremony, a red carpet, and a post-screening Q&A session. Not only Lu Yanhe, but almost every film's main cast and crew, along with the stars, appeared on the red carpet and during the Q&A sessions, creating a dazzling and glittering spectacle.
Many of these films had already reached agreements on deals and collaborations, and were just waiting for the screenings before the official signing and announcement.
In particular, Lu Yanhe's Hollywood film "Flypaper," which he produced and wrote, premiered on the first day of the opening ceremony. It was arguably the most eye-catching film of the day, even overshadowing the films nominated for the main competition.
As expected—completely within Lu Yanhe's prediction—this dark action comedy with its high-energy plot twists received a warm reception.
Shortly after the premiere, China's Longyan Film Company announced that it had acquired the film's distribution rights in China for $5 million. Subsequently, Variety reported that South Korean streaming platform KK, Japan's Toho, Singapore's Mokshu, Thailand's Sahamon, India's Yash Raj, and Malaysia's Lemon had all acquired local distribution rights for no less than seven figures in US dollars.
The following day, Parameter announced that it had acquired the distribution rights for the film in Europe and America for $13 million.
In just two days, this film, which premiered in the newly established screening and trading section of the Jose Film Festival, earned more than $25 million in revenue from multi-regional distribution rights.
In the film market, Lu Yanhe remains synonymous with a money-making machine.
Subsequently, Icefield Video announced that it had acquired the Chinese television adaptation rights for "Flypaper". Following closely behind was Linghe's earlier work on comic and audio adaptations.
The next day, the second character in the series was Cai Na.
On that day, three Thai films starring Chayana were screened. Of course, just like the Lu Yanhe section, there were other films that were not screened. Chayana's section also had other works screened later.
On the same day, two Chinese film companies announced that they had acquired the Chinese distribution rights for three Thai films, none of which had been distributed in China before.
Subsequently, TVN also began negotiations for the remake rights to one of the Korean dramas, a youth romance film.
Lu Yanhe specifically borrowed a self-media operator from "Jump Up" to open an account for the Jose Film Festival's screening and trading section, updating various information in real time.
This account updates its status roughly every half hour to an hour.
Contacting, negotiating, reaching a preliminary agreement, transaction amount...
A bustling scene.
The goal is simple: to show everyone how booming the trading industry is and how diverse the types of trading are.
After the Murken Sorge segment began, South Korean game company KRG, American game company Red Snow, and Chinese game company Datang acquired the exclusive ten-year video game adaptation rights to three of the horror films for $9.2 million, $10 million, and $11 million respectively.
This news immediately caused a stir among major film companies around the world.
It's worth noting that these three horror movies have been released for several years.
How could such an old film fetch such a high price for its game adaptation rights at the Jose screening and trading section?!
Are you crazy?
Subsequently, a South Korean comic book company announced that it had acquired the comic book adaptation rights to these three horror movies for $800,000.
A Thai film company has acquired the remake rights to one of them.
...
In its first week, the Jose Film Festival's screening and trading section featured seven individual profiles: Lu Yanhe, Cai Na, Jiang Yuqian, Liu Bige, Wang Zhong, Muken Sorge, and Chen Bige. A total of 28 films were screened, and 102 deals were completed, covering more than ten categories including distribution, film remakes, TV series remakes, comics, animation, audio, and games. The total transaction value exceeded US$150 million.
The second week also features two big names: Kim Yeon-sook and Sandra Wichita.
For the Jose Film Festival, this screening and trading section brings not only the revenue behind the $150 million in transactions, but also the hundreds of buyers behind it, making it attractive to major film companies.
This variety of buyers is unprecedented at major film festivals.
The main reason is the deal for video game adaptations of Murken Sorge's three horror films, which has made major film companies with film libraries very interested and envious.
In the very second week, to everyone's surprise, Wang Zhong's "Three Mountains" was also bought by a British game company for the rights to be adapted into a video game, with the licensing fee reaching a staggering $8 million.
No one expected that game adaptation licensing would be so popular in this screening and discussion section, and that the transaction prices would be so high.
This isn't a one-off deal; it's just the adaptation licensing fee. Different licensing agreements involve revenue sharing and other income streams.
Especially—
These movies have been sitting in the library for a long time, so why haven't they been picked up by game companies before?
Why are so many deals being finalized so quickly at the Jose Film Festival?
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Mocken Sorge said to Lu Yanhe, "I need to take a copy back with me of the brochures your company made for those three movies; they're really well done."
Lu Yanhe laughed.
Xu Tianming personally oversaw the production of these three films by Murken Sorge. He contacted major game companies, sent them materials, conducted market and selling point analysis, invited them to participate in film festivals, and then let them experience firsthand how the audience felt about the film's story.
We've been communicating for almost a month now, and getting to the Jose Film Festival is just around the corner.
How could it be so fast, negotiating a licensing agreement worth tens of millions of US dollars in just a few days?
Those who truly understand the industry know that behind this booming trading market, work has been underway for some time.
However, in any case, this market takes place at the Jose Film Festival.
Before the next event even started, at the end of the first week, some film companies wanted to squeeze in during the second week and bring their own films to set up a booth.
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Eight days after the opening ceremony, Lu Yanhe attended the premiere red carpet of the Chinese film "Muddy," which was shortlisted for the main competition, and then followed up with the premiere red carpet of "Summer Shadows" in the afternoon.
Both of these films were ones he strongly advocated for from the beginning and believed were essential for inclusion in the main competition.
"Muddy" is a Chinese film with a rural theme.
In fact, it's now very difficult to see stories set in rural areas in Chinese films.
This story is very simple.
It even reminded Lu Yanhe of Cao Wenxuan's "The Grass House".
It is not suffering, but simplicity.
Blue sky and white clouds, red tiles and green trees.
It tells the story of three families during the summer. The story and characters are very much in the style of Hirokazu Kore-eda, featuring glimpses of everyday life with a focus on detail.
Each of the three families is facing its own troubles and difficulties, but the children of the three families are completely unaware of all this; they are playmates who grew up together.
The film doesn't compare the adult and children's storylines. Instead, it uses a childlike, pure joy to soften the various problems in real life, ultimately letting them vanish like bubbles in a subtle way. The problems aren't solved; they're simply no longer seen as issues trapping life.
What Lu Yanhe particularly enjoyed was the way these three families would eat cool watermelons scooped from the well together on summer nights. The adults would sigh and talk, then laugh, while the children would play happily, creating their own little world.
It is neither profound nor deep. However, it possesses something more precious than profundity and depth: a lingering and enduring quality.
It's as clever as it is clumsy.
This is Lu Yanhe's review of the film.
As expected, after its premiere, the film received a score of 3.4 in the festival's daily report, the highest among all the films selected for the main competition that had already been screened.
Audience reviews were also very positive. At least, judging from the feedback seen on social media, audiences enjoyed the film.
In the afternoon, the premiere of "Summer Shadows" took place.
Lu Yanhe was not nervous.
He believes in the power of good movies.
He didn't fully understand Wong Kar-wai's "The Grandmaster" when he watched it, but that didn't stop him from immersing himself in the film's beauty. So many of his films made him feel, "Yes, this is art." Many people criticize Wong Kar-wai for being pretentious, for losing money, and for being unable to understand his films, but almost no one denies that his movies, especially the visuals, possess a unique and captivating beauty.
"Summer Shadows" is actually a movie that is very similar in style to "Muddy".
Both are very calm movies with little plot twists. But "Muddy" has clear characters and a main storyline. Even though the story is simple, it still has a beginning, development, climax, and resolution, so the viewing threshold is relatively low.
"Summer Shadows" has absolutely no main plot. To be honest, it's similar to movies like "Little Forest," which is about someone cooking, like a mockumentary, yet it keeps you watching.
The same goes for Summer Shadows, though its style is completely different from Little Forest.
When the movie ended, the audience reaction wasn't as enthusiastic as that for "Muddy". Lu Yanhe saw many audience members sitting in the seats, looking somewhat dazed and confused, as if they hadn't expected the movie to end so soon.
However, Lu Yanhe also discovered that everyone was the kind of person who got absorbed in what they were looking at, then suddenly stopped, as if waking up from a dream.
Just as he had imagined, this was a movie that would never bore you to the point of leaving the theater.
Finally, the film received a score of 2.7 in the festival's daily publication, a very good review from the media, ranking it among the top.
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These are Lu Yanhe's two favorite films at this year's event.
"Muddy" is remarkable because it simplifies complexity, using a film that seems like it could be made by anyone, yet it captures a profound and enduring feeling that is extremely difficult to perceive.
"Summer Shadows" is good because it explores the boundaries of cinema—
Few films dare to use such a stream-of-consciousness technique to create the natural feel of a mockumentary, and then draw the viewer in.
Lu Yanhe was very satisfied.
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The Jose Film Festival lasts for 15 days this year.
Lu Yanhe spends every day in different theaters.
Almost all of Yu Ming's theaters were borrowed to serve as screening venues for different sections and films of the Jose Film Festival.
Of course, all the theaters made a fortune.
This year's José International Film Festival sold the most tickets in its history—on the one hand, the number of attendees and the number of theaters were the highest ever; on the other hand, the number of films screened was also the highest ever, with a total of 217 films officially screened across all sections.
crazy.
Not a single screening went cold.
Until the closing ceremony, Lu Yanhe did not serve as an award presenter. Instead, as the initiator of the newly established screening and trading unit, he went on stage to announce the achievements of this unit at this year's Jose Film Festival.
Over the course of 15 days, the transaction volume exceeded $240 million, with a total of 56 works traded across 32 different transaction types.
Lu Yanhe concluded by announcing that the Jose Film Festival will retain its screening and trading section as an official section in future Jose Film Festivals.
During the awards ceremony, the Chinese film *Muddy* won the Audience's Choice Award and also placed second in the Best Film category. Another Chinese film, *Neon*, won the Best Screenplay Award. Both Chinese films nominated for the main competition won major awards.
To Lu Yanhe's surprise, the film "Summer Shadows" also won an award for Best Cinematography.
After all the awards were announced, Wu Yang, as the artistic director, went on stage to express his gratitude to Yuming, the host city of this year's event, and also expressed his full thanks and recognition to Lu Yanhe as the honorary chairman of the selection committee. He specifically mentioned Lu Yanhe's support for today's winning works "Muddy", "Neon" and "Summer Shadow" during the selection process.
Wu Yang is speaking out for Lu Yanhe.
Lu Yanhe smiled and waved his hand.
In fact, "Muddy" and "Neon" would have been shortlisted for the main competition even without his support.
These two films are good enough, and the result of the audience vote speaks for itself.
He knew that Wu Yang meant well and wanted to reduce the criticism he faced from the Chinese film industry through this method.
But Lu Yanhe truly didn't care about the criticism and condemnation.
He was very happy and proud of the awards won for "Muddy", "Neon", and "Summer Shadows".
That's enough.
His presence at this year's Jose Film Festival will be alongside these films.
Instead of accusations and criticisms.
Wu Yang said, "At the same time, I am also very pleased to announce that the next Jose Film Festival will be held in Jinkou, China. Let's look forward to next year."
(End of this chapter)
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