Chapter 1676 Fabian is threatened
On the top floor of the Radisson Royal Hotel in Moscow, Xiao Peng was lying in the swimming pool, looking at the snowflakes outside the floor-to-ceiling window.
This place was formerly the 'Ukraine Hotel', which had 1,026 rooms at the time but now has only over 500 rooms.
Originally, the rooms in the "Ukraine Hotel" were standard Soviet-style rooms and were relatively small, but now after the renovation, the rooms are very large, just like the room Xiao Peng is staying in now, which has a swimming pool!
Xiao Peng expressed...strong dissatisfaction with Ivan's arrangement!
This room is luxurious, resplendent, and magnificent. But it's too high up. Living up there in the summer would be quite pleasant, but it's winter, with the north wind howling and snowflakes swirling outside. Even though the soundproofing is excellent, when the wind picks up, it still feels haunted.
Actually, this is not the top floor. The top floor of the Radisson Royal Hotel is a round clock tower-like building, which houses an upscale bar. The most comfortable thing about staying here is the convenient access to the bar.
"Boss! Fabian is here! I stopped him." Van der Laupe walked over.
Xiao Peng frowned after hearing this and said, "He's back? Then let him come over."
The "Moscow-British Film Festival" was held in two cities, St. Petersburg and Moscow. Fabian went to St. Petersburg, the former "Leningrad" during this period.
Van der Laupe coughed twice and said, "Boss, don't swim naked here. The people around Fabian are here too."
"Uh." Xiao Peng said after hearing this: "Get me a bathrobe!"
After Van der Laupe handed Xiao Peng a towel, he got out of the pool, wiped himself, and put on his bathrobe. Not long after, he saw Fabian and a group of people rushing in. His bodyguards, assistants, and others were all by his side.
"You're back?" Xiao Peng asked Fabian, "Why are you back? You're not going back to St. Petersburg?"
Fabian said, "No! I'm so mad!"
"Huh?" Xiao Peng was stunned: "Why are you so angry?"
Fabian said, "I'm just giving you face. Otherwise, I could kill that guy!"
"Pause!" Xiao Peng interrupted Fabian and said, "What do you mean by giving me face? What do you mean by killing someone?"
Fabian walked over to the wine cabinet, pulled out a bottle of red wine, poured himself a glass, took a sip, and said, "I don't know where this idiot from your country came from. He actually asked me to directly present an award to their company's film. I couldn't even stand watching that crappy movie! And you told me it was some kind of art film with depth. Do you take me for an idiot?"
After hearing this, Xiao Peng laughed and said, "Is it because it's an art film that you can't understand it?"
While Daxia isn't particularly familiar with Russian films, the Russian International Film Festival is one of the world's fifteen A-level international film festivals, and it's also the second-oldest in history, second only to the Venice International Film Festival. Therefore, Daxia still has a strong film culture. The "Russia-British Film Festival" is a formal event.
The biggest feature of Daxia Films is that they participate in various film festivals every year, and the films they submit are all so-called "art films". You often see entertainment news like "XXX film won an award at XXX", which gives people the illusion that Daxia's art films are very impressive.
Actually, aside from the Berlin Film Festival, which has always favored Daxia films, the last Daxia film to win the Palme d'Or at Cannes was 1993's "Farewell My Concubine," with Maggie Cheung taking the Best Actress award in 2004. And the last film to win the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival was "Lust, Caution," over a decade ago.
Those films are just sent to film festivals for a spin, and regardless of whether they win an award or not, they're advertised as "a film selected for X Film Festival." For a bunch of red carpet stars and shoddy films, these film festivals are just a place to get exposure.
If you can win the award, that would be even better. But how to win the award? Of course, you can use some tricks, such as lobbying.
This lobbying system is vividly reflected in the Academy Awards.
Those public intellectuals say every day that foreigners do not give or take bribes, but they do not say that foreigners have lobbying companies, which are companies established by people who have a say in certain fields and use their own connections, personal abilities, and team operations to run things and gain benefits.
To put it bluntly, it is exactly the same as bribery, except that they put the "backdoor" in the forefront and institutionalize and legalize it.
The most famous person in this industry is the notorious Harvey Weinstein.
Harvey Weinstein dominated Hollywood for over two decades, becoming the most powerful producer in the industry. Once known as the "God of Hollywood," he produced and distributed films that garnered over 300 Oscar nominations and won over 70 Oscars. At his peak, someone calculated that at the Oscars, winners thanked him more often in their acceptance speeches than they did God.
There's a saying in Hollywood: Want an award? Go find Harvey! Basically, whoever he wants to win an Oscar gets one! And he's been able to achieve this thanks to his incredible lobbying skills—the ability to bribe.
Of course, such a person didn't end well, and a scandal that shocked the world erupted: over a hundred Hollywood actresses came forward to accuse him of sexual harassment. That meant he had sexually assaulted over a hundred women his fans had only dreamed of kissing! This list included many of the most famous actresses!
This is just the ones that have been found, not including those that have not come forward: after all, those actresses also have to hide their past and no one wants others to know that they have such a past or such a scandal. So the number on this list may only be the tip of the iceberg.
According to Fabian, when he was serving as a judge in St. Petersburg, someone suddenly came to him and asked him to judge a film for the Gold Award.
"Fuck, man, you didn't see the situation!" Fabian said angrily. "Dozens of people showed up at once, some Russians, some Daxia people. They looked like they wouldn't leave that door unless I gave them the gold medal! When have I ever suffered such a loss? That's why I just came back and stopped playing!"
Xiao Peng laughed and said, "Hey, Moscow is also a branch of the film festival. What if they find us here?"
Fabian was quite single: "Here? Aren't you here?"
Xiao Peng raised his middle finger and said, "Can you be a little more promising?"
The Radisson Royal Hotel in Moscow was also the official hotel arranged by the organizing committee for this film festival, but it was located on a different floor.
"What are you trying to achieve!" Fabian said, "I'll treat you to a couple of drinks at the bar tonight."
"Get lost!" Xiao Peng said angrily, "My meals here are all free, why are you treating me?"
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