Huayu is here for you

Chapter 77 Venice

The film "Buried" perfectly aligns with the Venice Film Festival's selection criteria, so its chances of winning an award are quite high.

这一世的第63届威尼斯国际电影节，于2006年9月29日至10月9日在义大利威尼斯举办，比前世好像晚了一个月，不过这也没什幺大不了的。

So after Lin Yu went to the Beijing Film Academy and submitted "Buried Alive" as his graduation project, Lin Yu took Huang Bo directly to Venice.

Regarding the school's desire for him to pursue graduate studies, Lin Yu stated: "I can pursue graduate studies, but at most I can only be listed as a student."

Incidentally, Ms. Liu also won first place in her graduation thesis. Overjoyed, Ms. Liu couldn't help but share the good news with Lin Yu.

He also casually mentioned whether Lin Yu wanted to go to Venice with him.

But then Liu's mother grabbed her and pulled her back, saying, "You have so much to do yourself, and you still want to go out and play?"

When her lie was exposed, Miss Liu looked at Lin Yu with pleading eyes.

Seeing Liu's pitiful expression, Lin Yu helplessly said: Your mother is the Empress Dowager, we can't afford to offend her!

Moreover, Lin Yu went to Venice early partly to promote and sell the film, and partly to avoid people. So many people have been trying to find him these days, and he's been getting a constant stream of phone calls. You want to meet and chat? Are you kidding me? I'd rather spend that time with Miss Liu.

Moreover, his main purpose for going this time wasn't to win an award, well... winning an award is one of his purposes, though. Of course, winning an award would be good too.

But Lin Yu's main purpose is still to sell films, after all, Lin Yu itself is facing a significant shortage of funds, and every little bit helps.

Upon arriving in Venice, Lin Yu and Huang Bo immediately rented a screening room and hung up promotional posters for "Buried Alive." Surprisingly, quite a few people came to negotiate prices with Lin Yu. It has to be said, Lin Yu's current fame is quite useful.

By mid-September, quite a few film crews and distributors had arrived in Venice. Clearly, most of these crews shared Lin Yu's goal: to sell their films. Winning awards was secondary; not winning was fine too, as long as the selling price was lower. Winning awards would be even better, as it would allow them to negotiate better deals with distributors.

Here, Lin Yu also met Hong Kong director Du Qifeng and his crew of "Exiled", as well as Taiwanese director Cai Mingliang's "Dark Circles" and mainland director Jia Kezhang's "Still Life", all of which were shortlisted for the main competition unit.

Also included in the non-competitive screening section are Liu Jie's "The Court on Horseback" and Feng Xiaogang's "The Banquet".

Hong Kong director Benny Chan's "Rob-B-Hood" was selected for the Midnight Screenings section; Taiwanese director Cheng Yau-kit's "The Year of the First" was selected for the International Critics' Week section, and so on.

After meeting Lin Yu, everyone exchanged pleasantries. When they learned that Lin Yu had suddenly and quietly put forward a film to compete for awards... at least they all thought that Lin Yu was mainly there to compete for awards.

They all felt like they'd been screwed over, and Feng Xiaogang even went so far as to pour out his grievances to Lin Yu.

The gist of it is: Lin Yu, you're not being fair! We agreed to direct commercial films together, how come you're secretly making art films instead?

However, they didn't "linger" with Lin Yu for long, since they had brought their own film crews and had important business to attend to.

After bidding farewell to several domestic directors and accompanying actors, Lin Yu and Huang Bo continued to entertain film distributors interested in "Buried Alive". In small towns, where prices were similar, Lin Yu made a move directly, without thinking about waiting for "Buried Alive" to win an award before discussing it, since they might not even win it anyway.

While Lin Yu was actively fighting for the copyright of "Buried Alive", a program called "World Cinema Tour" approached him.

Lin Yu clearly has great respect for CCTV's program, and even set aside half a day for an interview, answering every question.

"Director Lin, hello! What genre is the film you've brought this time?"

"Hmm... let's add a touch of suspense and horror."

"So, what kind of story does your film tell?"

"Buried" tells the story of Wang Bo, a Chinese-American truck driver, who is kidnapped by terrorists while transporting supplies for the U.S. military in Iraq. He is then placed in a coffin and buried underground to survive.

What kind of message does your film primarily convey?

"Um... The film 'Buried' is full of suspense and tension. I think the audience's emotions will rise and fall with the protagonist's fate. It will not only expose the loneliness and insignificance of modern people, but also reflect the indifference and alienation in interpersonal relationships, as well as the problem of suffering being ignored in society. Um... it also has a certain anti-war message."

Will your movie be released in the country?

"certainly."

……

On September 30, 2006, the 63rd Venice International Film Festival officially opened.

The film "The Black Dahlia," directed by American director Brian De Palma, premiered at the Sala Grande Theatre at 7 p.m. that day.

Then came the various film screenings at different times.

The films participating in the main competition this time include Lin Yu's "Buried Alive", Jia Zhangke's "Still Life", Gianni Amelio's "The Vanishing Star", Darren Aronofsky's "The Fountain of Love", Du Qifeng's "Exiled", Cai Mingliang's "Dark Circles", and 23 other films.

When all the films in competition were screened, Lin Yu and Huang Bo only watched the films in the main competition section. They didn't watch the other films. Why watch films that weren't in the same section? They weren't big commercial films.

Just observe your competitors; there's no need to watch them one by one. You could have sold "Buried Alive" to two more distributors with that time.

However, during the screenings, Lin Yu and Huang Bo were a little apprehensive while watching and selling the films, because they knew that if "Buried Alive" really won an award, the organizers would give them a hint, such as calling them or sending someone to invite them.

But it's already October 8th, and the screening will end in one more day. Lin Yu hasn't received a single thing, let alone any tips from the organizers. I wonder if it's because Lin Yu changed the lead actor to a Chinese actor.

However, the rights to "Buried" have sold quite well, already fetching nearly three million US dollars. But Lin Yu hasn't agreed to any of the major deals yet. There have been offers from parts of Europe and North America, but Lin Yu felt their asking prices were too low and didn't make any moves.