Chapter 90: Publicity, PR, and Opening Ceremony

The main work for the company surrounding the film "Room" this time is promotion and public relations.

Promotion is the key focus; according to custom, film parties with films shortlisted for the official Cannes selection will hire a PR firm to handle interviews, promotion, and other matters.

After all, these PR firms are regulars at film festivals, familiar with the routines of film festivals, and know how to better increase a film's exposure.

Through the introduction of an overseas film distributor they had previously cooperated with, Wei Jin Company chose a local PR firm this time, which is said to be very capable.

Wei Jin took Chen Zhiming to meet with the person in charge, only discussing general cooperation matters; subsequent details would need to be communicated by Chen Zhiming, such as the film's later promotion in newspapers, brochures, press conference arrangements, cocktail party arrangements, and so on.

As for public relations, it is even easier to understand; there is no such thing as a 100% fair and impartial award in the world, and the European Big Three are no exception.

Compared to the thousands of judges for the Oscar, the Cannes Film Festival has only 9 judges, so the difficulty of public relations is undoubtedly much lower; from this point of view, the Oscar even appears more impartial.

However, so-called public relations is not about grabbing a judge and making them vote for your film; one must know that almost all film parties with shortlisted films will choose a PR team, as this is a very professional, complex, and tedious job.

First, one must analyze the strengths and weaknesses of the film and find the corresponding target judges; one must know that there is nothing in the world that can win everyone's favor, not even the US dollar, so identifying target judges is very important, as it can at least achieve twice the result with half the effort.

Secondly, one must increase the film's buzz, subtly making target judges pay attention to your film, which requires the film's premiere and promotion to coordinate.

Then, it is about organizing various cocktail parties, allowing target judges to come into contact with the creative team, understand the stories behind the film, increase their favorability toward the film, and sow the seeds for winning an award.

As for reaching a consensus, this is actually the simplest part; generally speaking, if a judge is willing to attend the film organizer's cocktail party, it means both sides have already formed some tacit understanding, but how this tacit understanding becomes the motivation for them to support the film at the jury meeting still requires some maneuvering by the PR team.

After finishing the division of labor, the group had lunch, and after handing over the specific work to Chen Zhiming, Wei Jin and Ceng Li only needed to be responsible for being beautiful and handsome, and walking the red carpet.

Also coming with Chen Zhiming this time were the company's makeup artist and stylist, and there were also the haute couture gowns previously decided upon in Paris; everything appeared orderly.

At 5:30 PM, the opening gala of this Cannes Film Festival officially began.

The European Big Three usually have opening red carpets that appear more Starlight Splendid than the closing red carpets; compared to the Berlin International Film Festival that Wei Jin attended before, the opening ceremony of this Cannes Film Festival can be described as a gathering of stars, and the brilliance of the starlight far surpasses Berlin.

On both sides of the not-so-long red carpet, thousands of media outlets and numerous film fans had long been stationed; it was bustling with noise and excitement, quite a lively scene.

Wei Jin, Ceng Li, and Wu Lei were waiting for the courtesy car, and the shouts of fans in front of the Film Festival Palace came over from time to time, filling the three of them with anticipation.

Ceng Li was also a bit nervous and uneasy in her anticipation; one must know this was her first time attending the European Big Three, and there was even a chance to win an award, making her mood even more apprehensive.

On the contrary, Wu Lei, this child, was not that nervous, just looking around with some curiosity.

Soon it was the turn of the "Room" crew; Wei Jin and the other two got into the courtesy car and moved forward slowly.

When the courtesy car pulled up in front of the red carpet, an attendant stepped forward quickly to help open the door.

As soon as the three got out of the car, they felt the blinding camera flashes.

Wei Jin and Ceng Li held Wu Lei's hands on the left and right as they walked onto the red carpet.

"Don't be nervous, just walk steadily."

Wei Jin noticed that the two were a bit nervous and spoke to comfort them.

Today, Ceng Li had her long hair draped over her shoulders, wearing a red V-neck evening gown; her waist was slender enough to be held in one hand, and the scale of her chest was also quite impressive, the whole person full of a passionate, fiery feeling.

The red carpet was not long, only sixty or seventy meters; the staff had already instructed them before that they could stay for at most five minutes, and if they exceeded the time, staff would come up to shoo them away; after all, with so many crews, it was impossible to keep waiting for them.

After walking just a few steps, they heard many media personnel shouting "way, way"; the three followed the direction and waved to the reporters.

It seems that after this period of promotion, Wei Jin, this young director who has begun to show his talent internationally, has already been recognized by many people.

As the youngest director this year, many people were full of anticipation for his work. "Director Wei, Ceng Li, look here, here!"

After walking a few more steps, a few sentences in Chinese were mixed in among the foreign languages.

Wei Jin quickly found the source of the sound; it turned out to be domestic media reporters, and there were also many Chinese fans holding five-star red flags waving at them.

Many domestic media outlets also came to this Cannes Film Festival; the Movie Channel's "World Film Journey" team, "Watch Movies", "Popular Cinema", and the three major portal websites all sent on-site reporters.

The three felt a sense of intimacy, and the smiles on their faces became even brighter; after cooperating for a few photos, they continued to walk forward.

"Director Wei, congratulations, you must win an award!"

"Ceng Li, keep it up, wishing you success."

The enthusiasm of the domestic media made the few feel very excited; after all, in this era, being able to achieve something at the European Big Three is a very glorious thing.

Moreover, this was the only Chinese-language film shortlisted for the Main Competition Section, so there was not much material for the domestic media.

The three soon finished walking the red carpet, and after greeting the Cannes Film Festival President Gilles Jacob in front of the Film Festival Palace, they stepped into the Film Festival Palace.

The hall had already gathered many people; after Wei Jin exchanged pleasantries everywhere, he brought the two to the Lumière Theatre, and the opening ceremony had already officially begun.

After the host's opening remarks, the film festival president gave an opening speech, and then all the judges appeared in turn.

Subsequently, the host introduced the twenty-one films shortlisted for the Main Competition Section this time; on the big screen, film clips were played in sequence, and the slightly plain opening ceremony ended just like that.

As the international A-list film festival with the greatest influence, the Cannes Film Festival has an annual transaction volume of up to 600-700 million Euros; besides this, many fashion giants hold various fashion parties and product promotion meetings here every year.

The spokespersons chosen by these big brands are either first-line stars from various countries or world-famous models; these people bring their own traffic and easily occupy media sections; back and forth, under mutual promotion, the influence of the Cannes Film Festival is increasing day by day.

The Cannes Film Festival lasts for more than ten days from opening to closing; besides the cocktail parties held by various film companies, the most numerous are the commercial cocktail parties and salons held by some fashion giants.

Wei Jin did receive many invitations these days, but he had no interest, as he did not take on endorsements.

After the opening ceremony, Wei Jin's basic daily activities were attending some film premieres, watching films he was interested in, and attending a large number of cocktail parties; after all, it is rare for everyone to gather at this grand event of Cannes, so exchanging insights and broadening connections is particularly important.

Zhang Ziyi was also very helpful after her transaction with Wei Jin, introducing many judges to Wei Jin over these past few days.

Monica Bellucci left a very deep impression on Wei Jin; she is worthy of being hailed as "one of the most beautiful women in the world," and even though she is already in her forties, she is still beautiful and moving; it is a pity that she was born before I was, if she were ten years younger, Wei Jin would definitely go all the way.

Wong Kar-wai, on the other hand, has a feeling of chivalry; this Hong Kong director directly stated that he would definitely support Wei Jin and strive to win another Palme d'Or for Huaxia; Wei Jin was naturally extremely grateful; the two had no friendship before, and just for this point, Wei Jin will not badmouth him in the future.

Wei Jin also took time to look at the exhibition booths set up by Chen Zhiming and the others on the harbor side; temporary sunshade tents had been set up here, and each tent represented a film being promoted; one must know it's a film exhibition, if you don't exhibit, how can you increase the film's buzz.

Seeing that Chen Zhiming and the others had entered the state of work, Wei Jin also felt relieved.

Liu Yan and Ceng Li had been getting along very happily during this time; the two made appointments to play everywhere, basically having played all over Cannes; next, besides vacationing and relaxing, it was just tasting food and watching movies, and there was no need for Wei Jin to worry.

Seeing everything developing in a good direction, Wei Jin was pondering in his heart how to have a threesome with Ceng Li and Liu Yan; after all, since they had come to a foreign land, if they didn't play something exciting, Wei Jin always felt it would be a loss.

Time passed day by day, and on May 25th, "Room" officially ushered in its premiere.

Wei Jin had a premonition that this film would officially lay the foundation for his becoming a king at Cannes. The new book is on the shelves, the second update is presented, I implore all book friends to reward with a subscription and collection, thank you everyone!

(End of this chapter)