Chapter 502

Fang Hong couldn't guarantee that a film festival alone could bring Macau visibility or boost tourism.

These things are unpredictable; he could only promise to run the festival well, run it with dignity.

Fang Hong cut him off again: "Tan Sijiang, I can't promise you anything. You came to me to organize this festival—I can only promise to run it well, so everyone knows it exists, and build its reputation."

"Of course, this process will improve Macau's image, but how much benefit Macau gains, how great the effect—this I cannot guarantee."

These words left Tan Sijiang silent for a moment.

He felt some regret—had opened his mouth too wide, left no room to retreat; the organizing committee and judging panel were already set up, and now they came to him for the remaining fifty million.

"You could take it slow, no need to rush so much. Wait until you see results before continuing—I'd have a better case to appeal to the higher-ups. Right now it's stuck halfway."

"My dear Tan Sijiang, everything is hardest at the start. Once you get past the start, the rest becomes much easier. If you don't make a big splash at the beginning, year after year, when will it ever end? Do you want to wait until your successor reaps the fruits?" Fang Hong said.

"Of course not," Tan Sijiang blurted out.

"Exactly. If you delay for a few years, and if it truly succeeds, it might become your successor's achievement."

Fang Hong added: "Sorry, I speak bluntly—don't take it personally."

"It's fine, I understand what you mean," Tan Sijiang was swayed; he felt Fang Hong made sense.

Year after year, delaying for several years—his accumulated achievements would be stolen by his successor, bursting into effect, and he'd be doing all the work for someone else.

People would praise only the successor, never him.

People like them cared most about their legacy; leaving a mark in history was the best.

Liu Tianxian sat beside him, propping her chin with one hand, watching the man talk nonstop.

"So, when it comes to something like this, either don't do it at all, or do it right. Since it's annual, the time span is already long—you can't afford to delay." Fang Hong urged gently.

"The funding is just hard to approve," Tan Sijiang still hesitated.

"Tan Sijiang, we've also put in fifty million—it's not just your side funding it. I might not even benefit at all—what do I gain?" Fang Hong countered.

Tan Sijiang fell silent; they were indeed trying to elevate Macau's urban image, and Fang Hong gained nothing—how much could brand sponsors contribute?

It wasn't a particularly famous festival; sponsors wouldn't contribute much.

Fang Hong was essentially selling at a loss just for the publicity.

"I can only try my best to apply for the funding," Tan Sijiang said. Government procedures were like this.

"Then apply. As agreed, each side pays half—you pay what you can, I'll match it exactly." Fang Hong wouldn't pay a single cent more for this festival.

It brought him little direct benefit—just a sense of sentiment, a desire to create a fair, large-scale film festival.

The Golden Rooster, Golden Horse, and other festivals all received government subsidies—he couldn't shoulder it alone.

"Alright," Tan Sijiang had nothing more to say; Fang Hong had already contributed, and organized manpower and all that.

After chatting a while, they hung up. Fang Hong grumbled: "That's what officials are like—afraid of spending too much, afraid of taking responsibility if it fails, hesitant, timid, indecisive."

Liu Tianxian smiled sweetly and asked: "Will this festival even happen?"

"Of course it will—it's already this far, only a few months left." Fang Hong said.

"What if they don't pay?" Liu Tianxian still propped her chin, looking charmingly cute.

"If they don't pay, they figure it out themselves—offer resources, land, or even shares in their gambling industry," Fang Hong said.

"You're dreaming," Liu Tianxian laughed.

There was only one place in the whole country where gambling was legal—they enjoyed a monopoly, a guaranteed profit; they'd never give him a share.

"Actually, they have the money—they just don't want to spend it. Used to be a few million; now suddenly tens of millions, they can't adjust." Fang Hong said.

Macau was incredibly wealthy—foreign reserves reached tens of billions of U. S. dollars—but their welfare was too high.

Just to name one thing: they gave nearly ten thousand per person, headcount-based—something no ordinary place could do. Think how developed that was.

And they did it every year, for over a decade without stopping.

Liu Tianxian nodded and dropped the topic, shifting to casual small talk.

That's how they were—talked about everything, anything.

These days Liu Tianxian would go out to shoot for September and October magazine issues—those fashion magazines.

Harper's Bazaar, Elle, Marie Claire—each year, her features appeared in their major issues, either on the cover or inside.

She was already the darling of the fashion world.

Even though The Four Great Constables 3 had a bad reputation, it didn't affect her status in fashion.

The major fashion journals had already released their issues—but unexpectedly, Xia Jie also appeared alongside Liu Tianxian in Harper's Bazaar.

Liu Tianxian wore a black strap dress, gold jewelry around her neck, revealing her fair shoulders and impressive curves, her face delicate and ethereal—sufficiently sensual and alluring!

The overall style exuded a cold, dark elegance.

Xia Jie wore a black leather outfit, showing off her beautiful legs, exuding a sexy, cold aura—as if imitating, yet not daring to overdo it.

But in terms of aura, Xia Jie was nowhere near Liu Tianxian—Liu Tianxian stood at 1.8 meters with a commanding presence; Xia Jie barely reached 1.5 meters—the difference was not on the same level.

Otherwise, people wouldn't keep calling her "Little Tianxian," and later, when she faded, they still called her "Little Chen Douling."

Both appearing together in Harper's Bazaar would stir things up—not just Harper's Bazaar, but Xia Jie herself would stir things up.

It triggered a wave of trending topics, with netizens watching.

The publicity draft said: "Dual goddesses grace Bazaar, defining a new height in fashion!" "Dual debut in the New Year issue: Twin blossoms!"

"Liu Yifei, Liu Shishi—two stars shining bright!"

They lavished praise on both, boosting the hype—Xia Jie had clearly piggybacked on this traffic.

She couldn't avoid it—Liu Tianxian kept rising, while she stood still; she'd dated an older man and was criticized, losing many fans.

But Liu Tianxian didn't react at all—let them do as they pleased.

At the end of September, the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Festival opened in Lanzhou; this year's Golden Rooster Awards were brutally mocked by netizens and media.

Because odd years were Golden Rooster, even years were Hundred Flowers, many people couldn't tell whether this year was for the Hundred Flowers or the Golden Rooster.

And these two festivals alternated every two years, so films from three or four years ago were also being judged this year—some even won awards again.

It means winning once at the Golden Rooster Awards, then winning once again at the Hundred Flowers Awards.

For example, last year Zhang Songwen won Best Actor for "Chinese Partners," and this year he won Best Actor again.

"Four Days and Nights" won Best Feature Film last year, and this year it won Best Feature Film again.

No wonder people complain — if you're going to merge them, just merge the rules and systems completely. Last year the Hundred Flowers judged once, this year the Golden Rooster judged again.

If this isn't playing around, what is it?

There's nothing to be done — the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards are just this abstract, and they don't care whether the public likes it or not. They're willful, period.

At this awards ceremony, Xue Xiaolu went, and she won Best Director for "Bundle." On the awards stage, she was absolutely in her element.

Under the dazzling stage lights, she raised the Trophy high and gave her acceptance speech: "Today the Principal and Tianxian didn't come, but I'm still very grateful to them. I'm grateful the Principal could give such a great work for me to direct — he gave me a lot of help. I'm also grateful to Tianxian for her wonderful Performance. Thank you!"

The applause rang out continuously. This year was not only the year Yutu won the most awards, but also the year it produced the most films and earned the highest box office.

Earlier this month, a film called "Old Boys: Dragon Crossing the River" was also released — basically every month in the second half of the year there's been a film released.

This film had nostalgia on its side — the nostalgia of the song "Old Boys" and its MV, which were very popular at the time.

It also made a new song popular, called "Opponent!"

Of course, Chopstick Brothers' songs are only good for the novelty — they sound great at first, but you forget them quickly afterward.

This film's box office looks decent — it's already passed 200 million, though now the daily box office is only around a few hundred thousand.

But it's definitely profitable — the cost was only around 30 million.

Same as always — the mistakes new directors make, Xiao Yang basically made them all. Very childish, very awkward, very pretentious.

People said this was just a web series, not a big-screen work, maliciously using nostalgia to cash in.

Anyway, the audience reviews weren't good. Of course, some said it was good — that the film was funny and all that, and some said it was at least better than "The Breakup Master."

This made Deng Chao feel pretty bad inside, but the film he made really was terrible, so you can't blame others for saying so.

New directors can be understood, and only Yutu is willing to give money to these new directors to practice with — no other company has that kind of boldness.

The current Golden Rooster Award, whatever Best Actor and the like, can't convince people. Not just now — it won't be able to convince people in the future either.

People's Web said: "The Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards are being criticized — the industry is calling for domestic film festival selections to improve in quality!"

They said this Golden Rooster Award has too long a campaign, arbitrary methods, obvious human manipulation, making the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards' judging standards unclear and unoriginal.

In other words, the awards are given arbitrarily, winning shows traces of human manipulation, and the standards are unclear.

Anyway, no matter what the outside world says, the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards still do things their own way — if you don't like it, that's your problem.

At the end of the month, during the National Day slot, "Xinurufang" entered its Propaganda Department period. Director Wen Muye, starring Zhang Songwen, Shen Teng, and others, ran around doing promotion and appearing on shows everywhere.

This time, Shen Teng entered the public eye for the first time as a film person — before this, he had always been doing skits and stage plays.

On a special interview show, the host asked Wen Muye: "You used newcomers to shoot this film — aren't you afraid the box office will be bad?"

"No one succeeds right from the start. I was brought along by the Principal as a newcomer too — including Guo Fan, Lu Yang, Chen Sicheng, they're all the same.

The Principal has always told us to give newcomers more opportunities and tolerance.

For example, the recently released 'Old Boys: Dragon Crossing the River' is also a new director, his first time filming. Although there are many shortcomings, the Principal still wants to give him the chance to try — only by trying can you know whether you can do it."

Wen Muye spoke very sincerely.

Shen Teng joked from the side: "Actually, I'm not exactly a newcomer either. Before filming this movie, I ran as an extra for many years. After running for so many years, it's finally my turn this time, right!"

Everyone else laughed — his EQ is pretty high.

"So how did you land the lead role in this film?" the host asked.

"I don't know either. At the time, in a daze, I got a phone call saying the Principal wanted me to play a role. I thought it was a scam, so I said, 'I've already graduated from elementary school — how old is the Principal this year?'" Shen Teng's words made everyone present laugh out loud. He really dares to say anything.

The implication was: "Principal, you're still alive and kicking?" Of course, this was said in jest.

But Shen Teng isn't actually that old now — around 35 years old — and he still looks very young, and his figure isn't as plump as it would later become.

"What happened after that? Did the Principal know about this?" the host asked curiously.

"I don't know. I never told him about it."

When Shen Teng said this, he suddenly seemed to realize something and said: "This part is going to be edited out, right!"

"Hahaha."

(End of this chapter)