Chapter 524: Image Ambassador

These words show how little the Golden Horse Awards meant to her—she didn't even bother to comment—but what few understood was how deeply Liu Tianxian had been disappointed by the Golden Horse, only those who had experienced it could know.

With full anticipation and passion, no matter how many nominations she received or how busy she was, she never failed to attend diligently.

Simply because she was an actress, with a unique devotion to her profession, she held such award ceremonies in deep reverence.

As long as she could go and no restrictions were placed on her, she would attend.

Unexpectedly, this award had dealt her a massive blow.

She had simply experienced too little; the great directors had long seen through the Golden Horse's true nature—not one of them showed up.

Below Liu Tianxian's Weibo post, fans were also playing memes.

"Hahaha, I urge you to be kind!"

"Hahaha, the Golden Horse hurt Xixi too deeply—it wouldn't give it to Gong Huang, nor even to some obscure nobody."

"In plain terms, it's regional protectionism."

"Five nominations, five losses, still protecting their own—who understands?"

"Support Xixi! The Principal protects our Xixi!"

Even if netizens didn't speak up, Fang Hong would protect Liu Tianxian—the Golden Horse meant nothing to him.

It could only stir up waves on Baodao, but couldn't create even a ripple in Neidi—even Taiwanese film people would step back when they saw the Principal.

This incident dealt a major blow to the Golden Horse's reputation.

No one remembers Chen Jianbin won three Golden Horses—everyone remembers Liu Tianxian and Gong Huang publicly confronting the Golden Horse; all the traffic was sucked up by these two.

Previously, the Golden Horse's credibility had taken a hit once—in 2010, Feng Kuzi's Aftershock received three nominations: Best Actress, Best Supporting Actress, and Best Visual Effects—but won not a single award.

Aftershock's total failure at the Golden Horse Awards enraged Feng Kuzi, who caused a huge scene and never returned again.

That blow wasn't so severe, since Feng Kuzi lacked the authority Gong Huang possessed—though he was still stronger than Liu Tianxian.

This time, with Gong Huang publicly denouncing the Golden Horse as unprofessional and amateurish, followed by Liu Tianxian's "Hahaha," the blow to the Golden Horse's reputation was substantial.

Gong Huang, needless to say, holds authority across the entire global film scene—a figure worthy of cinematic history.

Liu Tianxian, needless to say, has the Principal standing behind her.

If she wished, half the next generation of actors and directors in the mainland entertainment industry—Chen Sicheng, Wen Muye, Lu Yang, Deng Chao—would dare not attend the Golden Horse, simply out of fear of the Principal.

Add to that the great directors and mainstream famous actors like Chen Daoming, Tang Guoqiang, Wang Zhiwen—all of them would stay away too.

In fact, the current Golden Horse relies partly on Hong Kong artists and directors to sustain it, but the Hong Kong Film Awards is too self-indulgent and prefers to play its own game—otherwise, the Golden Horse wouldn't even exist.

What does Baodao have? Its film industry is essentially dead; its actors can't match Hong Kong's big names, its film history lacks Hong Kong's glory, and its cinematic influence is even weaker.

Moreover, Hong Kong enjoys superior status.

These two places are simply incomparable—only the people there are too arrogant; those who understand, understand.

Public opinion is continuously hyping this incident.

"Gong Huang blasts the Golden Horse for injustice and unprofessionalism: 'I'm done attending'; netizens praise Gong Li for her fiery rebuke!"

"Liu Tianxian says 'Hahaha'—dissatisfied with the Golden Horse results!"

"Gong Huang lost by one vote—missed the Golden Horse!"

"Shocking! Two major actresses publicly feud with the Golden Horse—unprecedented!"

Such self-media headlines are everywhere, rampant and noisy, without pause for at least a month.

Naturally, someone was stoking the flames behind the scenes.

The reason? To undermine the Golden Horse, so the Macau Film Festival could stand in contrast and show who is truly professional.

Unexpectedly, someone just handed them a pillow.

Fang Hong called Gong Huang and invited her to attend the Macau Film Festival—if she came, the festival's authority could rise dramatically.

"Principal, I'm sorry, I'm blunt—I'm very tired lately and have little interest in such film festivals," Gong Huang said.

She meant her heart was wounded—she feared this was just another stunt using her name to hype the festival's visibility.

In her mind, Macau was just a small film festival.

"What concerns do you have? Say them," Fang Hong said.

"I'm not concerned—I just don't want to become someone else's pawn, used merely to boost the festival's gimmick," Gong Huang replied frankly, without hesitation.

Attending the Macau Film Festival would inevitably be exploited for publicity again.

"Here's the deal: you attend the Macau Film Festival, but keep it secret until then—if before the festival opens, you see any news claiming you're attending, you can just not come," Fang Hong said bluntly.

"Then what's your purpose in contacting me?" Gong Huang asked, puzzled.

She thought the Principal only wanted to boost the festival's visibility—how else could he promote it without using her?

"Of course, to elevate the festival's authority."

Fang Hong didn't hide it again: "My only goal is to create our own fair, impartial, and professional film festival—no other motive."

This made Gong Huang hesitate slightly—she hadn't expected the Principal to be such an idealistic, passionate person.

It broke her perception: in her eyes, the Principal was the type who flew into rages and immediately clashed with anyone—he was always distant to her.

She had more affection for Liu Tianxian—the girl was genuinely nice.

But she didn't know whether he was telling the truth.

"My cooperation with Macau means no excessive political entanglements, no heavy ideological issues—we can maximize fairness and impartiality," Fang Hong added again. Macau truly had few such problems.

"If I go, will you give me Best Actress?" Gong Huang asked.

"I don't judge the awards—that's the judges' job. I can't interfere with who wins or loses," Fang Hong said.

"If I don't even know if I'll win, what's the point of me going?"

Gong Huang asked, then added: "What if it's like the Golden Horse this time—won't I lose all face?"

"Sister, do you want me to tell you who'll win Best Actress? Then what's the difference between us and those watered-down awards?" Fang Hong retorted.

These words made Gong Huang pause—she realized he had a point.

If the Principal leaked the festival's winners to her in advance, that would be no different from insider dealing.

"Our winners are all kept confidential. I don't know whether you'll win or not, and I wouldn't dare make such a guarantee. I can only say that since you've come, we'll protect your reputation and won't use you for hype or anything like that," Fang Hong said.

Hearing this, Gong Huang grew a little interested, and wanted to see what kind of festival the Principal had put together.

"Alright then, if nothing comes up at the time, I'll come take a look," Gong Huang agreed.

Anyway, if they used her for hype, she simply wouldn't go, and would take the chance to tear the other side apart on the way. Then this Macau Film Festival, before it had even gotten off the ground, would probably be done for.

The Macau Film Festival couldn't compare to the Golden Horse Awards, which had the authority to spend. The Macau Film Festival needed to rebuild its authority; if Gong Huang tore into it, the awards would find it very hard to establish authority.

Because Gong Huang was precisely the representative figure of that kind of authority.

After the two finished their phone call and hung up, Liu Tianxian asked from the side: "How did it go? Did she agree?"

"Basically agreed. It's just a shame we can't use her for hype — if we could, the attention we'd get would be a lot more," Fang Hong said, deeply regretful.

But she'd been hurt before, so one really did have to be careful.

The two had already returned to Beijing, and came back the day after the Golden Horse Film Festival.

"Oh, stop always thinking about taking shortcuts. This was never something that could be accomplished in one stroke — it needs to come slowly," Liu Tianxian consoled.

A film festival isn't like other things; it needs to slowly build authority. That's something money can't buy — it takes time.

Didn't the Golden Horse Awards take over fifty years before they achieved their glory?

"My wife is right," Fang Hong said, pinching her little nose.

Liu Tianxian laughed, swatted him, and said: "Hey, then I'll head off to Macau in a couple of days?"

"Go ahead. Call me when you get there," Fang Hong said.

The Macau Film Festival opens on December 30th this year — the day before New Year's Day.

And Liu Tianxian would go as Image Ambassador to shoot some promotional clips for the Macau Film Festival, as well as promotional clips of Macau's cityscape.

This was for image-building and promotional use.

Of course there was remuneration too — paying her market value, a few tens of millions would do.

The Macau side was bleeding too. These two were way too good at playing the game — a budget of one hundred million, and they'd already taken a tenth of it home.

The more he thought about it, the more he felt he shouldn't have agreed to put up half back then. He should have set a fixed amount — ten or twenty million and be done with it.

But there was nothing for it — once it was agreed, it couldn't be changed.

The Golden Horse Awards were still being roasted endlessly by Wangyi and the media, and the internet also seized the moment to break a piece of news.

"Liu Tianxian joins the Macau Film Festival, appointed Macau Film Festival Image Ambassador!"

It came with a single ethereal photo — a pale blue gown with a floor-length cape, with Macau's cityscape and fountains in the background.

The whole picture looked fresh and beautiful, gentle and sweet, with a sense of fashionable grandeur.

Just one photo for now — the rest hadn't been shot yet.

Liu Tianxian also posted this Image Ambassador promotional photo on Weibo, drawing countless fans to drool over their screens: "Sister, you're so pretty!"

"Go for it, sister! Beat the Golden Horse!"

The promotional photos and clips would take some time to shoot, and there would also be some exclusive interviews and the like, to build momentum for the Macau Film Festival.

This had never happened before — when had the old Macau Film Festival ever had an Image Ambassador?

Macau's relevant tourism departments would later put up these promotional images and clips around Macau's districts, and also play them on outdoor big screens, for Macau residents to view, and for tourists to view as well.

This was part of the resources the Macau side had agreed to invest in the original collaboration.

Apart from those in the industry, the general internet users still didn't know that this film festival had the Jade Rabbit and Chang'e participating, with a government banner hung on it too.

This had been agreed from the start — the Jade Rabbit and Chang'e were only co-organizers.

The Macau Film Festival's work was advancing step by step, and Fang Hong had also invited some people to attend this festival.

He made up invitations and sent them to Chen Daoming, Fan Xiaopang, Li Bailian, Deng Chao, Guoji Zhang, and others.

Those who could come, would come; those who couldn't, never mind.

This Macau Film Festival had no nominations — any film that made the shortlist could come participate.

This avoided the sort of temperament where some people only show up if you give them an award, and don't come if you don't.

(End of chapter)