Chapter 545: Nothing Happened

Fang Hong's priority was first to ensure outsiders' trust in this film festival, so that it could continue to be held; as for Yutu's own film and television creators, Fang Hong really had nothing much to say about them.

Just throw more money at it and be done with it; compared to actual benefits, awards aren't that eye-catching.

Originally, the main behind-the-scenes creators of a film all had a share of the Option Pool, and nothing is more practical than money.

This is only the first edition, its authority still needs to be observed, Fang Hong didn't dare mess around.

The onlookers found Fang Hong's words quite interesting; Zhang Hongsen said again: "To be fair, one must treat everyone equally, it's best not to discriminate."

"Small awards don't matter, but for group awards like this I think it's better not to give them; of course we'll gradually make adjustments, trying not to discriminate." Fang Hong explained.

Those individual small awards audiences generally won't care about, but for the big awards one must be more careful.

This can only be done gradually, it cannot be accomplished overnight.

A few bigwigs in the audience exchanged whispers, while on stage the main creators behind "Kuiba" were giving their acceptance speech, and as they spoke tears began to flow.

They said making this animated film was so hard, they ate only one meal a day just to save money.

They also said many people in the company had resigned, and the fourth installment might face indefinite shelving, blah blah blah.

Hearing this, the Kuiba fans in the livestream burst into tears; they knew Kuiba had it tough, but hadn't expected it to be this tough, and they all posted: "Hold on! You were just born in the wrong era."

"."

And in the unaware two-dimensional circles, the news of "Kuiba 3: The Rise of the War God" winning an award spread at light speed among fans, with countless people posting in every circle: "Thank you Principal for picking the animated film that matches my ideal the most."

"Thank you Principal!"

Some self-media fans also published an article titled: "National Animation Kuiba: The Well-Deserved Best Animation."

"Macau Film Festival Best Animation 'Kuiba 3: The Rise of the War God,' a super cool hero's coming-of-age classic film, highly recommended!"

Driven by invisible forces, for a time such news headlines blanketed everything; this was the promotional channel Fang Hong had built for the film festival, allowing an originally unknown animated film to explode in popularity online.

After winning the award, fame, money, and recognition were all abundant!

At least the "Kuiba" series saw its recognition rise and its viewership climb, which was also good for the creative team.

In the previous life there was no "Big Hero 6," so "Kuiba" could be called a pioneer, hailed as the first light of national animation, with an excellent reputation, a fixed fan base, and an IP formed.

Of course, most people knew "Monkey King: Hero Is Back," and gave the title of first light of national animation to that film.

Fang Hong merely returned the honors it deserved to the works that deserved them, trying to leave fewer regrets.

As long as they won the award, there were millions in funding, and for a small team this money was enough to make a comeback.

As for whether they could make a comeback with the money, or whether they would make a comeback, that was beyond Fang Hong's control; he had only done what he ought to do.

"Kuiba" fermented online, while the Macau Film Festival continued; now the third award was being presented: Best Documentary!

This award was presented by two behind-the-scenes personnel.

The winner of Best Documentary was a work called: "Lü Xing 2."

This was a self-media documentary program about a married couple sailing a yacht on a round-the-world journey, planning to hold their wedding in Antarctica.

The novel format of documentary plus reality show interpreted the life dream of being on the road and going far away.

It was very popular online, with viewership exceeding 350 million.

"Really like this documentary, very positive energy."

"The Macau Film Festival's award selections all match my taste, truly amazing."

"Yes, I like every single one they picked."

"Although 'Big Hero 6' didn't win, the other works are all pretty good."

"Can only say there are too many good works; the trash awards Golden Horse Awards and Golden Rooster Awards couldn't pick anything like this, their taste runs counter to the public."

Even though it started with small awards, some people had already begun to trust this edition of the Macau Film Festival awards.

Many things start from small things, and small awards and small circles also have very large audiences.

Then came a song-and-dance segment, and Cui Yongyuan went on stage to blab again, his dry humor making the venue laugh out loud with "hehe."

Then the individual awards began to be presented: Best Art Direction, Best Cinematography, Best Editing, Best Screenplay, Best Sound Effects, and so on.

Best Art Direction still went to "Xiu Chun Dao," this was a kind of styling, truly impeccable;

Best Cinematography "No Man's Land" Du Jie; Best Screenplay went to "Black Coal, Thin Ice" Diao Yinan; Best Sound Effects went to "Coming Home" Tao Jing.

The Best Special Effects award was removed; currently in China special effects are only played with by big films, and it's hard to get even one big film a year, the scope for judging was too small.

No competitiveness meant just giving awards to those people.

The livestream audience had also taken note of these award-winning films, said nothing, and were all spamming their own stars.

For individual small awards like these, as long as it's not too terrible, audiences generally accept it, because as long as you put your heart into filming, a weak screenplay can be compensated by styling, weak styling by screenplay.

A film always has one or two bright spots; as long as the pick isn't too terrible, the public can't find much fault.

The question is who will get the later big awards: Best Actor, Best Actress, Best Director, and Best Film?

While awards were being presented on stage, Donna tilted her head and said: "Those 'Midnight Taxi' and 'Lü Xing' from earlier weren't bad."

"You took a liking to them?" Fang Hong looked at her.

"Mm, saw the clips on the big screen, they seem alright." Donna nodded.

"What about 'Kuiba'?" Fang Hong asked.

"This animated film is too low quality, not very good." Donna shook her head, referring to the picture quality being too low.

The picture quality was so rough like something for young children, not delicate at all, giving people no desire to watch.

As for how the plot was, she didn't know.

"Alright then, I won't force it, take your time looking; if you like something we can introduce you to the producers." Fang Hong became a film middleman.

And this was the meaning of the film festival: while letting people gain honor, gain as much money as possible, and earning US dollars would be the best.

"Miss Donna, here's a booklet of the films shortlisted for this film festival, you can take a look." Liu Tianxian handed over a small booklet.

Fang Hong took it and flipped through it, then handed it to Donna, and asked Liu Tianxian: "Who gave this to you?"

"Han Jianü gave it to me." Liu Tianxian gestured toward Han Jianü in the back.

The Han family woman was sitting right behind them. She nodded at the two of them—this was their internal booklet.

"Donna, just pick the works from this booklet. Once you've chosen, let me know." Fang Hong said to Donna.

"OMG, you're just going to force this on me." Donna's expression was exaggerated—she had just been told to take her time looking and slowly pick, and now she was being told to pick straight from the booklet.

Either way, she had to buy a few.

"Don't put it so harshly, it's all cooperation, cooperation." Fang Hong patted the little booklet. This gesture amused Liu Tianxian, who couldn't help but smile.

Donna showed a kind of helplessness and could only flip through the booklet to see if anything was suitable.

Buying rights like these didn't cost much—a few hundred thousand to a million could buy one, and over a million would be a big production. The value of Chinese-language film rights overseas now wasn't as exaggerated as it had been back in the '00s.

Those big directors had long since ruined themselves.

Now, having someone willing to buy was already good enough—a buyer's market.

And this bit of money, Fang Hong could earn back for her, so it wasn't a loss.

This time, Big Hero 6 had already earned Universal over a hundred million US dollars!

The awards ceremony continued. One famous star after another took the stage as presenting guests, teasing each other to liven the atmosphere.

Although this edition of the Macau Film Festival had its flaws, the atmosphere and the splendor of the stage effects were no worse than the Golden Horse Awards or Golden Rooster Awards.

As the awards being presented grew bigger, the star power of the celebrities appearing grew bigger too. The Best New Director was presented by Shen Teng.

"Yo, I'm the only one here to present this award—why not arrange a beauty or something, so I can perform better." Shen Teng opened with a humorous remark.

"No worries, I'll keep you company. If you don't want a man keeping you company, you can pick a woman from the audience to come up." Cui Yongyuan stood at the edge of the stage.

"No, no, no, I quite prefer being alone. How could I share this chance to show my face with someone else?" Shen Teng always had that smug air when speaking into the microphone.

The audience watched the two of them being humorous and funny, and smiles unconsciously spread across their faces.

Sometimes when there was no suitable partner for an award presentation, one had to go alone. Too small a star wasn't appropriate, too big a star wasn't appropriate either, and many celebrities only went up to present once and wouldn't go on stage a second time.

If it was just one person, the host had to play along and pick up the cues, to avoid it being too awkward for the solo presenter.

"You're famous now, are you happy?" Cui Yongyuan began to make things difficult.

"No, no, I'm still just a small actor, I still need to work hard." Shen Teng said modestly.

"In a couple of days we won't be seeing your scandal or anything on the entertainment headlines, will we?" Cui Yongyuan spoke unhurriedly.

This was implying that every celebrity who got famous had scandals.

"No, no, we all have to learn from the Principal." Shen Teng faced this man with some trepidation—after all, he had just witnessed how sharp this man was.

This remark drew "hahaha" laughter from the guests.

Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian also laughed a little, showing no displeasure or reaction—it was all in jest.

And Shen Teng steering the microphone toward the Principal was to get Cui Yongyuan to let him off—he was just a small actor, he couldn't take this kind of roasting.

"Present the award." Cui Yongyuan, also quite tactful, didn't make things hard for Shen Teng and chose to let him go—the man had no grudge against him.

Besides, he hadn't heard of any shady business from Shen Teng in the industry, so he wouldn't make things difficult.

Shen Teng, relieved, returned to his relaxed demeanor: "Alright, let's present the award. The winner of Best New Director is, The Coffin in the Mountain, Xin Yukun. Congratulations."

With applause, a man in his thirties wearing glasses rose from the guest seats below the stage.

He hugged his companions, then calmly went up on stage.

"I haven't even won an award yet, and I'm already presenting one for someone else." Shen Teng joked with a smile, then handed the award to Xin Yukun who had come up.

Xin Yukun wasn't much of a speaker—after saying "thank you," he said nothing more.

Shen Teng yielded the stage to the other man, retreating to the side and standing still.

After the other man finished his acceptance speech, Shen Teng completed his task and returned backstage.

Next presented was Best Supporting Actress, presented by Deng Chao and Ceng Li. Deng Chao was as funny as ever on stage. The winner was: Hao Lei for The Golden Era!

"I'm quite moved that I can still receive such an award. This film festival is very well done—salute to the Principal!" Hao Lei raised the Trophy.

She was moved thinking how once she was at a small company, someone who had to greet people even when going to the Golden Horse Awards, and now she was actually running an awards ceremony, and running it quite successfully.

The ceremony had already presented most of its awards; if nothing went wrong from here on out, it was basically a success.

"Clap clap clap" applause rang out at the venue!

Fang Hong smiled and clapped, and Liu Tianxian also clapped hard—when others praised her man, she loved hearing it.

Next presented was Best Supporting Actor, presented by Huang Jiaozhu and Song Jia. The two of them spoke fairly standard words on stage. The winner was: Jin Shijie for Xiu Chun Dao.

Although his screen time was small, the role he played was unforgettable at a glance—flawless.

Although there was a rule to try not to give awards to Yutu Film, they couldn't withstand everyone voting for this man.

Jin Shijie didn't come, so director Lu Yang accepted on his behalf.

"Although I'm accepting on his behalf, getting this award isn't easy either. Thanks to the Judges, thanks to the Macau Film Festival, thank you." After speaking, Lu Yang didn't go backstage but went straight back to his seat.

Then came some song and dance performances, and the awards ceremony was basically entering its finale—all the remaining awards were major ones.

"I'm going backstage." Liu Tianxian rested her hand on Fang Hong's leg and said to him.

"Mm!"

Fang Hong nodded, not thinking anything of it.

After a song and dance performance ended, the stage lighting shifted from dazzling to gentle, and Liu Tianxian, graceful and elegant, walked out from backstage to the center of the stage.

Just her alone, no one else.

And she alone was about to present the Best Director award, such a major award—it was indeed very heavy.

One had to know that this award was normally presented either by highly respected figures in the industry, or by established director seniors in the industry, and always by two people.

The audience didn't think anything of it, but the guests' faces showed quite some puzzlement, and were quite serious—this didn't treat "Best Director" with proper respect.

"Hello everyone, I'm Liu Yifei. As an actor, coming to present this Best Director award, I feel the burden on my shoulders is quite heavy." Liu Tianxian opened with a show of modesty.

"If you feel it's heavy and can't bear it, you can put this burden down." Cui Yongyuan stood at the edge of the stage, one arm across his chest, the other holding the microphone as he teased.

"I'm already up here, it wouldn't be good to put it down now, would it?" Liu Tianxian forced a smile.

Taking it off would mean forcing her off the stage — how embarrassing that would be!

"No worries, we can pretend you never came up here. As long as your skin is thick enough, you can also act as if nothing happened." Cui Yongyuan's tone was casual, yet it drew laughter from the scene.

Some guests even started clapping "pa-pa," clearly enjoying the spectacle.

This remark was saying Liu Tianxian had thick skin — knowing full well she didn't have the standing, she still came up to present this Best Director award. Wasn't that just asking for embarrassment?

In the livestream chat, Liu Tianxian's fans were cursing: Cui Yongyuan is trash, bullying our Xixi.

Meanwhile, passersby were praising him for daring to speak up, with comments like "666" and the like — the chat was a complete mess.

(End of chapter)