Chapter 553: Dig Up Their Graves

Donna listened to the two of them and it did sound reasonable, so she chose to believe it—after all, she knew how much money Fang Hong had made for Warner.

Before, she had even been eyeing the distribution rights to The Conjuring universe, thinking about coming over to get them.

Some people nearby overheard their conversation and fell silent—truly treating money as if it were nothing, tossing out tens of millions in casual chatter.

They sighed that the Principal was awesome too—tens of millions of dollars and the Universal boss bled the moment he was told to, and the man really did bleed.

One can only say the gap between people is truly huge!

The huge banquet hall was very lively; everyone was getting a little drunk, and after three rounds of drinks, it would be time for everyone to head home.

"Dance! Dance!" Suddenly a table started heckling, and a crowd gathered to watch, as if watching a show.

Fang Hong looked back and saw Huang Jiaozhu, Deng Chao, Li Bailian and a few other big shots, half-drunk and giddy, teasing Cai Wenjing.

Asking her to dance right here.

"I'm wearing high heels, it's inconvenient, hard to dance." Facing these big shots in the industry, Cai Wenjing didn't find it easy to refuse.

They were all half-capital, while she was just a small actress, and not even a very famous one at that.

"We think your figure is pretty nice, you must have studied dance. We don't mean anything else—if you dance well, and if we have other roles, we can introduce you." Deng Chao spoke very plausibly.

This put Cai Wenjing in a difficult spot; her face flushed red, and with so many people around watching her with half-smiles, she felt very embarrassed.

"Dance one for us, let us see if you dance well." Huang Jiaozhu heckled and egged her on.

The others also heckled: "Dance one, just one!"

"Have you fucking never seen a woman dance before!" Fang Hong stood up and went straight at them.

Those people saw the Principal, their faces changed instantly, and they immediately scattered back to their own seats.

Deng Chao, Huang Jiaozhu and the others also changed expression, sobering up halfway on the spot, knowing they'd caused trouble, and silently hung their heads.

This was the drink causing trouble—they'd forgotten this was the Principal's turf.

Cai Wenjing gave the Principal a grateful glance, then silently left the place.

She didn't want to stay here either; too many people, she wasn't comfortable.

Liu Tianxian said nothing; seeing those people had scattered, she tugged Fang Hong's sleeve, signaling him to sit down.

"This circle is just like that, loves to heckle, each and every one acting like they've never seen anyone dance before." Chen Daoming also looked indignant.

"Ah, everyone's drunk, just having fun." Someone tried to smooth things over.

Seeing the Principal sit down and his expression improve, they relaxed—the Principal losing his temper still carried real authority.

Just as they were attending the banquet, a report about the Macau Film Festival's award results appeared on all the major portal sites:

"The 6th Macau Film Festival Winners List Announced!"

This article compiled and published all the winners of the festival—what film won what award, what person won what award—all made perfectly clear.

It recorded their names and films in history, etched them in memory—this was the necessary exposure.

At the same time, along with the rapid fermentation of images, text, and clip videos, several hot-topic entries quickly climbed to the trending searches.

#Principal Helps "Song of the Phoenix" Widow and Orphan, Sells to Universal Pictures for $2 Million! #

#Cui Yongyuan Drops Bombshell Entertainment Circle Insider Info! #

#Principal Says He Wants to Break the Rules, Hold the Fairest Film Festival, Make the Golden Rooster and Golden Horse Uncomfortable! #

#Liu Tianxian Dominantly Fires Back: The Film Festival Is Run by My Family! #

#Principal Says Feng Kuzi Is Ugly Enough to Become Legend! #

#Awkward Moment at Macau Film Festival: Chen Daoming Once Made Things Hard for Guoji Zhang, Stars' Expressions in the Audience Are Hilarious! #

One bombshell entry after another hung on the trending searches, quickly occupying the top fifteen spots, becoming the hottest trending events and gala of the moment.

Only because this edition of the Macau Film Festival truly dared to speak, truly dared to drop bombshells, and was full of hype—the winning actors and films also met public expectations.

The public paid a lot of attention, so the buzz was unprecedented.

At the same time, one self-media headline article after another appeared en masse online:

"This edition of the Macau Film Festival has changed its past image, held grandly and dazzlingly."

"This Macau Film Festival didn't disappoint, billed as the fairest film festival."

"The winners are all authoritative, meeting expectations."

"Compared to the Golden Rooster and Golden Horse, the Macau Film Festival has a unique advantage—more fair and transparent."

Self-media articles piled up online, sprouting up in droves like bamboo shoots after rain, deepening people's impression of this film festival.

This is the age of self-media—as long as there's traffic, self-media will follow the trend.

Where there are praises, of course there are also attacks.

"Macau Film Festival Results: Gong Huang Winning Best Actress May Have Other Hidden Circumstances."

This article hinted that Gong Huang winning Best Actress was the Principal returning a favor—that he wanted to take down the other film festivals, so he gave it to her.

The article was written with such detail that some people actually believed it.

"Why Boos Throughout the Macau Film Festival? Winners Questioned, Judge Lineup Criticized."

This was forcibly claiming the Macau Film Festival was watered down.

When a film festival gets hot, there will always be this or that kind of talk—some say good things about you, some say bad things, and there will also be ulterior-motivated forces trying to set the narrative.

If the Macau Film Festival were like before, where no one said good or bad about you, no one talked about you, that would prove no one cared, no buzz. Now so many people are talking, so much commentary, proves this film festival has caught fire.

Not only that, there was also a person claiming to be an industry Expert who published an article.

The gist was this: "Everyone I know, from leaders to friends, doesn't approve of this Macau Film Festival's award process and winners."

The article pointed out the unreasonableness of the Macau Film Festival's film selections—many films that should have been nominated for awards weren't nominated.

For example, Bona's "The Silent War," "Unbeatable," etc.; Huayi's "Shen Du Long Wang," etc. —not a single excellent film from these two companies was to be seen.

Many other good films were nowhere to be seen either.

This is unfair—if you claim to be fair, why not put these films together for evaluation, why still treat them differently?

Wenzhang wrote at length with great logic, completely ignoring the reality that Bona and Huayi had blacklisted them, and the fact that other films weren't entering the competition.

If they don't submit films for screening at the Macau Film Festival, how can the festival just show them? All screenings require proper licensing.

This matter can't be explained at all. If you explain, they'll say they never blacklisted you—it's all baseless—and then turn around and accuse you of being a petty person, slandering them, deliberately omitting their films.

There's no official document, no evidence—no matter how you explain, you're always wrong.

The best approach is to say nothing and let them talk.

This article likely represents a certain group speaking out, and that group must be the ones who control discourse in the film industry.

The Principal didn't invite them to organize the festival, didn't seek their advice, didn't pay respects or acknowledge their authority—this was tantamount to digging their graves, uprooting their foundations, and harming their interests.

If this continues, the Macau Film Festival will replace the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards and the Golden Horse Awards' authority—who will still watch their festivals? Who will still respect them? Without respect, no one will offer bribes.

This is undoubtedly pulling them down from their pedestals, stripping them of their claim to "authority"!

This is even more dangerous than killing their parents!

Some have even called on Macau authorities to stop letting the Principal run the festival—he's made a mess of it, with zero professionalism.

Nonsense. Outright lying is their specialty.

Wangyi couldn't take it anymore and wanted to weigh in.

"Isn't this the edition with the least criticism?"

"They say the industry doesn't recognize it? If the industry were truly professional, there wouldn't be watered-down awards like the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers."

"I believe the Macau Film Festival didn't involve bribery—the Best Actress Gong Huang doesn't need it, and the Best Actor Tao Zeru lacks the means."

"As long as it's not the annual party of Huayi or Bona—they monopolize slots every year."

"There's always a group that wants to speak for authority!"

"."

The Macau Film Festival's influence was considerable; mainstream media, self-media, and Experts all offered evaluations of this year's festival.

Online, the noise was deafening—everyone had something to say: criticism of the awards, complaints about their unfairness, rumors about winners, all kinds of chaotic claims.

It's just because the festival is hot now—everyone wants to say something to show they exist.

They can basically be divided into three factions: self-media and Wangyi praise it; mainstream media remain neutral; Experts, of course, criticize it.

They have no choice but to criticize—unless the Principal invites them to be "Experts" and meddle!

Fang Hong isn't idle enough to invite them here to spout nonsense.

The first edition naturally drew much criticism, and those voices would persist for some time.

But Fang Hong gave orders: ignore them. The more you respond, the more they escalate. The festival has already ended—what's left to say?

The peak concurrent online viewership for this festival's live stream exceeded 10.25 million, but didn't surpass Hero Glory's 11.2 million.

Of course, this was the peak concurrent number; sometimes it dropped to just a few million, and viewers came and went—the total viewership far exceeded this figure.

Many people only watched clips—clips that distilled the highlights.

Without this internet live stream, this year's Macau Film Festival wouldn't have had much impact. The reason is simple: it lacks the fame and inherent recognition of the Golden Rooster Awards.

If it doesn't even have the fame of the Golden Rooster Awards, then holding it is meaningless. For such events, you must first have channels that provide visibility.

At least the reputation has been established—it was a success, leaving an impression on people; the number of tourists coming to Macau clearly increased.

Some rushed over just to see if they could spot Fan Xiaopang or Liu Tianxian—they hadn't planned to come before.

Of course, others came to tour and enjoy the scenery.

On January 1, 2015, New Year's Day, after handling the final details, Fang Hong and Liu Tianxian returned to Beijing.

Beijing was still frozen solid; snow crunched underfoot with a "crunch-crunch" sound.

Liu Tianxian had put back on her fluffy outfit.

(End of Chapter)