Chapter 901: So Early This Year? It's Not an Unspoken Rule!

On the first day of September, domestic news headlines rolled out one wave after another, reaching Venice.

Chen Da's son Chen Chen Feiyu starred in *Ever Night*, which had a high-profile start of production at the Xiangyang Tang Cheng film and television base; Huang Huang Xiaoming's *Dong Xuan Zang* officially announced it had won the Five One Project Award.

Additionally, *Dunkirk*, whose release date had previously been artificially shifted to make way for *Wolf Warrior 2*, was now officially screening…

As for *Hanson and the Beast*, it pulled in another 101 million yuan yesterday.

In the morning, Lin Nan went out alone to meet up with Jiang Jiang Xuerou, and they headed to the film exhibition area. Meanwhile, Liu Liu Yifei, Watching Shu Chang and the others had accepted brand invitations to attend a fashion show — the Spring/Summer 2018 runway show.

"Director Chen and his team are here too?" The promotional poster for *Legend of the Demon Cat* was exceptionally eye-catching, and there were plenty of distributors and media reporters consulting at the booth — Lin Nan spotted it at a glance.

"Director Chen Chen Kaige and Producer Chen arrived yesterday evening and didn't attend the opening ceremony red carpet; as for their *Legend of the Demon Cat*, we all think it should fetch a good price at this film festival."

Jiang Jiang Xuerou glanced at the lively atmosphere at the booth and said bluntly. She had already seen the *Legend of the Demon Cat* trailer a few days earlier — the visuals and color grading were unquestionably top-tier quality.

"Director Chen — it's genuinely hard for his films to lose money. Especially this *Legend of the Demon Cat*; he made a fortune just from the Xiangyang Tang Cheng film and television base project alone… and it's the steady, long-term kind of income.

The 'reputation' of one epic film building an entire city — that's not hype, it's something he literally built." Lin Nan joked as he continued walking toward his own booth.

"There's always been a saying in the industry that Director Chen was the first of the Fifth Generation directors to get rich. Hahaha…"

"That statement really has no flaws."

Lin Nan laughed and picked up the thread — wasn't Chen Chen Kaige exactly the richest among the Fifth Generation? As for box office underperformance? Director Chen's main profit channels for his films have never been the box office.

Passing the booths for *Sky Hunter* and *The Wild*, Lin Nan and his group paid them no attention… those booths were empty and utterly deserted.

Facts prove that films in the main competition section are always the most watched — just like *Marriage Story*, with large numbers of distributors, filmmakers, and media reporters actively requesting screening tickets.

"Lin Dao, according to plan, starting today through the afternoon of the 8th, we'll screen 3 sessions per day, 24 sessions in total… it's a small-to-medium-sized hall with 96 seats…

Also, although screenings only just began today, many distributors have been registering since a few days ago — they're all interested in participating in the rights negotiation on the 10th…"

His staff were reporting on the situation here, while Lin Nan had already started flipping through the distributor information they'd compiled — most of them seemed to be the usual familiar companies, but that was normal.

"Lin Dao, there's an interview request from the internal publication." Suddenly, Jiang Jiang Xuerou interrupted Lin Nan's train of thought. She was holding her phone, having just hung up a call.

"When?"

"They said if it's convenient for you, Lin Dao, then tonight; if tonight isn't convenient…"

"Fine." Lin Nan nodded almost without hesitation.

When he first came to the Venice International Film Festival in 2009 as a competitor, naturally he deservedly made it into the internal publication's coverage. But that time, Lin Nan didn't get a solo internal publication interview!

"Huh? I remember that in previous years, the people who got solo internal publication interviews always seemed to be older filmmakers? I'm only just over 30." Suddenly, Lin Nan realized something, his expression turning a bit odd.

"Lin Dao, didn't the festival committee say at their press conference a few months ago that Venice wants to change and break through? Otherwise, how would a 'sci-fi monster film' like *The Shape of Water* make it into the main competition?"

"Mm, fair point!"

……

After the opening ceremony, starting from the morning of the 1st, all activities of the Venice International Film Festival officially kicked off.

Beyond rights trading and the final reviews of films in each section… the premieres of large numbers of films also piled up;

Posts for filmmaker forums, cocktail parties, and business invitations likewise flooded in.

Zhang Zhang Yimou had just seen off the festival committee people when he turned his head and spotted Zhang Mo. He said with some regret: "You should have come back earlier."

"I missed today, but it's not like I won't have the chance to meet these seniors in the future. Dad, you've already talked with them?" Zhang Mo was eighty to ninety percent sure, but couldn't help asking anyway.

"Mm, since they brought it up proactively, of course I'd go along with it — there's no reason to refuse either. *Shadow* is confirmed to register for next year's Venice International Film Festival. By the way, what is that you've brought back?"

Hearing this answer, Zhang Mo immediately breathed a sigh of relief, her tone brightening noticeably: "It's something Chairman La asked me to bring back — an invitation to the 'Chinese Language Film Night.'"

Taking the invitation Zhang Mo handed him, Zhang Zhang Yimou glanced at it once and gave it back to her: "You go then when the time comes — consider it networking.

But for me, these events have no meaning at all; I'd rather go to the screening hall and watch a few more films. To keep up with the industry's current pace of development, you have to keep learning…"

Zhang Mo nodded in agreement. Honestly, she genuinely admired her own father's mindset — constantly learning, just to avoid being abandoned by the market, even though the process is very difficult, especially at his age!

"Can't be bothered. It's just like those shady side events that piggyback on A-list festival names — the events themselves have nothing to do with film, it's all just socializing."

On the other side, Lin Nan, who was currently "mooching a lunch," likewise rejected China Film's invitation, kicking the ball to Jiang Jiang Xuerou over the phone.

"Lin, welcome…" The brand representative raised a glass with a smile, and Lin Nan returned the gesture.

That's right — Lin Dao Da had come in the capacity of a family member to mooch a meal. Still, this meal was perfectly justified for him to eat.

"I got a call from Jianü this morning — her *A Cool Fish* crew is going on break again."

Liu Liu Yifei skillfully and elegantly handled the steak in front of her, still bantering with Lin Nan about Han Jianü. The production hadn't even been running 20 days, and this was already the third time the director was slacking off — though it hadn't been carried out yet.

"What's the reason this time?"

"She accepted Harper's Bazaar's invitation. On the day of the awards ceremony, around noon when we're doing hair and makeup, she'll probably be at the Harper's Bazaar charity gala." Watching Shu Chang took a small sip of red wine and answered first.

"She has a film in production, and she needs attention and exposure later on — she probably considered that angle. Mm, plus she wants to slack off herself." Lin Nan guessed at Han Jianü's thinking.

"Impressive — that's exactly what she said." Liu Liu Yifei laughed and gave Lin Nan a thumbs-up. But could she put down the knife first — even though it wasn't sharpened.

After the dinner ended, the group returned to the hotel together.

The ladies were stealing a moment of leisure — they were going to watch a film in the afternoon. Lin Nan, meanwhile, was preparing in advance for the evening interview, which would be held in the hotel conference room; he still needed to spruce himself up a bit.

Outside, China Film had already started throwing money around. In just one morning, La La Peikang had led his team to acquire the rights to 4 foreign films, in the form of batch import buyouts.

And Chen Chen Kaige, Feng Feng Xiaogang and others had also packed their schedules full for the rest of the morning — almost entirely their own people's events!

The day rushed by. Lin Nan's interview started at six in the evening and was recorded for a full three and a half hours.

But in the end, it would only appear in the internal publication in photo and text form, and in heavily condensed content at that.

As for the complete video, of course it would be kept on file; but if the outside world wanted to see it, they'd probably have to wait for some future edition of the Venice Film Festival to put out a "retrospective" documentary.

The 2nd — another day flew by. Lin Nan preferred to accompany Liu Liu Yifei on her promotional rounds rather than get involved in any socializing, including the "Chinese Language Film Night" he'd said he'd attend.

Fortunately, Zhang Zhang Yimou didn't go either, which gave many people less opportunity to make snide remarks.

……

"Starring Alibaba Board Chairman Jack Ma as the lead, with Jet Li, Donnie Yen, Xiang Zuo, Zou Zou Shiming, Wu Jing, Asashoryu, Tony Jaa, Jason Statham, Manny Pacquiao, Golovkin and many other kung fu superstars in supporting roles… the action micro-film *Gong Shou Dao* officially started production at exactly nine in the morning;

It is reported that the film is directed by Wen Zhang, produced by Jet Li, with Sammo Hung, Ching Siu-tung, and Yuan Yuan Heping serving as martial arts directors. The behind-the-scenes creative team is also a gathering of superstars…"

"Noon Sunshine Pictures issued an announcement that the company has officially dissolved its artist management division as of today. All artists under contract whose terms have not yet expired, including Wang Kai, may unconditionally regain their freedom…"

On the morning of the 3rd, after seeing Liu Liu Yifei off at the hotel, Lin Nan dealt with some domestic matters for a while, mainly returning Wang Wang Changtian's call.

*Sha Po Lang: Greedy Wolf* and *The Fatal Raid* were pulled from theaters early, with box office totals of 522 million and 64.71 million respectively.

And *Wolf Warrior 2* was down to just 10.21 million in daily earnings — clearly about to wind down. Still, that 5.65 billion figure was truly domineering, grabbing every eye to the extreme!

After wrapping up the trivial matters, Lin Nan likewise left the hotel. While Miss Liu was busy with her schedule, he too had to go study… study the merits of other films — composition, color, framing, narrative technique…

"Hm?" He hadn't walked far with his assistant before the phone in his pocket started buzzing. Lin Nan glanced at the caller and was quite surprised: "No way? It's from here, no doubt. But it's only the 3rd?"

"Hello?"

"Is this Lin Dao Nan?"

"Mm, that's me. Who's calling?"

"Lin Dao Nan, I'm calling from the Venice International Film Festival organizing committee…"

Hearing the first sentence, Lin Nan's heart skipped a beat: notifying this early this year?

But when he heard what followed, that boulder in his heart instantly lifted again — turned out it wasn't one of those "hidden rules" calls!

However, this call was also a bit interesting — they were actually being evasive about it…

"The day after tomorrow? Sure, I'm free the day after tomorrow. But you could at least tell me what it's about, right?"

"It's like this…"

Lin Nan couldn't help but furrow his brow. Good lord, what's this all about?

"Alright, I'll be waiting at the hotel the day after tomorrow afternoon. Pass my regards to them as well — see you the day after tomorrow."

After hanging up, Lin Nan couldn't help but smack his lips, his mind a jumble of thoughts…

"Let's go, let's take a look… Forget *Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri*, let's go check out that island nation's *The Third Murder* first!"

………