Chapter 244

On July 3rd, the day after finishing post-production, Cao Yang watched the film with Old Tian and Hou Yuan.

Although the final CG wasn't finished, the plot was coherent and wouldn't affect the submission for review.

"Cao Dao, do you want to release this graduation project directly, or do you want to take it to a film festival?"

After watching it, Old Hou's heart was excited. As someone who had come up through the directing department, his own filmmaking might be just so-so, but he still had an eye for quality.

He naturally hoped Cao Yang could go to a film festival, especially the three major European ones. This year's Berlin and Cannes were already over, but wasn't there still Venice?

This kind of film that deeply explored the spiritual world within human nature, especially the conflict between purity and desire, repression and release, as well as internal family contradictions, was the easiest to win awards with.

After all, if an art-house film didn't explore human nature and the spiritual world, could it still be called a pure art-house film?

Cao Yang's "Black Swan" was a film that pointed straight to the essence.

Old Tian didn't beat around the bush like Old Hou and asked directly: "You want to go to the Venice Film Festival?"

Cao Yang nodded with a smile and said: "Mm, let's go to Venice. Submit it for review first. Once we get the permit, the CG will be just about done. We'll call some people over then and hold an internal screening."

Old Hou just grinned from ear to ear without thinking too much. He felt that this film would definitely win an award, and for a student's graduation project to win in Venice, it would be proof of his leadership as dean.

Just thinking about it made him a little excited.

Old Tian, however, had a thought and nudged Cao Yang with his shoulder: "You want Old Ma to come?"

"Mm."

"You brat!"

Old Tian burst into laughter, leaving Old Hou bewildered.

"Let's go, Dean Hou. It's your turn to put in some effort now. You really are..."

Old Tian originally wanted to say, "You really have had such dumb luck," but he thought it might be inappropriate for a department head to say that to the dean, so he decided to give him some face.

Submitting this film for review would definitely be fine. The only slightly controversial shots were the passionate scenes between Dong Xuan and Lv Yi.

However, these were just the female lead's fantasies, not scenes involving children, and Cao Yang had cut some of them in the version submitted for review, keeping only a few shots.

Moreover, given Cao Yang's current influence, even if he submitted it without cutting anything, it would likely pass, but those people would just keep asking for instructions back and forth, wasting time for nothing and affecting the efficiency of the review.

Thinking of the passionate scenes between Dong Xuan and Lv Yi, Cao Yang couldn't help but sigh.

When filming this part of the plot, Cao Yang never expected that Lv Yi would be the one to take the initiative!

Cao Yang had told them to improvise freely; he hadn't expected that Lv Yi, who looked quiet and gentle, would be so aggressive.

As soon as she started, she wrapped her arms around Dong Xuan's waist and pinned her directly underneath her, and while groping her chest, she looked at Dong Xuan with deep affection.

Following that, she went straight for the kiss.

In the one-minute passionate scene, Lv Yi was active the whole time, while Dong Xuan was passively fending her off.

After filming this segment, Dong Xuan's face was flushed red.

Then, Lv Yi seemed to suddenly realize what had happened; her face also turned bright red, and she covered her face with both hands like an ostrich, too embarrassed to take them down for a long time.

The main theme was contrast.

Over the past few days, Cao Yang had received calls from quite a few major directors.

At first, he didn't understand why. Major directors, like Old Old Mouzi and the great poet Chen Chen Kaige, spoke very subtly; they didn't talk business, only about film, as if that was the only way they could have common topics.

Cao Yang went to Yu Yu Feihong's place and saw that she had prepared a table full of dishes and a bottle of red wine, and he was a bit confused.

"What's going on here?"

Yu Yu Feihong took the suit Cao Yang had taken off, hung it on a hanger, and said with a smile: "Celebrating for you. Aren't you the chief consultant for the Olympic Organizing Committee now?"

"Eh, how did you know?" Cao Yang asked suspiciously; he hadn't told anyone.

"Stop pretending."

Yu Yu Feihong rolled her eyes at Cao Yang. "Did you go to the Olympic Organizing Committee for a meeting today?"

"Uh, yes."

Cao Yang had gone to the Olympic Organizing Committee today. Since the committee had decided to bid for the Olympic Games' chief director, they naturally had to set up a charter, and he had been called over to participate in drafting it.

"You were in the news today. I only found out after seeing the news that you became the chief consultant for the Olympic Organizing Committee. Of course I have to celebrate for you."

Actually, Yu Yu Feihong had known this news a few days ago; Cao Yang's photo had been posted on the official website of the Olympic Organizing Committee at the beginning of the month.

"It's a consultant, just a consultant, not a chief consultant," Cao Yang corrected.

He remembered that at the time, they said they would just give him a consultant title.

Yu Yu Feihong smiled, pulled Cao Yang to the computer, entered the official website of the Beijing Olympic Games, and found the Olympic Organizing Committee.

!

Ranked at the very top was the chairman of the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee, who was the current head of the Beijing government.

Next was the executive chairman, the head of the General Administration of Sport, who was also the chairman of the Chinese Olympic Committee.

Below that was the list of several vice-chairmen of the Olympic Organizing Committee.

And then, there was the chief consultant, with Cao Yang's name written there.

Cao Yang was a bit dazed. He had thought he was just an "insignificant" consultant; he hadn't expected to become the chief consultant.

Perhaps they wanted to make use of his international influence.

Immediately, he thought of the several calls from major directors he had received one after another.

So that was it. They had probably heard from internal sources that he was appointed as a consultant specifically to select the chief director for the Olympic opening and closing ceremonies.

Then, he couldn't help but want to laugh. He hadn't expected Old Old Mouzi to call him, and even less did he expect that after being silent for a long time on the phone, Old Old Mouzi would start discussing science fiction films with him!

Right up until they hung up, Old Old Mouzi still seemed to have more to say, as if he had forgotten the purpose of the call.

And then there was Jiang Shixiong Chen Kaige, who still maintained his senior brother airs even when making a call, "pointing out the country" for a long time without mentioning his purpose.

Both of them were clearly calling to build rapport, just like how Xiao Xiao Gangpao had enthusiastically called him "little brother" after finding out he was going to be a consultant.

It was just that Old Old Mouzi and Chen Kaige weren't as directly utilitarian as Xiao Xiao Gangpao.

Perhaps the two of them didn't want him to help, but were afraid he would ruin things?

If it weren't for seeing the official website today and Yu Yu Feihong's reminder, Cao Yang wouldn't have thought in that direction.

At today's meeting, it was decided that the first round of the competition would be held in Kuangou, Beijing, on September 19th.

One of the rules set today was how long the presentation time for each competing team should be, whether the main person in charge of the team should make the presentation after submitting the planning proposal, or if the whole team should present and supplement together, etc.

There were still more than two months for that, so there was no rush.

Cao Yang currently had one more thing to do, and that was "Crazy Stone," for which he served as executive producer and producer, and also wrote the script. It was set to be released tomorrow, July 15th.

As the first mainstream film by "little junior nephew" Director Ning Hao to enter theaters, he had long since started promoting it, and every time he was interviewed, a phrase he kept on his lips was:

"Since I graduated, I have always been Cao Dao's assistant. Cao Dao probably saw that I was worth molding, so he specifically tailored this script for me, and Cao Dao personally served as the executive producer... I guarantee the film won't let everyone down."

(End of chapter)