Chapter 310

When Cao Yang arrived at Marco Polo Airport in Venice, Marco Müller was already waiting for him.

"Why did you come in person? Wasn't it agreed that a car from the organizing committee would come to pick me up?"

After hugging Old Ma, Cao Yang asked with some confusion.

"The committee's car is waiting outside. I'm very happy you could come, so I definitely had to come and welcome you myself," Old Ma said with a smile.

Cao Yang looked at Old Ma suspiciously; he didn't quite believe it. The old guy definitely had something up his sleeve.

In their call before boarding, Old Ma had said he would be waiting at the official hotel arranged in Venice. This had changed too quickly.

"Spit it out, Old Ma. You know my personality. If you don't say what's going on, I'll just assume you really are here to welcome me."

Old Ma shrugged his shoulders and said with a bitter smile, "Alright, there was a bit of an accident. Can we talk about it after we head back? This isn't the place to go into details."

Afterward, Old Ma beckoned for a staff member not far away to come over and said to Cao Yang:

"Let him take you to the committee's welcoming party. However, you'd better be mentally prepared; there are quite a lot of reporters following you to the airport this time."

Is this what you call "quite a lot," damn it?

It's an awful lot, okay!

Cao Yang looked at the media contingent of at least forty or fifty people, all of them set up in formation with their long lenses and cameras ready.

A press conference venue wouldn't be much different.

"Director Cao..."

"Director Cao Yang..."

"Mr. Director..."

Seeing Cao Yang approach, the reporters began to shout, shoving microphones forward one by one as camera flashes started blinking incessantly.

Even with the help of staff and assistants, it still took Cao Yang over ten minutes to break free.

"What is going on?"

Sitting in the committee's car, Cao Yang asked Luca Pierno, who was sitting next to him.

He was the artistic director of the Venice Film Festival and one of Old Ma's confidants; this time, he was representing the committee to welcome Cao Yang.

Luca Pierno hesitated for a moment before explaining with a smile: "You are one of the most influential filmmakers in the world. The news that we were coming to welcome you was accidentally leaked, so these reporters followed us."

Just that simple?

How could it be that simple?

"Luca, your explanation has zero credibility."

Luca Pierno spread his hands and shrugged, explaining again: "Alright, I admit it. The news was leaked by us internally."

You still haven't explained why so many reporters came.

Cao Yang thought about the problems the Venice Film Festival was facing and what Old Ma had been working hard to do over the past two years, and he seemed to have a clue.

Nowadays, the biggest threat to the Venice Film Festival isn't Cannes or Berlin, because the time intervals between their events are quite large.

Of course, it isn't the Oscars either.

It's the previously unknown Toronto International Film Festival!

The Toronto Film Festival is held every September, clashing with Venice.

Furthermore, in the last two years, as the Toronto Film Festival's momentum has grown, it has gradually become a bellwether for the Oscars.

Hollywood's big stars prefer to go to the closer Toronto Film Festival rather than come to Venice.

He tentatively asked: "Are there no currently popular superstars or big directors coming to Venice this year?"

Luca Pierno gave a bitter smile, nodded, and said nothing.

That explained it.

In recent years, the influence of the three major European festivals has been declining, especially for Hollywood; many popular big names have started to care less about them.

Without the participation of these Hollywood superstars, the attention on the three major European festivals will continue to drop. This is also the reason why Old Ma has been compromising toward Hollywood since taking office.

However, Venice's compromise seems to have come a bit late.

Cannes still has Hollywood superstars participating every year, while Venice, because of its "long history of prior offenses"—often tricking Hollywood people into coming but giving them no awards, while verbally boycotting them—in short, Venice's reputation in Hollywood is not high.

This has led to the situation where, even if Hollywood stars want to attend a European film festival, their first choice is Cannes, not the laughable Venice.

Because too few big stars and directors with world-class influence come, these reporters flocked over as soon as they knew Cao Yang had arrived.

Reporting on the news of an unknown small director is definitely a different matter from reporting on a world-class director like Cao Yang.

The level of attention is not even in the same league.

The business van drove directly to the Hotel Excelsior on the Lido.

This hotel is an official partner of Venice and the only five-star hotel on the Lido, where the Venice Film Festival is held. The committee has been arranging for Cao Yang to stay here for the past two years.

Not long after, Old Ma arrived.

"Do you want to rest for a few hours first? We can talk tonight."

Old Ma asked: "Or shall we go eat first? I know a decent Japanese restaurant. Although it's run by Chinese people, it tastes quite authentic."

"The food can wait."

Cao Yang had taken a shower just before Old Ma arrived, and he felt quite refreshed now.

"Old Ma, the thing you mentioned—it wouldn't be asking me to stay in Venice for a few more days to be an award presenter, would it?"

"Wow!"

Old Ma used exaggerated body language to express his surprise, laughing as he said: "No wonder we are such close friends; that is exactly the favor I wanted to ask of you."

Then, Old Ma explained: "You should be very clear about the situation in Venice. It was pretty good last year because you were here, but it's much more troublesome this year.

We sent invitations to quite a few Hollywood big stars in advance, but very few were willing to come. There was no other way; in order to boost Venice's attention and influence, we decided after some research to temporarily add a major award this year.

That is the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, and we plan to give this award to David Lynch from the United States.

He has won the Palme d'Or and Best Director at Cannes, has sufficient influence in Europe, and is a famous Hollywood director with influence all over the world."

Cao Yang thought for a moment and asked, "David Lynch has never attended the Venice Film Festival, right?"

"Smart!"

Old Ma gave Cao Yang a thumbs up.

Venice's influence has slipped to this point, yet they still don't forget to poach talent from Cannes. One can only say... well, this move is actually quite good, killing several birds with one stone.

"Have you read the script I sent you? What do you think?"

Cao Yang didn't say whether he would be David Lynch's award presenter, instead changing the subject.

"It's absolutely brilliant!"

Mentioning this, Old Ma was clearly excited. He gave Cao Yang a thumbs up again and said with a smile:

"Is this the film you are going to shoot next? Are you planning to come to Venice next year?"

He pondered for a moment before making up his mind: "Don't worry, even if I have to face the pressure, it doesn't matter if this world record is born under my watch. As long as you dare to come next year, I dare to award you the Golden Lion for the third time!"

Currently, the directors with the most Golden Lion awards are Cao Yang and Old Mouzi, with two each. If Cao Yang wins another, he would indeed be setting a record.

Furthermore, giving a Chinese person three Golden Lions would indeed put Old Ma under considerable pressure.

But it wouldn't be too much; after all, Cao Yang and Old Mouzi are currently the directors with the most Golden Lions anyway.

"You misunderstood. I did write this script, but it was written for Old Tian. I want him to direct this film."

Cao Yang explained.

Old Ma frowned slightly and said: "You know, my relationship with Old Tian is very good, but the films he has shot in recent years have been somewhat unsatisfactory. Can he fully present your script?"

"His fundamental skills are still there. As long as he doesn't mess with the script and shoots it according to the script, it shouldn't be a problem," Cao Yang said.

"Then I have no problem with it either."

Old Ma immediately stated his position, then added with a smile: "About the presenter for the Lifetime Achievement Award..."

Cao Yang sighed helplessly, "Fine, I'll stay a few extra days."

Then, thinking of something else, he reminded him: "You should handle the capital injection into that company in Xiangjiang more cleanly. Don't let people get a hold on you."

"Uh..."

Old Ma first gave a sheepish laugh, then hurriedly asked:

"Do many people know about this? Should I withdraw the funds?

It's mainly because Jia... needs funds. I think he has good ability, so I thought about collaborating. As long as we operate some awards for him, the film will definitely be profitable. How did people find out?"

Cao Yang patted Old Ma on the shoulder and comforted him:

"Your methods are too crude. Xiangjiang is an Asian financial center; they are very sensitive to capital flows. As long as someone with intent checks a little, they can find clues.

Right now, only a limited number of people in the circle know. You should find professionals to handle the loose ends and make it more covert."

"Mm, mm."

Old Ma nodded hurriedly, then hesitated before asking: "About this year's Golden Lion, should we..."

Cao Yang thought for a moment and said: "Don't change it. Just tell him to keep a low profile when the time comes, and you hurry up and find someone to handle the rest."

Old Ma left in a hurry.

Cao Yang shook his head. Old Ma might feel he's getting old and wants to earn some retirement money, while finding a backup plan for himself.

As Old Ma became the chairman of the Venice Film Festival, one could clearly feel that more and more Chinese-language films have been participating over the last two years.

This year, there are three Chinese-language films in the main competition section.

Jia Zhangke's "Still Life," Du Qifeng's "Exiled" from Xiangjiang, and Cai Mingliang's "I Don't Want to Sleep Alone" from Taiwan.

There are even more in other sections.

Liu Jie's "Courthouse on Horseback" and Jia Zhangke's "Dong," which was shot alongside "Still Life," were shortlisted for the Orizzonti section.

Xiao Gangpao's "The Banquet" also entered the out-of-competition screening section, and Chen Musheng's "Rob-B-Hood" from Xiangjiang entered the midnight screening section.

These two screening sections are considered sections where the organizers invite films for promotion, finding some well-known directors to boost the festival's popularity.

There is also Zheng Youjie's "Do Over" from Taiwan, which was shortlisted for the International Film Critics' Week section.

Although this year isn't as exaggerated as last year, where both the opening and closing films were Chinese-language films, having three Chinese-language films selected for the main competition is quite an achievement.

On August 30, 2006, the 63rd Venice International Film Festival kicked off. As a specially invited guest for the opening ceremony, Cao Yang delivered a simple opening speech.

Cao Yang's appearance at least brought a lot of attention to an opening ceremony that was otherwise somewhat lacking in star power, which could be considered as meeting Old Ma's expectations.

(End of chapter)