Chapter 377: Landmark Event
phone-reading
"Daniel Sandler appeared at the 9th Shanghai International Film Festival last night, attracting a large number of Chinese movie fans screaming welcome. Pinshu.com (w W W . V o Dtw . c o M) Daniel Sandler is one of the few China has a very high-profile Hollywood actor. This is his first visit to China. Before attending the opening ceremony of the film festival, he also visited the Chengdu Giant Panda Breeding Research Center, the charitable fund and giant panda base for which he is the chairman. The signing ceremony of the cooperation project will be held."
--"Oriental Morning Post".
The national newspaper "Guangming Daily", which is more interested in mouthpieces, focused on the meaning behind Daniel's visit.
"Daniel Sandler attended the opening ceremony of the 9th Shanghai International Film Festival yesterday, and participated in the grand event for the Shanghai International Film Festival with Li Eucalyptus, Catherine Deneuve, Liam Neeson and other international superstars. With China The movie box office market is expanding year by year. The international community, especially Hollywood film companies and film actors, have begun to communicate more with China. Last year, Tom Cruise's "Mission: Impossible 3" was also filmed in Shanghai. Then Afterwards, a group of Chinese filmmakers such as Zhang Ziyi, Gong Li and Li Lianjie also participated in more influential works in Hollywood. Daniel Sandler's high-profile visit to China can be said to be the The latest manifestation of a trend.
It is reported that Daniel Sandler, who is the owner of a film company, also met with relevant leaders of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and state-owned film companies such as China Film and China Film that have the right to import foreign films. Its intention to promote China's development strategy is clear. We need to be soberly aware that there is still a big gap between the Chinese film industry and Hollywood. How to communicate and develop with Hollywood while protecting the country's national film industry can be said to be an important issue. Opening up cannot be done at once, and development cannot be blind.
..."
An editorial of thousands of words in "Guangming Daily" Barabara, the main content is to learn from development, but we must be full of vigilance, calling on the domestic industry to seize the development opportunity and continue to struggle. Finally, I would like to inspire national pride, saying that the Chinese people with 1.3 billion viewers will definitely create the largest box office market.
Compared with the conservative tendencies of the paper media, the Internet media is more open, especially the New Wave who seems to have a good relationship with Daniel - of course, the meeting between Shirley Sandberg and the New Wave executives has not been reported in the newspapers, Daniel The meeting with the leaders of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology was not so high-profile, especially the former Minister of Health and Vice Premier. Later, when there was the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, I met with a vice minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology. It's pretty low-key, but it's not bad.
It can be said that the goodwill towards China from Plutos Investment Company's social network was received by the Chinese government. It is not in vain that Daniel has been criticized a lot in the United States. If the so-called pro-China faction cannot receive corresponding treatment in China, then they are not human inside and out. Moreover, the important point is that China has a relatively high tolerance for foreign investment in the Internet field. Whether it is T News, Ali or Qiandu, there is a large proportion of foreign capital.
so,
When Daniel arrived in Shanghai to start his own film festival, the Plutos investment company team headed by Raymond, as well as Sheryl Sandberg and other executives of its subsidiaries, had already started their scheduled itinerary. Raymond met with the CEO of T News, the founder of Ali, and the boss of Qiandu. And Huawei - this is the Chinese member that Daniel hopes to pull into the Open Handset Alliance.
All these actions are hidden under the water, unknown. Now the eyes of the Chinese and world media are mostly focused on Daniel who participated in the Shanghai International Film Festival. Even if a few professional publications noticed the interview team he brought, they were not paid attention to because of insufficient influence.
...
The first event that Daniel participated in at the Shanghai International Film Festival was the "Silver Star Forum". The organizer invited Li An, Feng Xiaogang and Daniel—three very representative people. Feng Xiaogang is the signboard of domestic commercial films. Director Zhang plunged into Chinese-style blockbusters. Cheng Kaige wandered around in "The Promise", and Feng Xiaogang's "safety and self-control" won him the reputation of China's first commercial film director. And Li An, as the most famous and powerful Chinese director in the world, and the only Chinese director who has made his mark in Hollywood, today we must talk about Chinese movies and Hollywood, and he must be indispensable. As for Daniel, even Hollywood is learning from his success story, and Chinese filmmakers can hear the holy voice. Of course you can't ask for it.
In addition to them, Luo Yi, general manager of CAA China, Wang Zhonglei, president of Huayi Brothers Film Investment Co., Ltd., American producer Chris Lee, and famous film critic Zhou Liming also attended.
The host is Huadan Jwell of China Movie Channel.
In front of nearly 1,000 audiences, after introducing these film stars on stage, the conversation officially began.
Feng Xiaogang's statement may represent the opinions of most Chinese directors.
"In the early years, I made films, but foreigners said they couldn't understand after watching them. Li An also made films, and they were much more esoteric than mine, but foreigners rushed to say that they could understand. Then these What are the reasons? I think the main reason is that our films are not in a strong position. One of the reasons why Li An’s films can be affirmed must be because he is in a strong position and has the right to speak. Our It must be admitted that Chinese movies are not so strong that others are scrambling to understand them, and because of this, foreigners can easily pretend that they don’t understand them.”
He blamed the failure of Chinese-language films on the weakness of the entire film industry. Although he was enthusiastically pursuing Li An, Li An disagreed.
He believes that the success of "Brokeback Mountain" is not because his same-sex themes have enough audiences, but because the love expressed in this story is shared by all people, different countries, and different ethnic groups, so everyone can understand it . The most important thing about Chinese films is not to try hard to get the recognition of Oscars, but to discover the characteristics of all human beings and learn how to express them. In addition, it is essential to study Hollywood's mature mechanism hard. The modesty of learning cannot be given up because of fearless national pride.
Chris Lee agreed with Li An's opinion, but after he spoke, he half teased and half seriously mentioned Daniel.
"Daniel's name is almost equivalent to a legend in Hollywood. His sensitivity to the market and the audience, his talent and acting skills in acting are all at the top of Hollywood. In the United States, one of his speeches is often sold to millions. The price in U.S. dollars is far more expensive than what the former president wanted. So, today I think we must let Daniel talk more, and everyone will feel that they have earned a lot.”
Regardless of whether it is Daniel's speaking order or not, JWELL will definitely let Daniel speak.
"For a country like China, it is difficult to grasp the market and the audience. Because it is too large and complex, with a long civilization and many ethnic groups. This is different from the United States. So, for Chinese films. I am Half of them agree with Director Li An, and the other half disagree. What I agree with is that Hollywood is indeed ahead of China in terms of technology and management. Some of them are worth learning and learning from Chinese films... Why don’t the other half agree? I think Chinese filmmakers should first consider the Chinese way of expression before thinking about how to explore the way of expression for all mankind. This is the same in the United States. Hollywood initially relied on the North American market, and then Naturally, it spreads globally. And China is especially different. Your country has 1.3 billion people, which is a daunting number, which is four times that of the United States. So why is China's annual movie box office far behind that of the United States? On the one hand Of course, there is a gap in spending power. On the other hand, I understand that the market is not explored enough, and there are not enough movies that make the audience want to go to the cinema. The United States has an oversupply and competition is incentivized. The competition in China is also very fierce. But in fact, the supply is in short supply. Chinese audiences want to see more good works, not because there are too many choices, but because there are too few choices. There is a contradiction between the supply and demand sides. I think this needs Chinese film practitioners Thoughtful."
besides. Daniel did not shy away from expressing DD Films' China strategy.
“We will use various methods to enter the Chinese market in an all-round way. On the one hand, of course, we will try to bring the films we produced in North America into the Chinese market through channels that comply with China’s policies; on the other hand, we will enter the field of Sino-US co-productions. , and cooperate with excellent Chinese film production companies, we will provide better management and better technology, and Chinese companies will provide local ideas and stories. Let’s create good works together. In the third aspect, we will also establish It is a joint venture company, and the partner is not yet determined. We will also independently develop Chinese films in the name of this company. Fourth, DD Films will also cooperate more with major companies and promote other films in the world. Market promotion of Chinese-language films. It should be emphasized that the United States is indeed the largest box office market, but it is not the only one. The development of Chinese-language films in the Chinese cultural circle has more potential at this stage, such as East Asia and Southeast Asia. In addition In addition, there is also demand for Chinese-language films in Europe and Africa. We will use DD Films' global distribution system to cooperate with Chinese companies.
In essence, we will not rule out any possibility of cooperation, as long as it is reasonable and win-win, we are willing to accept, try and promote. DD Films is going to be a "hundred-year-old store" (Chinese) in China, not a "one-shot deal" (Chinese). "
Daniel showed two Chinese words at the end, which made the audience burst into laughter.
But it is undeniable that these two words are very precise.
In front of Daniel, the discussion was relatively peaceful. After he left China on the 21st, the discussion on this passage became intense—the different opinions were very extreme.
Feng Xiaogang submitted a book to Southern Metropolis Weekly and refuted Daniel's statement. Just like his words, he was very blunt, "What he means is that Chinese filmmakers can eat at home, and you have no hope outside. Either it is Southeast Asia, Southeast Asia is only a big market, plus a state that is not as big as the United States. He also dug a hole for his domestic counterparts, and now many people on the Internet are praising his stinky feet, thinking that domestic movies No one watches what people make. It’s not that the audience doesn’t support it, but they can’t support it. The movie is too bad to be worth spending money to watch. This is what Daniel means. He said he wants to enter the Chinese market. How to make the audience spend money to watch his good movies."
Zhang Qiang, general manager of Forbidden City Films, disagrees, even though they have just successfully collaborated on A World Without Thieves.
The two just happen to represent the private film industry and the state-owned film company. It can only be said that Daniel's entry point is very precise. It was also in mid-December. After half a year of contact, DD Films and China Film's Forbidden City Films established a joint venture DD China Film Co., Ltd., the reason for successfully entering the Chinese market. Taking DD China as the name of the new company is mainly to take advantage of its reputation in the international market.
DD Films invested 80 million U.S. dollars, and Forbidden City Films invested 100 million yuan, plus some fixed assets and personnel. operate.
This cooperation at the end of 2006 was also the first symbolic event for Daniel's company to enter China on a large scale. (To be continued.)