Chapter 429 International Friends

Heng Anshi watched "Life is Beautiful", which means that the top management agreed with Chen Qi's overseas promotion strategy.

His opinion is that it is not official, because many foreigners do not want to deal with the official, let alone the Chinese official, that is, to invite in the name of the movie.

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Heng Anshi was not convenient to make a public statement due to his status, and privately gave some names of victims of concentration camps in the United States. Chen Qi had already prepared some promotional videotapes of "Life is Beautiful", and sent them out with the invitation letter.

A small town in the suburbs of London.

The famous science fiction writer Ballard lives here.

He was born in Shanghai. His father was an engineer with a good income. After the Japanese occupied Shanghai, he was imprisoned in a concentration camp for four years. Later, he returned to China to study medicine and engage in writing.

His representative works include "The Drowned World" and "Crash", and of course the "Empire of the Sun" he is currently writing, which was later made into a movie of the same name by Spielberg, starring young Christian Bale.

He watched the videotape and the invitation letter, but was not interested.

People are different. Ballard was born into a wealthy family and lived in a small Western-style building in Shanghai. He had 9 Chinese servants at home. He had no empathy for the Chinese people. He never understood the Sino-Japanese War, as he said:

"The serious atrocities that occurred in Europe during World War II can be attributed to the evil of Nazi ideology in a sense. But in the Far East, where I grew up, there was no explanation. Millions of people were murdered for no real reason..."

How could there be no real reason?

But some foreigners are just bystanders and indifferent. What does the Sino-Japanese War have to do with them?

Ballard immediately wrote a letter of refusal, saying that it was inconvenient for him to participate in the Berlin Film Festival-besides, he was writing "Empire of the Sun", how could he help promote similar themes?

…………

Compared with them, some people in the United States can be called international friends.

New Jersey.

State Senator Ms. Dai Aimei excitedly drove to an apartment, went upstairs and knocked on the door. An elderly man opened the door and the two hugged.

"Why did my little Mary come to see me today?"

"Uncle Raymond, there's something big!"

The lady, whose Chinese name is Dai Aimi and English name is Mary, entered the house and said, "China made a movie that reflects the life in the concentration camps back then and sent me some clips. I feel it is very good and the ambassador also approves of it.

They are going to attend the Berlin Film Festival and hope to find a few eyewitnesses to tell the story on the spot. My identity is inconvenient, but I hope you can go!

I was imprisoned at the age of 9 and was imprisoned for 4 years. It was you who fell from the sky and saved us... Over the years, I have been contacting my brothers and sisters back then. We selected a few representative ones to participate together so that the whole world knows this history..."

Dai Aimi's great-grandfather came to China to preach in the late Qing Dynasty and founded the Yantai Zhifu School.

At that time, hundreds of European and American teachers and students were imprisoned in the concentration camps. In 1945, a team of seven people took a plane to perform a mission, parachuted into the concentration camp, announced the surrender of Japan, and everyone was rescued.

And this man is one of the seven people in the team, a military doctor named Raymond.

Dai Aimi has been looking for these people since she grew up. She is the core of the circle. She showed a completely different attitude from Ballard and said excitedly: "I found six of you seven people, and there is still one Chinese uncle who has not been found.

I remember that I was very attached to him at that time, and I embroidered a piece of embroidery for him with the fragments of the parachute. Unfortunately, I can't go to China... If you can go, you must help me fulfill my wish..."

"Calm down, we will talk about whether to go to China or not, let's finalize the candidates first." Raymond was very happy to participate in this kind of event.

"Okay, okay, I'm too excited."

Immediately, the two discussed who to contact to participate in Berlin-this event was initiated by "Life is Beautiful", and all expenses were naturally borne by the film company (reimbursed by the Ministry of Culture).

"Let's call Bauer. He was transferred from the concentration camp in Shanghai to the concentration camp in Shandong. He has been to both camps and has more say."

"And this one, this one is also suitable! The number of people should not be too large!"

"Oh, right!"

Dai Aimei slapped her head and shouted, "Be sure to inform Patricia. Her father is the most representative. Oh, my dear Uncle Scud!"

When mentioning Uncle Scud, Raymond also sighed: "He is a real gentleman and a real warrior. His story should be known by more people, not just a few Oscars!"

This refers to Eric Liddell, a Scotsman who won the Olympic 400m gold medal and broke the world record.

He lived in China for many years and coached Liu Changchun's training.

He was a leader in the concentration camp and was deeply loved by the children. They all called him Uncle Scud.

Unfortunately, he suffered from a brain tumor. At that time, the Allies exchanged prisoners with the Japanese army. Churchill specifically asked him to come back, but he gave the opportunity to others. Finally, on the eve of the victory in 1945, he died in the concentration camp.

The British filmed a movie based on him, Chariots of Fire, which won four Oscars last year.

It can only be said that Dai Aimei truly loves China. In history, she finally came to China and met the Chinese uncle who saved her. She also spared no effort to promote the history of the concentration camps, and even spoke Chinese with a Shandong accent.

Chen Qi did something that no one had ever done before.

This really aroused the enthusiasm of American friends, who actively worked hard to arrange this matter and quickly sent the list to China.

In the 1980s, we really had many international friends.

Chen Qi received the reply and was very relieved. This is what I should do, instead of getting involved in the petty intrigues of CCTV. How dare you fight with me in the palace? Oh no, fight with Taiwan?

…………

It was the end of January in the blink of an eye.

[The Hong Kong performing arts delegation to visit Beijing and Shanghai] set off, first staying in Shanghai for a few days and taking a look around Jiangnan. Of course, Jiangnan in winter is not much better, so they immediately went to Beijing.

Along with it, there was news about "Ghost".

The film was released for a month, and the box office reached 28 million, surpassing "Best Partner", winning the annual championship and breaking the box office record!

Hong Kong media wailed: Chen Qi is right. The top five films, Ghost, The Best Partner, Tai Chi 2, Shaolin Temple, and The Wrath of the Sea, are four of them left-wing, an unprecedented victory.

Southeast Asian film producers were eager to come and buy the film. This type of film is also popular in places where Chinese culture has a profound influence.

But Chen Qi was not in Hong Kong, so Fu Qi could not make the decision alone, so he waited for a while.

Chen Qi was naturally excited when he learned the data, and then he settled the accounts: Ghost was originally a co-production. According to the previous regulations, the box office was divided first, and then divided again according to the investment ratio.

Now that the box office does not need to be handed in, and Yindu has also merged, it is not so troublesome, and each party will take half directly.

28 million is deducted from the 17.5% entertainment tax, leaving 23.1 million. The publicity and promotion is still free from ATV, and it doesn’t cost much, so it is divided in half. The bonus of 1 million given to Tsui Hark is also paid in half.

In the end, he was able to get 10 million Hong Kong dollars.

In terms of expenditure, he spent 2 million on "Happy Ghost", 2 million on Legendary Pictures, 4 million on "Tai Chi 3"... After adding up all the miscellaneous expenses, plus the surplus from the previous stage, Chen Qi still had 13 million Hong Kong dollars, more than 2 million US dollars.