The Greatest Showman - Chapter 2092

[2056 Huge Risk]

In the past ten years, the three major European film festivals have been actively making adjustments, hoping to keep up with the times, and Venice is no exception.

After the new century, Venice has also tried to open its arms to accept Hollywood films – not only art films, but also other star-studded films. After all, the powerful influence of Hollywood cannot be ignored in Europe, but because of strong protests within the Italian film industry and Opposition has not been able to unswervingly implement it, and sporadic cooperation has been carried out from time to time, but unfortunately, the fate has not been able to form a system intermittently, and the influence has not been able to condense.

Mark Muller’s public relations skills and strong connections were undoubtedly admirable when he was president of the film festival, which also made Venice completely connected with Asian cinema, and at the same time brought it closer to Hollywood; but precisely Also because of Mark Muller’s long sleeves and good dance, he also understands the importance of “balancing” best. He often bows his head to the domestic conservatives and diehards and seeks a moderate balance, which makes Venice’s artistic positioning not fully established. .

When Alberto took office as the chairman of the Venice Film Festival, they needed to find a clear idea in the chaos. Among them, as the largest market for the global film industry, how should the United States cooperate? This is still a problem that Alberto needs to think about and solve. , and the situation he faced was even more complicated.

At this time, the whole “Cannes department” style climate has been established, and the close relationship between Hollywood films and Cannes has been cut. Most of the excellent American films are the first choice to participate in the film festival, while Venice can only pick up the leaks; then they have to face Toronto. Most of the time, they can only pick and choose among the leftovers, there is really not much choice, and then a vicious circle is formed, like a quagmire.

Since taking office, Alberto has been trying to adjust bit by bit.

In 2012, three American films were shortlisted for the Venice main competition, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “The Master”, Terrence Malick’s “To Wonderland” and Harmony-Korine’s “Spring Break” , the three works have been well received, among which “Master” won the Silver Lion Award and the Best Actor Award.

In 2013, five American films were shortlisted for the Venice main competition, James Franco’s “Children of God”, Errol-Morris’s “Rumsfeld Narration”, David Gordon Green “Joe” by Kelly-Reichardt, “Operation Night” by Kelly-Reichardt, “Parkland Hospital” by Peter-Landesman.

Among them, David – Gordon – Green, Kelly – Reichardt are excellent directors in the field of independent film, Errol – Morris is a big name in the field of documentaries, but Peter – Landesman and James – Furth Lan Ke has never handed over any works worth mentioning in the field of directing, and it can even be said that he is a novice.

result,

The average quality of the five productions was well below expectations, making Venice controversial – compared to “Drunken Folk”, “Only Love”, “Nebraska”, “Behind the Candelabra” that landed in Cannes in the same year Up, the difference is more than one grade, plus the final Golden Lion Award was awarded to the Italian local film “Rome Ring Expressway” – this is known as the worst Golden Lion in Venice since the millennium, and it has made Venice suffer. dispute.

Whether in Italy or other countries, all the media are complaining about Venice: in order to please Hollywood and Italy, they have forgotten the core essence of the film festival. After all, it still needs to be based on works. Excellent works are the unshakable film festivals. The soul, Alberto tried to complete checks and balances but ended up with Zhu Bajie looking in the mirror:

inside and outside are not people.

In fact, I can’t blame Alberto. His position is also very difficult. The chairman of the Venice Film Festival is trying to survive. Any little reform is faced with the interference of countless opinions. There are countless opinions from insiders and outsiders, even the long-sleeved Mark- Mueller has not been able to change such a deadlock – no wonder everyone says that Italy is the China of Europe.

However, after two years of running in and exploring, Alberto still vaguely found a little idea: I don’t know whether this is the correct answer for the time being, but after all, we still need to try to know the result, right?

Hollywood.

The answer is Hollywood.

The timing of the Venice Film Festival collided with Toronto. With the rise of Toronto, more and more American films are more willing to premiere in Toronto, and then start the PR operation of the awards season; but the disadvantage of Toronto is that it does not have The awards that set up the jury are only the People’s Choice Awards, which is still lacking in the operation of professional word-of-mouth during the awards season. This is the opportunity for Venice – in any case

, Venice is one of the three major film festivals in Europe, and it is The oldest film festival, isn’t it?

Last year was the best model: “Gravity” chose to hold its world premiere in Venice, and even Cannes was jealous. Unfortunately, this work failed to participate in the main competition unit, and then “Rome Ring Expressway” Climbing to the top of the Golden Lion Award has made more media exclaim with embarrassment.

Later, it also proved the powerful influence of “Gravity”, which swept all the way from the box office to the awards. Even if it unfortunately passed the Oscar for best picture, it was still the most influential work in the world in 2013.

Assuming that “Gravity” was shortlisted for the main competition in Venice and reached the top of the Golden Lion Award, then this should be enough to become the most high-profile event in Venice in the ten years after “Brokeback Mountain” reached the top of the Golden Lion Award. It’s a grand event: there is attention, popularity, and word of mouth.

For Alberto, it was an arithmetic problem, and an easy one.

If the Venice Film Festival can truly become the starting point of the awards season, attracting all the Hollywood superstars, and attracting the excellent works of the Oscar department, then——

excellent works are not a problem, nor are popular superstars a problem, and Venice’s problems can be solved in a short time. Dilemma; and, it can also grab a little bit of the limelight at Cannes-Cannes is too far from the Oscars. From the perspective of publicity strategy and discussion heat, Venice is more suitable for awards season works.

Of course, that also entails taking risks: at the risk of Venice being the “backyard of awards season,” Toronto is rightfully Hollywood’s backyard, but what about Venice?

This is a decision Alberto needs to make.

In addition, this is the key link that Alberto needs to convince Italian industry professionals – how to find a balance between Italian films and American films, how to use American films to create topics to attract other films to enter the competition, and how to make films in awards season To find the location of Venice in the middle, all of these are problems that Mark Muller could not solve in those days, and now Alberto also needs to face it.

Today, I made a special trip to New Orleans to visit the class, which is related to Alberto’s next plan.

If it was just for the actor Renly, there was no need for Alberto to make a special trip to visit the crew, and the one-on-one telephone invitation would be full of sincerity; but Alberto also hoped that through the point of Renly, the A strategic cooperation plan for Hollywood independent films:

Alberto has heard about the rumors of the Sundance Film Festival and Sisyphus Films; in addition, Alberto has also heard about the news that Renly is in close contact with the Berlin Film Festival; Coupled with Renly’s strong influence and appeal to the global film market, this has become a decisive factor.

Alberto’s trip is specifically to invite Renly to attend the Venice Film Festival, which is crucial to the future planning of the entire film festival.

It was a little surprising that the short meeting between Alberto and Renly caused the inspiration to burst out uncontrollably, with some irresistible meaning-

if Renly could serve as the chairman of the jury of the Venice Film Festival, attention and popularity would be greatly reduced.

Needless to say, the most important thing is the artistic orientation of Venice.

In the past few years, Renly’s selection of films reflects his artistic taste and professionalism, and the heritage of hereditary aristocracy is the icing on the cake, which makes Renly have enough prestige in the industry: his artistic appreciation ability is worthy of recognition. Yes, many art creators are bound to be willing to communicate, discuss, argue, and debate with Renly, which is undoubtedly a crucial link for the atmosphere of the film festival.

On the one hand, this can set an artistic tone for the festival; on the other hand, it can attract more works willing to enter Venice.

And then form a virtuous circle to stabilize the turbulent Venice – of course, Renly is not the savior of Venice, and it is impossible to easily solve the many ills of the film festival; but at least, this can provide a direction for the film festival. , A beacon, UU reading www.sonicmtl.

com led Alberto to find more effective solutions: to have a beginning.

The position of the chairman of the jury is far from being as simple as imagined, both in Berlin and Cannes, and Venice is no exception.

It’s just that the situation in Italy is too complicated, and there is nothing that Mark Muller can accomplish, and Alberto cannot do it overnight.

Although the idea was very, very, very tempting, in the end, Alberto calmed down, temporarily put away the inspiration that burst out of his mind, and focused on his original plan:

he still needed to avoid rushing it and not eat it in one bite. Fatty, first invite Renly to participate in the main competition unit, and then step by step to strengthen the connection between Renly and Venice, looking forward to making Renly the chairman of the jury in the main competition unit of Venice in the future, and igniting the relationship between Venice and Hollywood movies. The chemical reaction has grown up step by step, and it has truly allowed Venice to gain a firm foothold in the global film industry.

While the jury chair’s proposal was almost impossible, inviting Renly to participate in the main competition didn’t stand in the way.

[End of this Chapter]