Chapter 99 Grand Celebration Banquet and Spring Festival Gala

On December 6, the celebration banquet for "Only You" was held at the Capital Hotel.

For this celebration banquet, Liu Zhou made full use of his connections and invited everyone he was familiar with or knew.

In addition to Liu Zhou, Zhujiang Film Studio and China Film also made efforts. For a while, this celebration banquet became a grand gathering in the circle.

This is also Liu Zhou's response to the previous public stance taken by the Beijing circle. It's not just you who has connections, and you are not fighting alone.

Although it doesn't mean that those who came to attend the celebration banquet would necessarily stand on Liu Zhou's side, but at least their presence showed that they would not refuse to cooperate with him.

The most important thing is that the momentum must be sufficient!

The focus of this celebration banquet was undoubtedly Liu Zhou.

Not to mention that this quarrel with Feng Kuzi showed that this young man Liu Zhou is not someone who is easy to mess with, he also has ample media resources behind him.

The combined box office revenue of his two films alone is over 100 million, which is worthy of the attention of people in the industry.

The final box office of "Only You" was 50.7 million. After knocking on the ice sculpture, everyone began to form social circles.

Liu Zhou came to Brother Hua and his brother Zhang Guorong and saw a middle-aged man next to them.

When I walked closer, I found that it was director Guan Jingpeng, whom I had met in Berlin two years ago.

After greeting the two, the elder brother also introduced Liu Zhou with a smile:

"Ah Zhou, this is Guan Jingpeng, also a director."

"Hello, Director Guan. I have heard a lot about you."

"Hello, I didn't expect Director Liu to be so sharp at such a young age. We can communicate more in the future."

"Of course, we have met before in Berlin, but I was still a nobody at that time, so you may not have any impression of me."

"Oh, is it so?"

Seeing Guan Jingpeng's puzzled look, Zhang Guorong explained with a smile:
"Zhou was the investor of the only Chinese-language film that won an award at the Berlin Film Festival, and he also came to Berlin at that time."

After listening to Zhang Guorong's words, Guan Jingpeng had some impression. Although his movie also won an award that time, it was not even a consolation prize. He was quite curious at the time.

However, he only had some impression of the director and really couldn't remember Liu Zhou.

"It seems that we are really destined to be together. This is a good opportunity for us to get to know each other again."

Although Guan Jingpeng was also a person who had openly stated his sexual orientation, he was not shy about it and was very talkative, so the group had a pretty good chat for a while.

Only then did Liu Zhou know why Guan Jingpeng appeared here. He had just finished filming "Lan Yu" and happened to be in Beijing, and then he was called over by his brother.

When Liu Zhou heard about this movie, he couldn't help but take a quick look and saw Liu Ye talking nonstop in front of a group of classmates.

It seems that he is not affected by the movie at all.

After chatting with a few people for a while, Liu Zhou said goodbye and left, as there were other people who needed his attention.

Liu Zhou looked around and finally found Jia Zhangke and Yu Liwei and their group in a corner of the banquet hall. In addition to them, Gu Zheng and Wang Hongwei were also there.

"Why are you staying here? I looked for you everywhere but couldn't find you."

Liu Zhou is friends with all of them, so he speaks more casually.

"There are not many people I know in the whole hall, so it's quiet here. Junior brother, congratulations, you are a big director now." Jia Zhangke said with a smile.

"I am where I am today thanks to the help I received from my brothers. Otherwise, it would be difficult for me to achieve what I have now."

"We just helped you a little. The most important thing is that you work hard and have talent," said Yu Liwei.

"Anyway, thank you for coming here today. I'll toast to you."

Liu Zhou and the others took a completely different path, so they didn't talk about movies.

However, despite this, it did not affect their friendship at all. After all, Liu Zhou was an acquaintance of theirs when they were still young.

Jia Zhangke is doing better now. His film "Platform" was nominated for the Golden Lion Award at this year's Venice International Film Festival, but unfortunately it did not win the award and only won the Asian Film Promotion Alliance Award.

But despite this, he still made a lot of money for Kitano Takeshi. In addition, "That Mountain, That Man, That Dog" became a hit, so Jia Zhangke is now very trusted by Kitano Takeshi.

In the mainland, Jia Zhangke's reputation in the industry is growing.

At this time, some people have regarded him, along with Lou Ye, who became famous for "Suzhou River", and Wang Xiaoshuai, as the leading figures of the sixth generation of directors.

"Suzhou River" was completed in 99, but it took more than a year to participate in a series of film festivals overseas. However, this movie also made Lou Ye officially famous.

Liu Zhou earned more than one million from this movie, but he no longer cared about this small amount of money.

The Maga Studio previously registered in Hong Kong was also officially cancelled by him.

"Brother, have you ever considered making a film that can pass the censorship?"

As the sixth generation directors made more and more underground films and sent them to overseas film festivals, and many of their works won awards, some directors became more and more famous.

Therefore, relevant domestic departments are also preparing to lift the ban on them and recruit them, but the films they shoot have to be submitted for review.

Lou Ye, who had just gained a lot of fame, took the lead in compromising under Nai An's mediation and started cooperating with Shanghai Film Studio. It is said that this time Shanghai Film Studio gave him great support and gave him a budget of 30 million.

In Liu Zhou's impression, although Lou Ye's "Purple Butterfly" invited popular stars such as Zhang Ziyi, Liu Ye and Li Binbin, it still flopped in the end.

The failure of this film also blocked Lou Ye’s path to the mainstream circle, and after that he could only tinker with his art films.

Wang Xiaoshuai was more stubborn and refused to compromise, so he was never released from the ban.

As for Jia Zhangke, it took him several years to compromise.

Liu Zhou now wants to try to persuade him that there is no need to go against the superiors. Good movies can be made within the framework of the censorship system. His later film "Still Life" which won the Venice Golden Lion Award is proof of this.

"Forget it, I'm fine the way I am now."

Seeing that Jia Zhangke had his own ideas, Liu Zhou stopped trying to persuade him.

A few people also knew that Liu Zhou was very busy tonight, so after chatting with him for a while, they asked him to go and greet other people.

Liu Zhou didn't say anything polite to them. He just drank a glass of wine with them and left.

Liu Zhou greeted everyone and when he came back to his classmates, he was already a little drunk.

Seeing Liu Zhou's flushed face, Zeng Li immediately took the wine glass from his hand and poured him some water.

"Lao Liu, this is not good. You get drunk so quickly. Haven't you developed your alcohol tolerance yet?"

In front of his classmates, Liu Zhou also relaxed a lot, found a seat and sat down, saying:
"No way, I can't learn it."

There were not many classmates who came to attend the celebration banquet this time, only Liu Ye, Qin Hao, Zhang Ziyi and Yuan Quan.

Liu Zhou also invited other people, but some of them were filming, some were busy with other things, or didn't want to come.

Zhang Ziyi obviously enjoyed such occasions and kept moving around the hall to expand her network.

Now Zhang Ziyi is also qualified. At the Golden Rooster and Hundred Flowers Awards ceremony that ended last month, she was nominated for the Golden Rooster Best Actress Award, and also successfully won the Hundred Flowers Best Actress Award for her outstanding performance in "My Father and Mother".

She became the first student from the 96 Acting Class of the Central Academy of Drama to win the Best Actress title.

With the blessing of "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon", Zhang Ziyi is currently considered a popular female star.

If it weren't for Zeng Li, who had two hit movies in a row, Zhang Ziyi would be even more successful.

"Lao Liu, where is the male lead you promised me? It's been so long and I still haven't gotten to enjoy the cake you painted for me."

"Didn't you just play a leading role in Director Guan Jingpeng's film?"

"I'm asking you about the male lead you promised me. What does it have to do with the director?"

Seeing Liu Ye's resentful look, Liu Zhou couldn't help but smile:
"Don't worry, you'll be there for me. When have I ever broken my promise to you?"

"Then hurry up, or I'm afraid I won't be able to schedule it by then!"

After saying this, Liu Ye couldn't help but laugh, and the others couldn't help but laugh along with him.

Now each of them has their own development. Qin Hao and Yuan Quan are currently focusing on drama. After Liu Ye followed Chang Jihong to join Hai Run, he has been acting in movies, but most of them are art films.

Liu Ye will continue to act in movies for several more years to come and was once known as the leading actor in mainland art films.

But later he found it was useless as his popularity was very low, so he started acting in TV dramas. One TV drama, "Blood Romance", made him famous, so it is very beneficial for him to have Hai Run as his backer.

Liu Zhou thought he could stay with his classmates until the celebration banquet was over, but Director Xie called Liu Zhou over again.

"Liu Zhou, let me introduce two people to you." Han Shanping said with a smile when he saw Liu Zhou coming over.

"You must be familiar with this person, Zhao Benshan. There should be no one in China who doesn't know him."

"Mr. Han, you don't need to introduce Uncle Benshan to me. We have known each other for a long time."

"Oh, how did you two meet?"

Without waiting for Liu Zhou to answer, Zhao Benshan spoke first:

"In 1999, the skit that Song Dandan and I collaborated on was rejected by the Spring Festival Gala production team. Later, when we were scratching our heads and thinking of new programs, Song Dandan recommended a skit to us.

It was "Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" written by Liu Zhou when he was in college. After reading the script, I thought it was very suitable, so I contacted Liu Zhou and bought his script. "

"So you two have such a connection. I also watched this skit during the Spring Festival Gala, but I didn't even notice that the screenwriter was Liu Zhou. Liu Zhou, you are really talented. The skit script you wrote was even liked by Brother Benshan."

"This is all thanks to Uncle Benshan's appreciation. If it weren't for him, this skit might still be unknown, and there's no way it would have been performed on the big stage of the Spring Festival Gala."

"Yesterday, Today, Tomorrow" was originally the work of Zhao Benshan, and Liu Zhou was just returning it to its original owner.

"I dare not say the word appreciation now. You are already a big director. Isn't it a slap in my face if you say this?"

"You are slapping me in the face for saying that. After all, you are still my senior. But I really have something I want to ask for help from Uncle Motosugi."

"What did you say?"

"My girlfriend Zeng Li is also fortunate enough to participate in this year's Spring Festival Gala. Please take care of her when the time comes."

(End of this chapter)