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this year’s pingyao film festival has been moved forward to september 24th-september 30th. although the official statement is that the weather was cold in october in previous years and the screening temperature at the platform amphitheater was too low. it can be warmer this year, but in fact it can still be felt that the pingyao film festival, entering the eighth edition, actually has greater ambitions .

on the one hand, this ambition comes from the content itself. in the past, the pingyao and busan film festivals collided, and many films had to worry about which film festival they would put in their world premieres/asian premieres. however, now that the pingyao time has been greatly advanced, this will undoubtedly allow some films to be released. the right to premiere the film is on his side; on the other hand, it is topical. you must know that the biggest hot spot in the film field at the end of september in previous years was the premiere of the national day film, but this year pingyao chose to compete head-on with the national day promotion ( at the same time, there is also a surprise film festival held by first in beijing), which requires a higher volume of voice in all aspects. so the question is, does the effect of pingyao’s hosting this year match its ambition? what are the irreplaceable advantages and new problems that pingyao has in entering the eighth session?

scalper·voice·fried chicken

at the opening ceremony of this year's film festival, jia zhangke, the founder of the film festival, performed a short program on the stage, singing the song "don't worry be happy" that he sang in the movie "sunshine club". many movies from home and abroad people came to the stage together and sang and danced with jia zhangke. pingyao opened in this carefree, relaxed and cheerful atmosphere.

in fact, this year's pingyao is indeed torn between "worry" and "happy". although the opening day is "happy", just two days ago, the pingyao film festival just had a problem among movie fans due to the crash of the ticket purchase website. the group was abused by netizens. the official explanation was that scalpers maliciously swiped tickets, which caused the server to be overloaded and the ticket could only be issued again, which wasted a lot of time of the ticket-buying audience. later, jia zhangke also issued a special apology on weibo, saying that he had never connected with a professional ticket-buying platform before. it is all supported by the web page built by the team, but the number of ticket buyers has greatly increased this year, coupled with the disturbance of scalpers, naturally various problems will arise.

the reason why scalpers participate is mainly related to wang junkai's deep binding to the pingyao film festival. this year is wang junkai's fourth year as the special curator of the film festival. according to the practice of previous years, wang junkai will definitely appear in pingyao, but he is not sure when. will appear, so scalpers grabbed some movie tickets early and hoarded them, which troubled the movie fans who really wanted to watch the movie.

also troubled are wang junkai's fans. in the early morning of the first day of this year's film festival, the red carpet area of ​​the film palace was surrounded by a large number of waiting fans. in order to get an advantageous position, they came early in the morning to wait, and the opening ceremony was held in the evening, which meant that they had to wait it was a whole day, but what they didn't expect was that wang junkai did not come to attend the opening ceremony. for them, it was like a whole day wasted. fortunately, wang junkai showed up at the closing ceremony. wang junkai had a full schedule this year. there was also the premiere of "749 bureau" in beijing the next day, but he still rushed to pingyao, walked on the red carpet, and presented the award at the closing ceremony. winning the award is indeed very hard.

the arrival of fans continues to drive the popularity of the pingyao film festival and the economy of the ancient city. it coincides with the eve of the national day golden week, and the catering and accommodation in the ancient city are already very tight. now that a large number of fans have come, the ancient city is even more lively. inn and restaurant owners keep up with the trend and have learned to use film festivals and wang junkai for marketing. when walking on the road, you can see many street owners hosting live broadcasts to answer everyone’s questions about when wang junkai will come. last year, it was jia zhangke and wang junkai. the recommended xiammen fried chicken legs, the video of the two talking to each other is used as promotional materials and played on a loop in the store.

a large number of tourists and audiences have put forward higher requirements for the reception capacity of the ancient city and the movie palace. it has been raining in pingyao in the past few days, and there is serious water accumulation in the ancient city, making transportation very inconvenient. the cinema palace is even more crowded. one of the few restaurants in the cinema palace is the noodle shop diagonally opposite the platform amphitheater. when it’s time to order a bowl of noodles, you have to queue for more than half an hour. many reporters are busy publishing articles and when watching movies, i can only go hungry, or buy hamburgers and fries to satisfy my hunger, but doing this every day is really hard to bear.

however, for media workers, these are still within the acceptable range. what is even more difficult is the intensive film schedule of the film festival and the conflict with the national day schedule. we observed that many reporters left pingyao early, or came to pingyao first and then rushed back to beijing and then back to pingyao. they were exhausted both physically and mentally. after all, the national day reporting work was equally important. therefore, it remains to be discussed whether the current time of the film festival is reasonable. we interviewed several media people, and everyone said that the original time was actually more ideal. after the national day, the film market has entered a relatively calm period, so we can focus on the pingyao film festival. according to reports, jia zhangke also stated on social media that he would discuss this with the team again.

in any case, this year pingyao has become very popular both inside and outside. the night before leaving pingyao, the author and my friends had dinner together in a hotel in the ancient city. the waiter next to him chatted with the guests and talked about the world premiere of this year's pingyao film festival. the rate is 43.9%, and the presentation is very professional and smooth. we thought that the film festival and these hotels in the ancient city had cooperated to introduce the guests to the film festival, so we asked her to come over and ask. it turned out that the waiter checked it out by herself because she was particularly interested in the film festival, and many guests who came were curious about the film festival, so just remember it. the expansion of the influence of the pingyao film festival can be seen, and it has penetrated into the hearts of residents here. this is also the accumulation and breakthrough from pingyao as a film festival from "one" to "eight".

upset·circle·tired

talking about the content of the film festival itself, this year’s film selection can be divided into two parts. the chinese part belongs to the small year, and the foreign film part belongs to the big year. what’s very interesting about this year is that for the first time, a chinese director is invited as the representative. a jury composed of foreign directors was invited to judge foreign films, and a jury represented by foreign directors was invited to judge chinese-language films. this resulted in the results of this year's awards being very unexpected and totally unconventional.

"karst", the best film in the hidden dragon category, was the biggest upset in the audience. it tells the story of the karst region in southwest china, far away from the city. ziying, a cattle breeder, travels between villages and towns in order to treat her cattle. her experiences on the way back and forth for consultations also remind her of her past. director yang suiyi is a post-95 generation. the male and female protagonists are played by his parents. the film cost is also very low. there are a lot of long shots in it. it can be said that the shooting technique is very "original". unexpectedly, he won the cannes best director award. the jury was represented by ger gomez.

on the contrary, some films in the hidden dragon section that attracted a lot of attention at the beginning ended up with nothing. for example, the opening film "nujiang" was produced by jia zhangke and starred by wang yanhui and deng enxi. it has a certain commercial nature; the hong kong contestant "shallow years", the heroine ye tong was in pingyao throughout the whole process and also attended the award ceremony; it previously won the award at the berlin film festival the new film "village·music" directed by wang lina won the award. according to the situation of previous film festivals, there is a high probability that it will be recognized with awards.

no wonder some fans commented that gomez's arrival has reorganized the "circle" in pingyao. domestic film festivals, personal relationships and director resumes must be extra important points, but now that foreign directors have joined, there is no need to pay attention to these. instead of using established "conventions" to award awards based on preferences and the film itself, this will make the award results fairer, but it will also inevitably make the award of the award elusive.

however, for a director with no background like yang suiyi, this is definitely a blessing. it is no wonder that after winning the award, he would excitedly rush to the awarding guests. the best thing about pingyao is that in terms of commending creators, it not only provides honorary encouragement, but also provides real financial support. the best film in hidden dragon will receive a cash reward of 1 million yuan. most of the best films in the past few years, hidden dragon, have appeared in domestic theaters, and young directors have gained more opportunities. this is also the original intention of a good film festival.

pingyao's film selection is more diverse every year, and there are many controversial films. last year, "romantic piece" was out of the entertainment industry because of the bizarre post-screening dialogue between the director and the audience. although this year there was no such "masterpiece" as "romantic piece" , but there are still controversial "weird films" such as "don't take the essay seriously", "time hotel" and "stars and the moon". it can be said that in terms of the diversity of film selections, the pingyao film festival ranks first among domestic films. always at the forefront of the festival.

the list of external films this year is relatively good. most of them are films from the cannes directors’ fortnight section. this is the treasure section of the current cannes film festival. many people focus on the cannes main competition or a kind of attention, but in fact directors' fortnight also has a lot of niche films, and pingyao invited them to compete, which not only discovered great films, but also created a certain difference in film selection from other film festivals, killing two birds with one stone.

for movie fans, pingyao’s cinephile atmosphere has always been excellent. many domestic and foreign heavyweight guests invited this year can often be encountered near the film palace. for example, there are two barbecue restaurants outside the ancient city. after 12 o'clock every night, it becomes a paradise for movie fans to gather. guan jinpeng, zhang yu, shiori ito, gomez, chen guo, and many other filmmakers who can only be seen in movies and textbooks come here to have barbecue and communicate at close range. on the one hand, this is because there are too few places to eat at night near the ancient city. on the other hand, when coming to pingyao, moviegoers are not so nervous and are willing to relax and enjoy the place. this is indeed difficult for other serious and security-heavy film festivals to achieve.

as the core of the pingyao film festival, jia zhangke still attaches great importance to the interaction between the audience and filmmakers this year. in addition to singing on stage as mentioned at the beginning, he often shares some immediate emotions on social platforms, such as when the film festival is coming to an end. he wrote: "heart-tired." this made everyone feel that jia zhangke is not a saint. it is indeed not easy to organize such a large film festival, and he can be seen in various places in the film palace every day, giving premieres to movies. being a tour guide, accompanying leading guests, attending various exchange activities, answering questions raised by netizens, and taking time to sign autographs for fans and volunteers who came and went, it can be said that i have maximized my abilities.

from a business perspective, jia zhangke is indeed the most important signature of the pingyao film festival. this year, fenjiu invited jia zhangke to be its image spokesperson and collaborated on a short film. this advertisement will be played before every film screening at the film festival. many viewers can already recite the advertising words by heart. fenjiu can often be seen in the movie palace, with various the oral broadcast before the event will also be reported in place. as a platform, the pingyao film festival has become more and more comfortable in business planning and cooperation with major sponsors, and this has been discovered step by step.

it suddenly occurred to me that when pingyao was founded, there was a strong imprint of cannes in terms of specifications, film selection, etc. but today, pingyao has its most unique advantage - that is, human touch. even if it is a business matter, it will make the audience feel friendly and not disgusted, which is very rare.

just like what was shown in an event at this year's film festival, jia zhangke shared on the stage that he suddenly saw a "performance artist" wearing chaplin's costume in the audience. he was not officially arranged by the film festival, but came spontaneously. here, it happened that the promotional image of the last pingyao film festival was chaplin. jia zhangke invited him to the stage on an impromptu basis, let him perform a short program, and gave him a warm hug. later, jia zhangke wrote on the social platform: "i saw him on the stage. he was sitting in the audience and listened quietly to the young director's sharing. i was immediately moved." at that moment, many people were moved.

direct lineage·homeland·reunion

having said so much, as a media worker who has held eight sessions and came to seven sessions, the author can still feel the subtle changes that have taken place in pingyao this year. what i mentioned above is more superficial. if we summarize it, we can summarize because: it is more ambitious in terms of hosting time and exposure, the problems exposed in terms of facilities and organization are becoming more obvious and sharp, the film selection style and award judging style are becoming more and more unconventional, and human touch and commercialization are being organically integrated. , although the balance has not yet been reached, it has achieved some results.

in addition to film screenings and exchanges at the film festival, what is more fulfilling is that this year pingyao has really made everyone feel that the sowing in previous years has finally come to the harvest season. many young filmmakers who grew up following the pingyao film festival are now he has also become a unique creator in the industry, and can even come back here with his works for screening and exchange.

for example, "safety in and out" screened in the film fan carnival this time happened to be a new national day film. director liu jiangjiang first came to pingyao with the script "going to heaven". the script was picked up here, and it was later filmed into "life events" opportunity, in just a few years, liu jiangjiang has become a well-known emerging director, and his starting point was in pingyao.

also representative are the cp duo kong dashan and wang yitong. the two met in pingyao, and the "universe exploration editorial department" they co-created won the hidden dragon award here. at this year's closing ceremony, the film festival specially invited wang yitong's short film "knocking on the door of the fortress" to be screened. the two stood on the stage filled with emotions. pingyao has witnessed their friendship and creative journey all the way, so this place pays tribute to them. the meaning is extremely different.

we often hear titles such as "direct line from cannes" and "direct line from berlin". this is the film festival's support year after year in cultivating outstanding creators who are loyal to themselves. although we haven't heard much about "direct line from pingyao" yet. description, but every year when we come to pingyao, we can see some familiar figures. these creators regard pingyao as their spiritual homeland. this sense of cohesion and companionship cannot be simply summarized by the word "direct lineage". it is even more it's like a reunion of old friends.

as the chairman of the jury guan jinpeng mentioned, the reason why he agreed to come this year was partly because he was interested in the atmosphere in pingyao, and partly because he would give the award to the famous british film critic tony lane at the closing ceremony. his movies were introduced abroad through tony. he first met jia zhangke through tony's introduction. so this year when he heard that there was a chance to award tony, he had to come here. at the same time, he made an appointment with tony next year. if there is a chance, we will come together.

if you think about it carefully, we media workers and movie fans come to pingyao every year with great pleasure, not only to watch movies, but also for the moment of getting together with old friends. in the ancient city in autumn, friends who have not seen each other for a long time have a drink in the pub. , reminiscing about the past, chatting about the "happy" and "worry" of this year, and then hugging each other to say goodbye. we agreed to continue gathering here next year and hide together in the moonlight. this is what the pingyao film festival brings to everyone and is irreplaceable. memories and romance.

so, continue to look forward to seeing you again at the 9th pingyao.