Exploiting Hollywood 1980

   Chapter 185 Montreal Speaks French

   Packed his luggage, checked his passport, traveler's checks, and the newly printed New World Distribution business card, Ronald hopped into a taxi to the airport.

  Roger Coleman temporarily gave Ronald the title of a film buyer, and let him go to see the film at the film festival held in Montreal, the capital of Quebec, Canada. He specifically talked to Ronald about how to buy movies, and concluded that there are two things.

  The first art piece is different from an art piece. Some art films are based on a good story and add the director's strong personal touch. This kind of art film will not lose money as long as the purchase price is cheap enough.

   Another art film is the director’s innovation in audiovisual language. This kind of art film does not have a solid story foundation, and there is no major dramatic conflict, but the director tries to break through the boundaries of film art. It may be that the industry prefers this type of art film more than the audience, and it is not suitable to take the risk of buying a copy.

  Secondly, there are many films made by good foreign directors, but because of the cultural gap with America, they have not been introduced for screening. Whether the American audience can understand the film and immerse themselves in the story drawn by the director determines whether the introduction will make or lose.

  Some directors are good at shooting human nature, family, love, revenge, and other common emotional experiences of human beings. Even some cultural gaps are fine. Some directors are very focused on the culture of their own nation, so the experience of the American audience is not necessarily good.

In short, Ronald attacked the New World Company and watched foreign famous art films that Coleman had introduced before, such as "Desu Uzala" co-produced by Akira Kurosawa and the Soviet Union, and Swedish director Ingmar Bergman's "Wild Strawberry" probably knows Coleman's bottom line and size.

  Montreal and New York are in the same time zone. After a long flight, Ronald's feet were already a little swollen in his shoes, making it a little uncomfortable to walk. Carrying a large box in his hand, queuing up for customs clearance.

   "Did you come to Montreal to go to school?" The staff looked at the photo in the passport, and then glanced at Ronald's young face.

   "I'm here for a business trip and a film festival."

   "Ah, Bienvenueau Festival International du Film de Montréal" The staff tapped an oval entry stamp.

  Ronald picked up the suitcase and walked to the arrivals hall of the airport. Why does it seem that the signs are all in French? The staff just now also spoke French.

   There are two fat men in Jewish hats in front of them, who seem to have the same doubts as him. They grabbed a staff member and asked in English with a heavy accent of some unknown place, "How do we get to the official venue of the film festival? Film festival, show movies? Do you understand?"

   "Going out from this exit is the taxi stand." The staff replied in English.

   "Don't you speak English?" The slightly older fat man looked unhappy.

   "Minahan, stop arguing, let's go to the venue quickly, the copies we brought must be delivered first." The two of them pushed the heavy luggage cart, and the reels of film on the cart were stacked.

   Ronald followed the two fat men who were also at the festival and found a waiting spot. I took out the official invitation letter of the film festival and showed it to the taxi driver before I could get on the bus and head to the hotel near the Art Plaza.

   "Ah, are you here for the film festival?" the driver asked in English.

   "Yeah, why do people here speak French?"

   "Ah, Messieurs. Quebec is the French-speaking region." Looking at Ronald with a puzzled face, "American?"

   "Yes, how do you know?"

   "Only an American would be careless enough to think that Canada is an English-speaking region. After the Montreal Olympics, Quebec passed the French Charter, making French the official language of Quebec.

  "So it is", Ronald thought of America's boycott of the Moscow Olympics, "Then do you have this year's Olympic TV broadcast here?"

   "Yes, but it's closed, you can't see it in America. CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) broadcasts the whole thing."

   "Yeah, it's a pity. Our big commander made NBC and ABC boycott the broadcast and can only watch the news."

When    arrived at the hotel he booked, Ronald found that the two fat Jewish men were also staying in the same hotel as him, and the older one was loading film footage from the car.

   "Need help?" Ronald asked aloud, seeing that they were both filmmakers.

   "Thank you so much, these films are too heavy, they are all our hard work, our masterpieces, I tell you, this film was selected as the opening film of this film festival, and it is very hopeful that it will be nominated for an Oscar."

   "Ah, is that so." Ronald was stunned by the fat man's familiarity. "Where are you moving?"

   "Just put it here, just put it here, the people from the organizing committee will come soon, and we will **** it to the main venue."

   Fatty chattered, his eyes watching Ronald's movements, seeing that he was very strong, and that he was very stable in carrying the film, so he was relieved.

   "I have to be careful, you know, I only brought this copy from the West German lab. If something goes wrong, the audience in Montreal will miss out on this masterpiece."

   "Meinahan." Another fat man who was younger than him guided a car to approach from a distance, "Here are the people from the organizing committee."

   "Ah, thank you, what's your name?" Fatty Minahan shook Ronald's hand a few times.

   "My name is Ronald, I'm America..."

   "Ah..., ah... Yoram... Bring me two movie tickets for tomorrow."

   Then he took the ticket from Yoram's hand, turned around and handed it to Ronald.

"Take it, take it, this is a rare opportunity. The opening film of the film festival was very popular. The organizing committee told us that the tickets were all sold out. You should learn the art of our film, it is good for you, this is A tough opportunity."

   Ronald took the two movie tickets and watched the two fat men walk towards the car of the organizing committee, supervising the staff to move the film.

   "This neck is almost as thick as the forehead."

   Ronald looked at Meinahan's back, and complained to himself, he picked up his luggage and went to check in.

   After taking a hot shower and putting on comfortable sneakers, Ronald walked out of the hotel and headed to the Art Plaza to find food.

   Dusk has come, and the streets are full of moviegoers, begging for tickets with various signs. Ronald walks past a beautiful blonde and sees her sign that reads "Ask for an opening movie."

  The beautiful woman saw Ronald's momentary hesitation, and immediately came forward, "Do you have the opening movie ticket? I can buy it at twice the price."

   "I'm just going to have dinner. If you can bring me a restaurant to eat with, I'll sell it to you at the original price." Ronald took out two movie tickets and flashed them in front of the beauty.

   "It's simple, our favorite food in Montreal is Schwartz's smoked meat."

  The beauty threw the sign, put it on Ronald's arm, and walked towards a store on the street next to the Art Square.

   A long line of people patted the door. Ronald smelled the smell of smoked meat and knew that he had come to the right place. This delicious food has to be pointed out by the locals.

   "Is this your Montreal specialty?"

The   beautiful shook her head, "No, this was opened by a Polish Jew when I was a child. It tastes good, so more and more people eat it."

   "Jews, it seems that pork from Eastern Europe is not very taboo."

   Ronald watched the team move slowly and orderly, and took the opportunity to chat with the beauty about movies, "Is the opening movie tomorrow good? Why do you want it so much."

   "Don't you know? Where did you get your movie tickets? The main venue is covered with their posters." The beauty was very strange.

   "Given to me by two people who came to the festival, maybe the producer of the film opening tomorrow or something."

   "Wow, that's not a good position in the front row? It's great." The beauty shouted exaggeratedly, holding Ronald's arm.

   "This is an epoch-making musical. Let me tell you, it's even more powerful than the previous two years of "Grease". I heard that the film tells about the origin and future of human beings.

   "Ah, ah, is it?" Ronald recovered from the smell of smoked meat, "Why do you speak English so well?"

   "Quebec does not have all the population who only speak French. English is also the basic subject of our school. Only those French people who want to be independent are clamoring to set up a French school and only teach French." The beauty explained.

The two lined up and bought two large servings of smoked meat and bread. After one bite, the taste was not very salty. Instead, there was a scent of maple wood, which made Ronald very happy, and ordered two more packages. take away.

   "So come to my hotel tomorrow evening and wait for me, and I'll go to the main venue with you." Ronald said to the beauty.

   "Okay, don't you need my tour guide service tomorrow? You can get the fare."

   "I'm very willing, but I'm going to register with the organizing committee tomorrow. We can go to play later. Anyway, the film festival will last for ten days."

   "So you came to participate in the film festival?" The beauty asked him with wide eyes?

   "Yes, I'm here to buy the film on behalf of America's New World Productions", Ronald handed a new business card to the beauty.

   "New World? Never heard of it." The beautiful woman took the business card and shook her head at the red sun-shaped company logo above. "I'll come to the hotel tomorrow to find you."

Ronald returned to the hotel with the smoked meat and turned on the TV. CBC was still replaying the Olympic highlights. At the closing ceremony, the real art jigsaw puzzle of group gymnastics. The real person held a drawing board and spelled out the mascot, a bear named Misha. She also shed a tear dynamically, regretting that some athletes from boycotting countries were not able to participate in the Olympics.

   "This is absolutely amazing."

  The next day, Ronald took a rest in the morning and was out of jet lag. In the afternoon, he went to the Organizing Committee to register and pay the money. Wearing a buyer's badge issued by the Organizing Committee, he could watch all the screenings.

   Ronald returned to the hotel and waited until yesterday's beauty. The two walked into the main venue together, waiting to watch the so-called blockbuster.

   "What's this?" Ronald walked into the auditorium, and the ticket inspector handed them two large, wrapped square envelopes.

   "This is the movie's original soundtrack mini-disc, you can play it on the record player when you go back," the ticket inspector replied, "The restroom is on the left, and the smoking room is on the second floor."

   "Discs for watching movies?" Ronald thought, and it made it quite chic.

   Standing in front of the poster at the entrance and looking at it, Ronald found that he was about to watch a musical with a lot of special effects. No wonder that fat man named Minahan boasted that he would be nominated for an Oscar yesterday.

   Musical films were the top-selling hits in America in the past two years, and the special effects pictures were also the main selling point of Jaws, the two box-office miracles of Star Wars. If this film can be combined into one, it is indeed worth looking forward to. I will find a way to talk to Minahan later, maybe it will be able to introduce the United States on behalf of the new world.

  Minahan seems to have said it was filmed in West Germany yesterday, right?

   By the way, what is the name of this movie?

  Ronald's gaze moved down. The poster showed a beautiful woman in a sci-fi costume, holding a Star Wars-like laser gun in her hand. Below is the title of the film.

   "The Apple"

   There is also a small line below:

   "In 1994, the power of rock and roll saved the planet."

   How does this taste so much like a Roger Coleman movie?

   Sorry, I can't master the rhythm of adding more updates on the weekend, it's a bit late.

   (end of this chapter)