independent filmmaker

After recovering from his calf injury, Xie Lansheng made another movie in 1995, and then showed it to customers one by one in the coffee shop as usual. "Golden Lion Award".

Also in 1995, there were many outlets for "film directors". The film reform in January 1993 did not restore the decline. The number of movie viewers dropped by 1% that year, and the box office dropped by another 60%. 40 state-owned studios laid off employees and sold land and houses. The studios "co-produced" one after another, either with Hong Kong or with the United States, but they couldn't play with capital, and it was difficult to collect money and move forward.As a result, private companies began to emerge, raising their own funds, producing their own films, going through the review process of the studio, and selling the film indicators of the studio—the private company wanted to bet on the box office, and the state-owned big factory wanted to survive, and the two hit it off.

Against this background, in response to the phenomenon of some "private capital" participating in films, the Ministry of Radio, Film and Television's "Administrative Measures on Reforming the Setting of Feature Films" and "Measures for the Management of Feature Film Indicators" stipulated that from January 1995, 1 From now on, social legal person investment amounting to 1% can be jointly filmed with studios with production rights, officially recognized as "private capital".This year, "American blockbusters" teamed up with "private films", and the overall box office finally stopped the avalanche that had lasted for several years.

In addition to production, distribution has also been reformed.In the past, distribution companies in various provinces made unified arrangements for unified screenings. However, in July, according to the No. 7 notice last year, Shanghai took the lead in establishing the first theater company "Oriental Cinemas", which was formed by signing contracts with 348 theaters from Shanghai Film's distribution company and became Shanghai's first cinema company. The second distribution channel.Provincial distribution is no longer monopolized by designated companies, and major studios can cooperate with any first-level distribution organization or theater.Studios have become more and more free from "obeying the unified arrangement of China Film Group" to "directly connecting with provinces" after 23 to "directly connecting with theaters" after 1993.

I am very happy to have a private company Xie Lansheng.This shows that although the factory labels are still limited, many private companies will give everyone the opportunity to compete in order to make good movies and to obtain profits.Big studios only have one or two famous directors, and they dare not offend them, but private companies are not. If there are too many directors in the country, it will be over if they recruit more.

However, this has nothing to do with Lan Sheng.Xie Lansheng was banned until 2001. He couldn't become a director, nor could he get a factory label, so he could only continue to work on his own.

Xie Lansheng thought, if he had waited for four or five years, would he have had a chance?Can it be done right now?

He has no regrets.Four or five years early is worth it.As long as he thinks of "Rooting", "Beautiful Sea", "Mountain Ridge", "Black and White" and "Sky Fire", he feels it is worth it.Just thinking about how these five films never appeared makes his heart ache.

He thought that in only four or five years, new directors might have the chance to become directors, and he wondered if their 12 directors of the banned "1989-1994" films would have any "followers" or not. Will there be new peers?I feel that the answer is yes, and the review scale has not been relaxed. More importantly, the indicators are limited and precious, and cannot take care of everyone. There will still be independent filmmakers.

But how do they go?Have you been hiding in the coffee shop and showing movies to customers?

How can the Chinese audience see him?

Xie Lansheng is not too interested in selling to Europe and America.

…………

Hanging around in the cafe for a year and a half, until August 1995, Xie Lansheng decided to take the film out to participate in the competition again, because everything changed again.

The shipment of VCD players grew rapidly.A survey in Beijing showed that less than 1994% of people knew about VCDs in 0.1, but by the end of June 1995, this number had increased to 6%.Since then, customers across the country have frantically bought them. In 5, the sales volume of VCD was only 1994 units, but it is expected to skyrocket to 1995 units in 60. The number of manufacturers increased from "Wanyan" to more than 100, and major brands fought bloody battles.

In this context, pirated discs came into being. 30 yuan a piece, 50 yuan two. At this time, the price of the disc is very high, but everyone is still buying and watching it.

Xie Lansheng had a whim: If he can get the "Big Three", the manufacturers of pirated discs should also steal one, right? ? ! !

In this way, not only a few customers in the coffee shop can see it, but there are a full 60 people in this huge potential market!Moreover, experts said that in 1996, 1000 million VCD players should be sold nationwide!

1000 million!

In other words, if it can be pirated, 1000 million people across the country may buy his movies!

Xie Lansheng really couldn't resist the temptation of "1000 million", which is undoubtedly fatal for an independent director.

Pirated VCDs, he feels, can also be a way for independent filmmakers to reach audiences.

The world is changing so fast. In the three years from 1990 to 1992, the literary films they made could only be screened in Europe and the United States. After the publication of "Southern Talk", they could be broadcast in cafes. There are more channels. Now, with the arrival of VCD, he can enter thousands of houses. Wanhu... Although it was brought into thousands of households by pirated CDs.

However, it is also called thousands of households.

After deciding, Xie Lansheng planned to shoot the script "Consummation".The book has been written long ago, and neither one is good nor bad, so it is more suitable for participating in the film festival.

Xie Lansheng has always had a soft spot for "Chinese families".He likes people and getting along with people, and "family" is the most basic unit of human society.

I don't know if it has anything to do with Xinye's confession. The two protagonists in "Consummation" are gay, gay men.

In recent years, Xie Lansheng has always unconsciously thought about the various pressures that "homosexuality" faces in Chinese society, including pressure from parents, pressure from family, pressure from classmates, pressure from colleagues, There was also pressure from strangers to end up writing this story.

It describes one of the most important things to the Chinese—face, one's own face, and one's parents' face.People are born to compare. If one gets zero points for work, wealth, spouse, and children, it is humiliating the whole family and is unfilial.

In "Consummation", in 1990, gay people "Cai Kuan" and "Lang Ying" met in a park on a rainy day.It was the most famous "Gay Park" in Beijing. Strangers vented their desires, but Caikuan went to that park alone on a rainy day, because what he wanted was an encounter of souls rather than a collision of bodies, so he and Lang Ying met there for the first time.

However, the good times didn't last long. It didn't take long when the love between the two was exposed, and then the parents forced each other to die and asked their son to marry a wife and have children, so as to return to "normal".In desperation, Caikuan signed an agreement with his wife who wanted to "stay in Beijing" and had a fake marriage. The two agreed that they would divorce after Li Fangfang got her household registration.Caikuan did not expect that after marriage, the two parents would continue to give birth, but it was impossible for them to be in name only.At this time when the couple were devastated, Li Fangfang fell in love with a man, but the good times didn't last long. After a while, the other party knew that she had married and left in grief.Heartbroken Li Fangfang found out that she was several months pregnant and decided to give birth, "waiting for him forever".A few months later, the child was born, smart and beautiful, and Caikuan's parents were overjoyed, thinking that their life was perfect.As time passed, Li Fangfang probably understood that her "dream" could not be realized, and facing children was very complicated.Another half a year later, Li Fangfang suddenly discovered that she fell in love with a married man back then, and that the other party never showed any sincerity towards her from the beginning to the end.Li Fangfang and Caikuan continue to live their lives day by day, one person, one room, no communication, Caikuan continues to fall in love secretly, Lang Ying even stays overnight, Li Fangfang's heart is ashamed, and she can only miss her all day long, loving and loving her child hatred.

At the end, at the child's first birthday banquet, Li Fangfang and Caikuan's family gathered together to celebrate together. Everyone's eyes were full of envy, and the parents of the two families laughed again and again. Everyone said: "You two are in Beijing, the husband and wife are loving, and the child is cute. , What a happy family!"

At the end of the first year banquet, after praising the couple, everyone suddenly found a white hair on the child's head, and burst into laughter: "You are only one year old, you are old!"

…………

After the film was set and the script was revised, Xie Lansheng put together the drama.

The assistant is still Xiaohong and Xiaolu, the sound engineer is "old man" Cen Chen, and the photographer has worked with him before.In addition, Xie Lansheng also recruited an executive director and two assistant directors. Among them, the actor assistant director is Hua Guoguang, who was also the assistant director of Xie Lansheng's previous literary film.

He drew storyboards, set scenes, made props, and cast actors, and he was very busy day by day.

Several supporting roles were in place smoothly, but the protagonist couldn't be settled for a long time.It is not very easy to find people who are willing to play "gay men", and it can even be said that it is extremely difficult to find. Xie Lansheng asked friends from all walks of life to actively help recruit actors, including asking in film and television companies, asking in studios, asking in Beijing Renyiwen, and in the country Ask in drama theaters, ask in Nortel, China Opera, and even ask in group heads.Xie Lansheng gave Hua Guoguang's contact information to his friends, and asked interested actors to contact Hua Guoguang directly, and he would arrange a meeting between the two parties.

Xie Lansheng thought, anyway, there won't be many people in the end, so let's just meet them all.

Hua Guoguang's ability is quite strong, and he quickly made a timetable. Let Xie Lansheng meet first with the one he thinks is the most suitable, then let Xie Lansheng meet with the one he thinks is average, and let Xie Lansheng meet with the one he thinks is the most suitable one.

Xie Lansheng also nodded.

Because only Xin Ye was banned for speaking out, and other actors who participated in underground films are safe, Xie Lansheng's films can still recruit good actors, although it is still relatively difficult.

October 10th was the first day Xie Lansheng interviewed actors for the new movie "Consummation".

The first person knocked on the door at 55:[-] in the morning. It was the door of Xie Lansheng's studio. In the past year and a half, Xie Lansheng rented a two-bedroom apartment in a certain community as an office, and one room was used for work. , one is used for meetings, and the living room is used for eating and watching movies. The area is just right.

Hua Guoguang opened the door and hurriedly greeted the visitor: "Welcome, welcome!!!"

The man's face was a little cold: "Yeah."

Hua Guoguang secretly aimed his eyes at the actor.

so high.

So handsome.

The atmosphere is so overwhelming.

He was wearing a British-style double-breasted black trench coat, full of abstinence.Although the expression is very cold, but the sense of presence is very strong, the eyes are very sharp, as if you can see through yourself, but there is something calm and deep, very dark, like a pool of water that doesn't match your age.

"Come, come!" Hua Guoguang said, "I'll take you to meet Director Xie!!!"

Hearing the words "Director Xie", the man's eyelashes trembled imperceptibly, and he nodded: "Thank you."

Hua Guoguang pushed the wooden door open and found that Lan Sheng was not inside. He stretched out his hand and waved desperately in front of his nose: "Hey!!! Director Xie is poisoning again! The smell of smoke!!!"

After speaking, he explained to the people around him: "Director Xie doesn't usually smoke, but he likes to smoke when he writes scripts. It's only one or two months a year. Just bear with it." He even cried while smoking while writing!What a god!

The man nods.

"Director Xie probably left for breakfast, so he should be back right away. Otherwise, wait a minute? Director Xie said that he wanted to talk here. The meeting room is full of documents, which is too messy." Hua Guoguang pointed to the side of the room. couch.

"Ah."

"Hey, let me open the window first, let's ventilate." Hua Guoguang said, walking to the window and putting his hand on the window handle: "Director Xie is a movie idiot...don't mention it! He likes to write quietly, Do not open the window, nor open the door! Cover it for three or four days! Here, this sofa can be opened and turned into a bed. Director Xie has been sleeping here recently." This is a folding sofa, which can be folded into a sofa during the day. After opening at night, there is a bed, and the bedding is in the cabinet.

The man looked at it and said nothing.

Hua Guoguang said: "Hey, this room...is there any fresh oxygen? It's all his carbon dioxide...and his smoke. I'm sorry, I'm sorry."

However, what Hua Guoguang didn't expect was that just as he was about to open the window, the actor who came to interview came over with two strides, facing the window sideways, and pushed the window shut again.

Hua Guoguang: "???"

Xinye's right hand had distinct knuckles, pressed against the window, and said, "No...don't open the window."

Hua Guoguang: "Huh???"

"Don't ventilate."

Hua Guoguang: "Oh..."

Is this actor worried about the cold?That's right, it's October in Beijing now, and it's a bit cold.I heard that Xinye is from California, so it's not too cold-resistant.

He was a little puzzled, so he could only say: "If you are afraid of the cold, then don't open it, but the smell is too pungent. It seems that Director Xie hasn't opened the window for a week. It's better to ventilate."

"It's all right."

"Alright then," Hua Guoguang ignored him, "Then you wait here for a while, Director Xie will come up soon. The two of you can discuss the role of 'Lang Ying'."

"Okay, sorry for the trouble."

After Hua Guoguang left, Xinye asked him to close the door, and waited for Xie Lansheng alone, his heart pounding his chest continuously.

four years ago.

Xinye propped his hands on the window sill, lowered his head, and gently closed his eyes.

The room is full of his breath.Surrounding him and wrapping him, Xin Ye trembled slightly.

The author has something to say: Xinye: Woooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo , qaq.

Sorry for the lateness.

I didn't mean to say that piracy is good (the desire to survive is very strong).