Exploiting Hollywood 1980.

Chapter 185 Montreal Speaks French



Chapter 185 Montreal Speaks French

After packing his luggage, checking his passport, traveler's checks, and the newly printed Shinsegae Publishing business card, Ronald jumped into a taxi to the airport.

Roger Coleman temporarily gave Ronald the title of a film buyer and asked him to go to a film festival held in Montreal, the capital of Quebec, Canada to watch the film.He specifically talked to Ronald about the method of buying movies, and he summed it up in two ways.

First art films are different from art films.Some art films are based on a good story, plus the director's strong personal style.As long as the purchase price of this kind of art film is cheap enough, it will not lose money.

Another kind of art film is the director's innovation of audiovisual language.This kind of art film does not have a solid story basis, nor does it have any major dramatic conflicts, but the director is trying to break through the boundaries of film art.Maybe people in the industry like this type of art film more than the audience, so it is not suitable to take the risk of buying a copy.

Second, there are many films made by good foreign directors, but because of the cultural barrier with America, they were not shown.Whether the American audience can understand the film and immerse themselves in the story described by the director determines whether the introduction will make or lose.

Some directors are good at filming human nature, family affection, love, revenge, and other common emotional experiences of human beings.Even some cultural barriers are okay.Some directors are very focused on the culture of their own nation, so the experience of American audiences may not be good.

In short, Ronald made a surprise trip to New World Company and watched art films by famous foreign directors introduced by Coleman, such as "Desu Uzara" co-produced by Dongying Akira Kurosawa and Sowell Alliance, 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, and after a long flight, Ronald's feet were already a little swollen in the shoes, making walking a bit uncomfortable.Carrying a big suitcase in his hand, he waited in line for customs clearance.

"Excuse me, do you come to Montreal to go to school?" The staff looked at the photo on the passport, and then looked at Ronald's young face.

"I'm here on a business trip to attend a film festival."

"Ah, Bienvenue au Festival International du Film de Montréal" the staff knocked on an oval entry stamp.

Ronald picked up the suitcase and walked to the arrival hall of the airport. Why did the signs seem to be in French?The staff just now also spoke French.

In front of him were two fat men wearing Jewish caps, who seemed to have the same doubts as him.They grabbed a staff member and asked in English with a strong accent, "How do we get to the official venue of the film festival? Film festival, show the film? Do you understand?"

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

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

"Minahan, stop arguing, let's go to the venue quickly, the copy we brought must be delivered first." The two of them were pushing a heavy luggage cart, and stacks of film films were piled up on the cart.

Ronald followed the two fat guys who were also at the film festival and found the waiting point.I took out the official invitation letter of the film festival and showed it to the taxi driver before I was able to board the car and go to the hotel near the Art Square.

"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 area." Looking at Ronald with a puzzled expression, "Americans?"

"Yes, how do you know?"

"Only Americans are careless enough to think that Canada is all English-speaking. After the Montreal Olympics, Quebec passed the French Charter, making French the official language of Quebec.

"So that's how 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) has the whole broadcast."

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

When he arrived at the hotel he had reserved, Ronald found that the two fat Jewish men lived in the same hotel as himself, and the older one was loading film reels from the car.

"Do you need help?" Ronald asked aloud seeing that they were all filmmakers.

"Thank you very much. These films are too heavy. They are all our painstaking efforts and our masterpieces. Let me tell you that this film has been selected as the opening film of this year's film festival, and it is very likely to be nominated for an Oscar."

"Ah, really." Ronald was overwhelmed by the fat man's familiarity. "Where are you going to move?"

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

The fat man chattered on and on, watching Ronald's movements with his eyes, seeing that he had great strength and was able to lift the film steadily, so he was relieved.

"I have to be careful. You know, I only brought this one copy from the West German laboratory. If there is any mistake, the audience in Montreal will miss this masterpiece."

"Minahan." Another fat man who was younger than him guided a car approaching from a distance, "People from the organizing committee are here."

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

"My name is Ronald, and I am America..."

"Ah..., ah... Yoram... bring two movie tickets for tomorrow." Minahan turned his head and ordered another fat man in a loud voice.

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

"Hold, hold, this is a rare opportunity. The opening film of the film festival is very popular. The organizing committee told us that the tickets are all sold out. You should learn the art of our film. It is good for you. This is Difficult opportunity."

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

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

Ronald looked at Minahan's back, complained secretly, and picked up his luggage to check in.

After taking a hot shower and putting on comfortable sneakers, Ronald walked out of the hotel and set off to the Art Square to find delicious food.

Dusk has fallen, and movie-loving audiences are everywhere on the street, begging for tickets with various signs.Ronald walked past a beautiful blonde, and saw her sign that said "Please get a copy of the opening movie".

Seeing Ronald's momentary hesitation, the beauty immediately leaned forward, "Do you have tickets for the opening movie? I can buy them at twice the price."

"I'm just going to have dinner. If you can take me to a gourmet restaurant, 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, took Ronald's arm, and walked towards a store on the street next to the Art Square.

There was a long queue of people patting at the door, and Ronald knew he had come to the right place when he smelled the smell of smoked meat. This kind of delicious food needs the advice of the locals.

"Is this your Montreal specialty?"

The beauty shook her head, "No, this was opened by a family of Polish Jews when I was a child. It tastes very good, so more and more people eat it."

"Jews, it seems that people from Eastern Europe don't have a taboo against pork."

Ronald watched the team move slowly and orderly, and took the opportunity to chat with the beauty about the movie, "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.

"Two people who came to the festival gave it to me, maybe the producer of the opening movie tomorrow or something."

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

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

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

"Not all the population in Quebec only speaks French. English is also a basic subject in 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 portions of smoked meat and bread. After one bite, the taste was not very salty, but had a maple aroma, which made Ronald very happy, so he ordered two more takeaways take away.

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

"Okay, don't you need my tour guide service tomorrow? It can be paid for the fare."

"I am very willing, but I will go to the organizing committee to register tomorrow, we can go to play later, anyway, the film festival will last for ten days."

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

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

"New World? I haven't heard of it." The beauty took the business card, looked at the red sun-shaped company logo and shook her head. "I'll come to the hotel to see you tomorrow."

Ronald returned to the hotel with the bacon, turned on the TV, and CBC was still replaying the Olympic highlights. During the closing ceremony, the group gymnastics was a real-life art puzzle. I also shed a tear dynamically, regretting that some athletes from boycotting countries were not able to participate in the Olympics.

"It's absolutely incredible."

On the second day, Ronald took a break in the morning to overcome the jet lag, and went to the organizing committee to register and pay in the afternoon. Wearing a buyer's badge issued by the organizing committee, he could watch all the screenings.

Ronald returned to the hotel and waited for the beautiful woman from yesterday. The two walked into the main venue together, waiting to watch the so-called blockbuster movie.

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

"This is the mini-disc of the original soundtrack of the movie. 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."

"Watching a movie and getting a DVD?" Ronald thought, which is quite fancy.

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

Musicals were the best sellers in America in the past two years, and the special effects were also the main selling point of the two box office miracles of Jaws and Star Wars.If this movie can be combined into one, it is indeed worth looking forward to. I will find a way to talk to Minahan later, maybe it can represent the new world to introduce the United States.

Minahan seems to have said yesterday that it was filmed in West Germany, right?
By the way, what's the name of this movie?
Ronald's eyes moved down, a beautiful woman in a sci-fi type of attire on the poster, holding a laser gun similar to Star Wars in her hand, and the title of the film below
"The Apple"

There is also a line of fine print below:
"In 1994, the power of rock and roll saved the planet."

How does this smell so much like a Roger Corman movie?
 Sorry, the rhythm of adding updates on weekends is not good, and it is a bit late.

 
(End of this chapter)


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