After packing his luggage, checking his passport, traveler's checks, and the newly printed business card of New World Publishing Company, Ronald jumped into a taxi to the airport.
Roger Corman temporarily gave Ronald the title of movie buyer and asked him to go to the film festival held in Montreal, the capital of Quebec, Canada. He specifically talked to Ronald about how to buy movies, and he concluded that:
So two.
First art films are different from art films. Some art films are based on a good story and add the director's strong personal style. As long as the purchase price of such art films is cheap enough, you will not lose money.
Another type of art film is the director's innovation of audio-visual language. This kind of art film does not have a solid story as a foundation, nor does it have any major dramatic conflicts. Instead, the director tries to break through the boundaries of film art. Maybe people in the industry are more interested in it than the audience.
If you like this type of art film, it is not suitable to take the risk of buying a copy.
Secondly, there are many good films shot by foreign directors that have not been introduced for screening due to cultural barriers with America. Whether American audiences can understand the film and immerse themselves in the story depicted by the director determines whether the introduction will make a profit or a loss.
Some directors are good at filming human nature, family affection, love, revenge, and other common human emotional experiences. Even if there are some cultural barriers, it doesn't matter. 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 visit to New World Company and watched the art films of famous foreign directors that Corman had introduced before, such as "Desu Uzala" co-produced by Akira Kurosawa and Soviet Alliance, Swedish director Ingmar
Bergman's "Wild Strawberries" roughly 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 a little swollen in his shoes and it was a little uncomfortable to walk. He was holding a large box in his hand and waited in line to clear customs.
"Are you coming to Montreal to study?" The staff member looked at the photo on the passport and then looked at Ronald's young face.
"I'm on a business trip to attend a film festival."
"Ah, Bienvenue au Festival International du Film de Montréal" staff knocked on an oval entry stamp.
Ronald picked up the suitcase and walked to the airport arrivals hall. Why did it seem that the signs were all in French? The staff just now also spoke French.
There were two fat men wearing Jewish hats in front of them, and they seemed to have the same doubts as him. They grabbed a staff member and asked in English with an unknown source and a strong accent, "How do we get to the official venue of the film festival?"
Film festival, showing movies? Do you understand?"
"Going out of this exit is the taxi waiting point." 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 need to be delivered first." As they said that, the two of them pushed the heavy luggage cart, and the reels of film films were stacked on the cart.
Ronald followed two fat men who also came to the film festival and found the waiting point. He took out the official invitation letter from the film festival and showed it to the taxi driver before getting in the car and heading to the hotel near the Art Square.
"Ah, are you here to attend 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 confused look on his face, "Americans?"
"Yes, how do you know?"
"Only Americans are careless enough to think that Canada is an English-speaking area. After the Montreal Olympics, Quebec adopted the French Charter and made French the official language of Quebec.
"So that's it," Ronald thought, thinking of America's boycott of the Moscow Olympics. "So, do you have TV coverage of this year's Olympics?"
"Yes, but it has already concluded. You can't see it in America. CBC (Canadian Broadcasting Corporation) will broadcast the entire event."
"Yes, it's a pity. Our commander-in-chief asked NBC and ABC to boycott the broadcast, so we can only watch the news."
When he arrived at the hotel he had reserved, Ronald found that the two fat Jewish men were also staying in the same hotel as him, and the older one was unloading movie films from the car.
"Do you need help?" Ronald looked at them all as filmmakers and asked aloud.
"Thank you so much. These films are too heavy. They are all our hard work and our masterpiece. I tell you, this film has been selected as the opening film of this film festival and is very likely to be nominated for an Oscar."
"Ah, really." Ronald was stunned by the fat man's familiarity. "Where are you moving to?"
"Put it here, put it here. People from the organizing committee will come soon, and we will escort it to the main venue."
The fat man kept chattering, watching Ronald's movements with his eyes. Seeing that he was very strong and could lift the film very steadily, he felt relieved.
"I have to be careful. You know, I only brought this one copy from the lab in West Germany. If something goes wrong, the audience in Montreal will miss this masterpiece."
"Minahan." Another fat man, who was younger than him, guided a car to approach from a distance, "The people from the organizing committee are here."
"Ah, thank you, what's your name?" Fatty Minahan held Ronald's hand and shook it a few times.
"My name is Ronald, and I am America..."
"Ah..., ah... Yoram... bring me two movie tickets for tomorrow." Minahan turned his head and ordered the other fat man in a loud voice.
Then he took the ticket from Yoram's hand and 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 sold out. You should learn the art of our movies. It will be good for you. This is
A very rare opportunity.”
Ronald took the two movie tickets, watched the two fat men walk to the organizing committee's car, and supervised the staff moving the film.
"This neck is almost as thick as my forehead."
Ronald looked at Minahan's back, complained secretly, 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 Plaza de la Arts in search of delicious food.
Dusk had fallen, and the streets were full of film-loving moviegoers, holding various signs asking for tickets. Ronald walked past a blond beauty and looked at her sign that read "Please take a ticket to the opening movie."
The beauty saw Ronald's momentary hesitation and immediately came forward, "Do you have tickets for the opening movie? I can buy them for twice the price."
"I'm just going to have dinner. If you can take me to a delicious place to eat with me, I will sell it to you at the original price." Ronald took out two movie tickets and flashed them in front of the beautiful woman's eyes.
"It's simple, our Montreal favorite is Schwartz's smoked meats."
The beauty threw the sign away, took Ronald's arm, and walked towards a store on the street next to the Art Square.
There was a long queue of people at the door. When Ronald smelled the smell of smoked meat, he knew he was in the right place. This kind of delicious food requires the guidance of locals.
"Is this your Montreal specialty?"
The beauty shook her head, "No, this was opened by a Polish Jewish family when I was a child. It tastes very good, so more and more people eat it."
"Jews, it seems that people from Eastern Europe are not very taboo about 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 surprised.
"Two people who came to the film festival gave it to me, maybe the producers of the film that opens tomorrow or something like that."
"Wow, isn't that a good seat in the front row? That's great." The beauty yelled exaggeratedly while holding Ronald's arm.
"This is an epoch-making musical. Let me tell you, it's even more powerful than 'Grease' two years ago. I heard that the movie tells the story of the origin and future of mankind. In short, it's very powerful."
"Ah, ah, really." Ronald recovered from the smell of smoked meat, "Why do you speak English so well?"
"Not all the people in Quebec speak only French. English is also a basic subject in our schools. Only those French people who want to be independent are clamoring to set up French schools to teach only French," the beauty explained.
The two of them got in line and bought two large portions of smoked meat and bread. After one bite, it didn't taste very salty, but had the aroma of maple wood. Ronald ate very happily and ordered two more portions to be packed.
take away.
"So you come to my hotel and wait for me tomorrow evening, 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? You can offset the ticket price."
"I'm very willing, but I have to register with the organizing committee tomorrow. We can go there later. Anyway, the film festival will last for ten days."
"So you're here to participate in the film festival?" the beauty asked him with her eyes wide open?
"Yes, I'm here to buy the film on behalf of New World Production Company in America." Ronald handed a new business card to the beauty.
"New World? Never heard of it." The beauty took the business card and looked at the red sun-shaped company logo on it and shook her head. "I'll come to the hotel to find you tomorrow."
Ronald returned to the hotel with the smoked meat and turned on the TV. CBC was still replaying the Olympic highlights and the real-person art puzzle of group gymnastics at the closing ceremony. The real-person held up the drawing board and spelled out the mascot, a little bear named Misha. She
I also shed a tear dynamically, regretting that some athletes from boycotting countries could not participate in the Olympics.
"This is absolutely amazing."
The next day, Ronald took a break in the morning and was jetlagged. In the afternoon, he went to the organizing committee to register and pay. With a buyer's badge issued by the organizing committee, he could watch all the screenings.
Ronald returned to the hotel and waited for yesterday's beauty. The two walked into the main venue together, waiting to watch the so-called masterpiece.
"What is this?" Ronald walked into the screening room, and the ticket inspector handed them two large square envelopes.
"This is the original mini-disc 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."
"Watch a movie and get a DVD?" Ronald thought to himself, this is quite unique.
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 many special effects. No wonder the fat man named Minahan boasted that he would be nominated for an Oscar yesterday.
The musical was a hit 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 the two movies can be combined into one, it is indeed worth looking forward to. I will find a way to match it with Minahan later.
Let’s talk about it, maybe we can introduce the United States on behalf of the new world.
Minahan seemed to have mentioned yesterday that it was filmed in West Germany, right?
By the way, what's the name of this movie?
Ronald's eyes moved down. On the poster was a beautiful woman wearing a sci-fi outfit, holding a laser gun similar to Star Wars, and below was the title of the film.
"The Apple"
There is also a line of small words below:
"In 1994, the power of rock and roll saved the planet."
Why does this smell so much like a Roger Corman movie?