Time to Go Overseas

"Clap, clap, clap!" The applause was sparse. Apart from their own people on the Left, everyone else watched with cold, sarcastic detachment. Because this guy was far too annoying! From last year to this year, he had blasted nearly everyone in the Hong Kong film world—from Shao Yifu and Raymond Chow at the top down to the martial arts stuntmen and the tea servers. He had to throw in his two cents about everyone. Zhong Chuhong sat among the team of The Story of Woo Viet, raised her eyebrows, and sized up the man on stage: he actually looks rather good in a suit! And he's even wearing a pair of glasses—looks like one of those refined scoundrels. If a talented man were ugly, that really would be a pity. Shu Kei and Chen Baisheng, meanwhile, grew nervous and muttered, "Whatever you do, don't talk politics. Don't mention left or right!" Once an awards ceremony got mixed up with politics, the whole thing changed flavor. Take the Berlin International Film Festival—it offended the socialist camp led by the Soviet Union and had no choice but to bring in films from the mainland. And then there was the Golden Horse Awards of later years, which got ruined... Of course, Chen Qi himself had no intention of talking politics. Otherwise nobody would dare show up, and the awards might not be able to go on at all. What he wanted to talk about was a different topic. "Thank you! Thank you to the organizers for giving Tai Chi this award..." He offered a few polite remarks, then changed tack. "I know that standing here on this stage, all of you want to boo me off—I've offended too many people. But everything I've said is the plain truth. "Some of you don't like hearing it. Too bad—there's nothing you can do about it, because you can't refute a word. "Take Tai Chi. Last year it sold for 5 million US dollars in overseas rights alone—close to 30 million Hong Kong dollars. Which of you can match that? "Of course I'm not bragging. I just want to say: this year's overall box office growth far outstripped last year's. You all assume it's the market expanding? Well, yes, there's been some expansion—but mainly it's that ticket prices went up. Hong Kong has a population of 5 million; the size of the market is what it is. How much higher can it possibly go? "We have a wealth of top-tier film talent here, a foundation, deep roots, and an industry that's just beginning to take shape. Stop staring at East Asia and Southeast Asia all the time. Aim higher—look to Europe and America!" "In today's Hong Kong film scene, only Boss Shao and Boss Chow have the guts to venture overseas. It's just a pity the films they made weren't the right ones, and they flopped so badly. Jackie Chan is actually the most qualified of all—he didn't come today... Huh? Mr. Hong Jinbao, you could do it too..." Bad luck! Why bring me into it! Luckily there was no live broadcast, no cameras trained on him, so Hong Jinbao wasn't too flustered. Still, he didn't want to lock eyes with the man, so he deliberately twisted to one side and pretended not to hear. "..." Up on the stage, Chen Qi's gaze swept across the room, and everywhere it landed, people shrank away, unwilling to be called out by name. He smiled and delivered his manifesto: "In May, we have a new film specifically aimed at the American market, Orphan, going to the Cannes Film Festival. It'll be released in the second half of the year—keep an eye out for it. "We're rooted in Hong Kong, our sights set overseas, committed to breaking into Europe and America and making Chinese-language films a force to be reckoned with! We also welcome filmmakers who share the same ambition to come work with us—to go and seize the American market together!" "Clap, clap, clap!" The applause was a little warmer than before. He really had whetted everyone's appetite. What did he even mean, a film specifically aimed at the American market? Work out the timing—it was March now, and May was just around the corner. They'd find out soon enough. If you said Hong Kong filmmakers had ambition, they did have a bit of it. But if you said they had long-term vision, that would be overestimating them. Breaking into Europe and America—they'd never even dreamed of it. Their real trait was a jianghu spirit, and what is that jianghu spirit? It's daring to act, and putting profit first. As long as someone led the charge and succeeded, there'd be no doubt that whole batches would follow. If Chen Qi had said, I'm going to take the Hong Kong annual box office crown—well, that would be nothing special. Fortune turns, and there's a champion every year. But he insisted on saying, go and seize the American market! That was what got everyone involuntarily excited... ........ In its early years, the Hong Kong Film Awards had no fixed trophy design. The first trophy was a Y-shaped human figure with its hands spread open. Starting with the tenth edition, it became the one we're most familiar with: a goddess draped in a gown of film strip, holding a silver-plated pearl high overhead. Because there was so little content, there was no song-and-dance segment either. In a few quick flurries, it was over. Who knows what Film Biweekly was thinking—perhaps imitating the closing ceremony of a European film festival—but after the awards ended, they actually screened an American film, The French Lieutenant's Woman. Who on earth would want to watch something like that? Those who wanted to save face kept their seats; those who didn't got up and slipped away. Chen Qi didn't want to watch it either, and yawned again and again. Seeing Qiu Shuzhen beside him even drowsier, her eyes already closed, he reached over and pinched her nose. "Mm, mm..." Qiu Shuzhen gave a start and woke, brushing his hand away as she complained, "Master, why are they showing this kind of stuff?" "They're cultured folk. Let them refine our tastes a little." "But I don't want to watch. Let's sneak off quietly?" "There's a reception dinner afterward, all good food. You sure you want to go slinking off?" "Hmph!" Qiu Shuzhen fussed for a moment, then leaned back. "Then I'll just wait." Suddenly she sat bolt upright. "No pinching my nose!" Having said her piece, she closed her eyes again and even leaned a little toward him, as though that made her feel safe. Chen Qi was thoroughly bored. One moment he was whispering with Liang Jiahui and the others, the next he was resting a bit, and then he looked around again. About a third of the guests were gone. Hong Jinbao, unexpectedly, was still sitting there. Say what you will about that lot—they do have their jianghu loyalty. He kept looking, and caught sight of Zhong Chuhong again, in a pretty dress, sitting there just as bored. Chow Yun-fat, Ann Hui, and others were beside her. She noticed Chen Qi's gaze and made a face at him. "Oh!" "Xia, Yu, Fang, Hong... Xian, Zhen, Min, Xin... I know two of them now. Huh? Isn't this the big and little Hongdou?" Zhong Chuhong's character in Once a Thief was named Hongdou, and Qiu Shuzhen's character in The New Legend of Shaolin was also named Hongdou. ........ By nine o'clock, the annoying film had finally finished. The organizers were broke, so the reception dinner was set up in the Arts Centre's restaurant, buffet-style. But there were still steaks, roast meats, seafood, desserts, red wine and the like—not too shabby. "Want this one?" "Yes! Cut me a slice—I want the big one!" "Grab two, grab two!" Zhong Chuhong led Qiu Shuzhen on a graze-and-stroll, with all the momentum of eating through every single platter. She picked up two desserts, one for each of them, and they stuffed them into their mouths at the same moment, their eyes lighting up in unison. "Wow, so good!" Cream still clung to the corner of Qiu Shuzhen's mouth; she wiped it away carelessly and said, "Sister Ahong, can we pack some up?" "How would we even pack it here?" Zhong Chuhong glanced left and right, actually quite tempted, and whispered, "It's fine if we sneak a little out, right? As long as nobody notices. Otherwise it'd be so embarrassing." "You think you two aren't embarrassing yourselves already?" Chen Qi cut in coolly. "This is a dinner. Sure, there's not much class to it, but it's still a dinner. Have a little dignity, would you?" "Is dignity as important as filling your belly?" Zhong Chuhong shot back. "Right? I'm just a kid—what do I need dignity for?" Qiu Shuzhen chimed in too and made to keep eating, but he hauled her back and said, "It's getting late. I'll take you home in a bit." "Huh? I still want to eat a little mor—I still want to stay a while longer!" "I'll buy you a midnight snack to take home," Chen Qi said helplessly. "Great, great!" Hearing that, Qiu Shuzhen obediently set down her plate. Chen Qi added, "Want to come along? It's all on the way." "Sure, who'd pass up a ride?" Zhong Chuhong nodded. "Meet downstairs at ten, then. I won't come calling for you." Having given his instructions, Chen Qi picked up a glass of wine in passing and headed toward Hong Jinbao, not far off.