Chapter 2236: A Dilemma

When it came to doing business, Jiang Wen was undoubtedly an outsider.

Even though he now held a high position at Future Film, in Zhao Fusheng's view, Jiang Wen was still not suited for business.

Because this guy always judged right and wrong based on his own subjective ideas—simply put, he was emotional.

While this proved Jiang Wen was a good person, it didn't mean he was a good corporate manager.

So at Future Film, Ye Jing often only let Jiang Wen handle specific tasks rather than letting him be the decision-maker.

Zhao Fusheng agreed with this.

After all, Zhao Fusheng knew Jiang Wen's personality well and understood that if this guy made decisions, sometimes his ideas would indeed cause the company considerable losses.

Zhao Fusheng certainly didn't care about losing money, but he still didn't want his own interests to suffer.

The two chatted for a while longer, and then Jiang Wen took his leave; he still had things to do, since starting tomorrow, *Let the Bullets Fly* would be participating in the Venice Film Festival's screening events.

Zhao Fusheng, on the other hand, stayed at the tavern, waiting for Tan Kaixuan to arrive.

Soon, Tan Kaixuan's figure appeared outside the tavern door, followed by a large entourage of assistants and bodyguards.

“I miss the old days.”

As soon as he sat down, Tan Kaixuan complained to Zhao Fusheng: “Remember when we were in school? We ate whatever we wanted, and a bunch of us would run to the restaurant outside school for skewers…”

Zhao Fusheng nodded and smiled slightly: “I remember. Back then, every time we skipped class, you always got caught. I wonder if the teacher did it on purpose…”

“That’s not my fault.”

Tan Kaixuan said innocently: “My name is easy to remember; the teacher always liked to call on me. What could I do?”

After saying that, both of them burst out laughing.

For them now, the days of casually finding a roadside stall to eat barbecue, like in the past, were gone forever.

It wasn’t that they lacked the opportunity or time, but that feeling was no longer there.

Now, they were undoubtedly truly wealthy people; with a gesture, they could decide the fate of many. But the problem was, even if they went to a roadside stall, luxury cars would be parked nearby, a large group of assistants and bodyguards would guard them, and their own mindset was absolutely different from before.

As the saying goes, “Once you’ve seen the vast ocean, it’s hard to be content with a pond; except for Wushan’s clouds, no other clouds compare.”

Zhao Fusheng hadn’t really understood this poem before; he always thought the poet was being pretentious.

But now, he deeply understood that this feeling truly existed.

“Where’s Old Jiang?”

Looking around curiously, Tan Kaixuan asked casually.

He had known earlier that Zhao Fusheng had come to Venice with Jiang Wen and the others, but now only Jiang Wen was here, and he hadn’t even seen Jiang Wen or Ye Jing, so he was naturally a bit curious.

Speaking of which, Tan Kaixuan was quite familiar with Jiang Wen and the others, and even had a good relationship with Ye Jing and Xue Yuanfang.

Of course, this might be because they all shared common interests.

Men always have a special regard for companions they’ve had fun with.

“Old Jiang has to attend the screening tomorrow, so he went back first.”

Zhao Fusheng explained: “This is a film festival, after all. Do you think he’s not busy?”

Tan Kaixuan curled his lips, looking disdainful: “Come on, this is Venice, not China. How many people know him here? Besides, look at these international film festivals now. Only in our country do people still take them seriously…”

His words had some truth. The Venice Film Festival was the first international film festival in the world, known as the father of international film festivals. It was founded in the 1930s, with the main purpose of improving the artistic level of film.

Awards included Best Feature Film, Documentary, Short Film, Italian Film, Foreign Film, as well as Best Director, Screenplay, Actor, Actress, Cinematography, Music, etc.

In addition, there were Special Awards, Comprehensive Awards, and the Biennial Cup.

In the late 1960s, the Venice Film Festival encountered another setback; political factors led to the abolition of the original film evaluation system, replaced by a screening format, and it wasn’t until 1980 that the evaluation was restored.

Nevertheless, during that period, many excellent works from around the world still participated each year.

The Venice Film Festival had its own unique tradition: it focused on film experimenters from various countries, encouraging them to shoot films with novel forms and unique techniques. Even if there were some flaws, as long as there was innovation, the festival would accept them.

The festival’s motto was that film serves serious art. Each year, it proposed different slogans, and its judging criterion was pure: artistry.

In the 1960s and 1970s, the Venice Film Festival discovered a large number of emerging European filmmakers. Although the films it selected might not have been the best works of those directors, it constantly led the development trend of European art cinema.

Now, with the advent of the internet age, the market for art films has shrunk, and the Venice Film Festival has gradually declined.

In fact, not just the Venice Film Festival, but major film festivals worldwide face a very real problem: the conflict between commercial films and art films.

For example, long ago, at the three major international film festivals—whether Cannes, Venice, or Berlin—art films were the mainstream, and commercial films had no place at all.

Now, more and more commercial films are appearing in these festivals.

In Zhao Fusheng’s memory, if he remembered correctly, in his previous life, even *Mr. Six* became the closing film of the Venice Film Festival.

Holy shit!

No matter how well Feng Xiaogang could act, who would dare say that film had cultural depth?

Zhao Fusheng would slap him silly!

But that was the truth.

The reason was simple: Venice needed the Chinese market.

Or rather, worldwide, the influence of such international film festivals was waning, and only Chinese filmmakers still valued them so much.

Zhao Fusheng couldn’t say this was wrong; at least now or from now on, the Western film circle had finally realized that China was the main market for future films.

To achieve high box office, you first needed recognition from the Chinese film market.

Otherwise, it would be very difficult for a film to become a global hit.

Tan Kaixuan’s words, though somewhat crude, had to be admitted to hit the nail on the head regarding the problems facing world film development today.

Filmmakers pursuing art found it increasingly hard to survive, while those adept at compromise and constantly bowing to commerce lived more and more comfortably.

This was reality—perhaps hard to accept, even cold.

But it existed, plain and simple.