The Best Director

Park City, Utah, a small town in the mountains famous for its high-altitude skiing, has become extraordinarily bustling in the last few days. The annual Sundance Film Festival has attracted a large number of tourists, and this small town is now even more eye-catching than Hollywood, with directors, actors, production company staff, reporters, and film buffs visible all along the streets. Among them are many well-known stars. Since Quentin Tarantino’s “Pulp Fiction” revived the careers of Bruce Willis and John Travolta and launched Uma Thurman’s, participating in independent films has become a cool thing to do. Many stars have begun to join in without regard to pay, hoping to hit the jackpot with a good film, to have a career resurgence, or to successfully transition or break through.

Of course, the streets are filled with even more unknown newcomers who bring their work to the festival, hoping to get an opportunity and appreciation.

The 16th Sundance Film Festival opened last night, and this year, the organizers at the Sundance Institute received countless film exhibition requests as usual. They ultimately selected 100 feature films and 50 short films to be shown. Directors of the 50 short films are very likely to win an investment and a contract; and those 100 feature films are the main focus of all the movie companies. Considering from a commercial box office perspective, there might be gold hidden among them, but the chance of finding scrap metal is even higher, all depending on the eye for selecting films and luck.

Wang Yang, to attend the Sundance Film Festival, paused the editing work of “The Pursuit of Happyness” and prepared to stay in Park City for a few days before returning to Los Angeles. Firstly, he wanted to see if there were any outstanding films, and secondly, he really enjoyed the atmosphere here, where the air is now filled with the scent of independent films. What is an independent film? Quentin Tarantino once said, “An independent film is where directors take out all their money, even the money they don’t have—parents’, stolen, or debts that last a lifetime—to make a movie. Some of these films are as good as they can possibly be, and some are as terrible as possible. But these are their films, independent films.”

Sometimes, it’s because directors don’t want to be influenced by investors and producers, akin to one of Sundance’s original purposes, “defying Hollywood;” sometimes it’s for their own film dreams, to be able to enter Hollywood. But no matter what, outstanding independent directors often find a balance between commerce and self-expression and become hot figures in Hollywood. Moreover, good independent films can often create commercial miracles, so Sundance also has a commercial side. Film companies wave their checks to acquire movies, screenplays, etc., and this year the available funds of Flame Film Company is ten million.

“Boss, the latest news, last night’s opening film ‘You Can Count on Me’ has already received bids from several companies,” Mark Slant put down his phone, carrying a briefcase, and walked out of the hotel with Wang Yang, saying, “Paramount, Miramax Films, New Line… they’re all interested, and now the rights are probably up to more than three million. The investors are thrilled; this film only cost 1.2 million to make.”

Wearing a grey coat, Wang Yang stepped out of the hotel into the outdoors, where the approaching evening wind still made him feel a chill. He put his hands in his pockets and walked towards the reserved taxi, looked at Mark Slant, and asked, “Do you think we should make a bid?” He had no information about this movie in his mind, but in the information related to the 73rd Academy Awards (2001), he found that “You Can Count on Me” had two nominations: Best Actress and Best Original Screenplay.

Mark Slant replied, “The movie has some potential, the lead actress’s performance is quite good, and with old man Martin Scorsese as a producer, there’s at least some assurance.” He opened the door to the taxi while saying, “But I think the highest price for that movie is five million. We can just wait and see for now. Over five million? Let it go! Its story is too artistic, the box office won’t go that high, but it might get some association award nominations.”

“Mark, your analysis this time…” Wang Yang smiled, giving a thumbs-up as he bent down to get into the taxi, “It’s not just about a nomination from the association, an Oscar nomination is also highly likely.”

Mark Slaughter got into the car on the other side, leaned back into the seat and, with a bang, closed the door. He looked at Wang Yang beside him with a smile and said, “An Oscar nomination? The company is just in need of that. But boss, I have some good news that I haven’t told you yet.” He coughed and said excitedly and mysteriously, “Reliable information from the company’s PR department says that ‘High School Musical’ will get an Oscar nomination!” What? An Oscar nomination!? Wang Yang was slightly taken aback, “Really?” He laughed out loud and joked, “For Best Picture or Best Director?” Mark Slaughter shrugged and said, “Just for Best Original Song, and there might even be several songs nominated.” And the total number of candidates for this award is in the dozens. Wang Yang also shrugged and said, “It’s better than nothing, right?”

At that moment, the taxi started moving, and the street scene outside the window was receding nonstop. They were heading to the Redstone Theater, the venue of the film festival, where several films were scheduled for their premieres today.

Just as Wang Yang was about to ask Mark Slaughter “what films are on today,” the taxi driver in front, a middle-aged white man, looked at them through the rearview mirror and said with a smile, “Hey, magical Yang, and Mark? How are you? Actually, I’ve written a screenplay.” He took his hands off the steering wheel and quickly pulled out a thick stack of printed paper, a bound screenplay, from above the dashboard, turned around and handed it to Wang Yang with a smile, “Take a look! What do you think about turning it into a movie?”

“Oh, I’ll take a look, just drive safely!” Wang Yang took the screenplay and pointed at the unattended steering wheel. The white uncle laughed and turned back to put his hands on the wheel, with his eyes still on Wang Yang in the rearview mirror flipping through the screenplay, he introduced the story, “It’s a horror story screenplay. The protagonist is a taxi driver whose car is haunted, and the story begins with him having a car accident…”

The screenplay was written in a strict format, and Wang Yang read a few pages while listening to the white uncle describe accidents, passengers being killed by ghosts, and so on, he couldn’t help but smile and furrow his brow – after all, he was sitting in a taxi right now!

“Right!” The driver, as if suddenly recalling something, took his hands off the steering wheel once more, frantically searching around the front of the car, saying, “I also drew a few storyboard pages, where did I put them… oh, come out…” Seeing that he was not even looking at the road anymore, Mark Slaughter immediately shouted anxiously, “Buddy, be careful, be careful!” Wang Yang also couldn’t help but yell, “Don’t really have a car accident!” The driver glanced ahead briefly, continued his search while laughing, “No worries, I could drive this part of the road with my eyes closed, trust me! Haha, found it!”

The driver pulled out a few crumpled papers from the slit in the seat, casually adjusted the steering wheel, then turned to hand them to Wang Yang, saying, “Take a look!” Wang Yang took them, once again reminding, “Drive carefully!” Mark Slaughter leaned over to glance at the storyboard for a moment and then said to the driver, “Hey, buddy, these look pretty professional!”

“Of course, this is Sundance,” the cab driver chuckled. Throughout the entire trip, he had been pitching his screenplay, and soon the taxi arrived outside the Redstone Theater. He personally helped Wang Yang and his companion off the cab, smiling, “Take that screenplay with you. My contact information is on the last page. Call me if you have any shooting plans!”

Watching the taxi slowly driving away, Martin Strong let out a sigh of relief and said, “It’s a miracle we didn’t crash!” Wang Yang nodded in agreement, then smiled slightly. Maybe this was what Sundance was all about.

Although the film festival was held inside the Redstone Theater, the plaza outside was just as bustling with people coming and going. Just as the two were about to walk into the theater, Wang Yang suddenly noticed a small white cloth screen set up in a distant spot, in front of which a portable film projector was in operation, surrounded by several people in conversation. Since they were far away, he could only vaguely see the images on the screen and muttered to himself in confusion, “What’s happening over there?”

Then, it dawned on him. Perhaps it was someone whose film hadn’t been selected for the festival but who had brought their movie to “participate” regardless. He had once considered doing the same; if “Paranormal Activity” hadn’t been selected, he would have rented a projector and shown it outside the venue. He hadn’t expected to see someone doing it now. His curiosity piqued, he gave Martin a “this is interesting” look and walked over with enthusiasm, saying, “I’m going to have a look!”

“Oh, boss, your curiosity is just too much,” Martin followed behind, muttering. He had a good idea of what was going on, but he didn’t think a film that didn’t even make it into the festival could be that great. The people at Sundance Institute were no fools; in fact, among the 100 featured films each year, many were barely passable, not to mention the rejected ones.

Wang Yang positioned himself in front of the projector, listened to the sound of the film reels turning, and watched the images on the screen for a while. He could immediately tell that the actors were amateurs. He looked over at the people who were talking, and noticed three men in suits and carrying briefcases, who seemed like they were from a production company; and a young girl with dark brown hair, whom he was surprised to find was the director of the film.

The director, a tall girl wearing a light brown coat and a fisherman’s hat, and possessing a rather pretty mixed-race face with tanned skin, with her eyebrows held up straight, was explaining to the men, “The story mainly revolves around a girl named Amy. She has always loved performing arts since childhood, but she lacks talent and didn’t receive a good education… You can watch for yourself, what’s playing right now is a short film of the first 15 minutes.” “How old are you, girl?” one of the blond Caucasian men asked with great interest, shrugging. “You know, it’s rare to see such a young female director!” The dark brown-haired girl answered nonchalantly, “I’m 19, but… hey!? Gentlemen, what does this have to do with the film? Watch my movie first!” The Caucasian man shook his head, “Your movie isn’t that great, but you could actually become an actress. Interested?”

“No, it’s Amy who likes performing arts, not me,” the girl said with a laugh that was very much contagious, yet she asserted very softly but firmly, “I want to be a director.” Suddenly frowning, she said earnestly, “Gentlemen, I’ll rewind the film so you can watch it from the beginning!” With that, she looked towards the projector and also noticed Wang Yang standing right beside it; she called out anxiously, “Hey, you there, don’t mess with my projector!”

Wang Yang raised his palms in a show of peace and said, “I’m just watching the movie.” The dark brown-haired girl quickly walked over and took a good look at him. Her eyes widened in surprise, and a barely noticeable spark of excitement flitted across her face as she blurted out, “It’s you! Oh, hi, I’m Nancy…” She exhaled as if to say “damn it,” then she went forward, stopped the projector, and started to rewind the film reel all the while talking swiftly to Wang Yang, Martin, and the others, “This is a 15-minute short film, but it’s not the complete content…”

“Hmm…” Wang Yang listened in silence as the three men in suits lost interest after a short while and started walking towards the main entrance of the theater. Nancy hurriedly followed them, calling out loudly, “Gentlemen, wait up, you haven’t watched it! Give it a look, will you?”

Martin tugged at Wang Yang and said, “My boss, let’s go.” Wang Yang looked at Nancy, sweating and eager, sighed inwardly, and asked with a frown, “Watch a little longer?” Martin rolled his eyes and replied, “You’ve already been watching for quite a while, are you going to buy her movie?” Wang Yang paused, mouth agape, at a loss for words. Martin lowered his voice and said, “Yang, look at this plaza, how many people are waiting for a chance? How many films were rejected by Sundance this year? A thousand? Two thousand? Are you going to buy them all? Please, my boss, you can’t do this! Even if you bought and distributed all of them, a bad movie is still a bad movie.”

“Martin, I know,” Wang Yang pressed his forehead, feeling a bit distressed, but he knew it was the truth. Steeling himself, he nodded and said, “OK, let’s go.” By the time Nancy had finished setting up the film, she clipped the reel back into the projector and declared with a smile, “I’m starting the screening now, gentlemen!” She turned around only to see Wang Yang and Martin also about to leave, and the smile on her face suddenly stiffened. Wang Yang gave her an encouraging smile, gestured towards the theater with his thumb, patted her shoulder, and said, “Nancy, good luck!” Then he and Martin headed toward the theater.

As she watched Wang Yang disappear into the distance, Nancy stared for a long time before turning her gaze back to the small white cloth screen, lips pressed tightly together.