Chapter 343: The Dust Settles

Chapter 343: Chapter 343: The Dust Settles

On the day of the awards ceremony, the main venue of the Venice Film Festival was packed to capacity.

Red velvet seats surrounded the stage, and huge crystal chandeliers reflected brilliant light. Filmmakers from various countries were dressed glamorously, and the air was filled with a mixture of tension and anticipation.

Robert sat in a front-row seat, his fingertips unconsciously rubbing the phone in his suit pocket. Beside him, the creative team of Little Miss Sunshine could not hide their anxiety. Although they had reached a tacit understanding with the organizing committee, they could not completely put their minds at ease until the final moment.

The announcement of the Orizzonti Section awards was scheduled before the main competition. When the host read out the nominees for the "Special Jury Prize" in fluent English, Robert’s heart suddenly quickened.

When the name of Little Miss Sunshine was called, he saw the director beside him quietly clench his fists.

"The winner of the Special Jury Prize in the Orizzonti Section at this year’s Venice Film Festival is—*Little Miss Sunshine*!"

The moment the words fell, the spotlight immediately focused on them. Robert let out a long sigh of relief, hugged and cheered with the creative team, and stood up to walk toward the stage.

As he accepted the heavy trophy, his gaze swept across the audience and happened to meet Sophia Coppola’s. They shared a smile, and her eyes held sincere congratulations.

"Thank you to the Venice Film Festival for this recognition," Robert said, holding the microphone, his voice steady and powerful. "Little Miss Sunshine is a film about family, courage, and acceptance. We believe that no matter how different cultures and regions may be, sincere emotions always resonate. In the future, we hope to let more audiences experience the warmth and power of this film."

Thunderous applause erupted from the audience. He noticed Pierre, who was in charge of public relations for the organizing committee, nodding with a smile. This win-win cooperation officially became a reality from this moment on.

Subsequently, the San Marco Award for Best Picture in the Orizzonti Section was won by Vodka Lemon.

The film, featuring dialogue in Armenian, Kurdish, and Russian, tells the story of Hamo, a retired widower who travels daily to his wife’s grave with his three young children. There, he accidentally meets Nina, a bar waitress who is also mourning her deceased husband. Drawn together by poverty, the two ultimately find redemption.

Its core is actually very similar to Little Miss Sunshine, both revolving around family. However, the film builds a cold atmosphere through images of snowy landscapes and graveyards, and the piano performance scenes metaphorically represent spiritual redemption amidst suffering, creating a world that is more artistic than Little Miss Sunshine, though naturally slightly weaker in commercial appeal.

When the host read out "Best Actress," Scarlett Johansson’s name caused the crew of Lost in Translation to erupt instantly.

Sophia stood up to hug Scarlett. Although there was a hint of regret in her eyes for not winning the grand prize, she felt mostly relieved. Winning the Best Actress award was already a high recognition of the film’s acting value and added important leverage for its North American promotion and distribution.

After the awards ceremony, Robert immediately sent a message to Irene, attaching a photo of himself with the trophy: "Special Jury Prize secured. Facebook promotion starts immediately. Have agreed with Sophia to sign the distribution contract for Lost in Translation tomorrow."

Irene’s reply came quickly: "Congratulations! Make sure to clarify our dominance over the promotion and distribution when signing the contract. I will have Chen Shiyu’s side fully cooperate with the subsequent rollout."

The next afternoon, in a lakeside cafe in Venice, Future World Pictures and the crew of Lost in Translation officially signed the distribution contract.

Julie Costello-Walzer carefully reviewed the clauses, and after confirming everything was correct, she signed her name on the document alongside Robert.

The moment the pen touched the paper, it meant that Future World would take full charge of the distribution of Lost in Translation in North America, including theater scheduling, media promotion, derivative product development, and all other aspects.

"For the upcoming promotion and distribution, we have three core directions." Robert pushed a detailed promotional plan in front of Sophia. "First, we will focus on Scarlett Johansson’s Best Actress award. This is the most direct eye-catcher. We will set up a ’Scarlett’s Tokyo Encounter’ feature on Facebook, releasing her behind-the-scenes interviews and highlight clips;"

"Second, we will strengthen the emotional resonance of the film. Targeting young audiences, we will launch a topic campaign called ’Share Your Loneliness and Redemption,’ encouraging users to share their own stories on Facebook and leveraging Hollywood stars to forward and generate buzz;"

"Third, we will target art-house theaters precisely. We have already reached a preliminary cooperation with 200 art-house theaters in North America. With the boost of the Venice award, we will strive to secure 300 screens on opening day."

Sophia read through the plan carefully, nodding from time to time.

"This approach is very clear," she said, looking up with trust in her voice. "Especially the Facebook topic campaign, it fits the film’s tone perfectly. We have complete faith in Future World’s professional capabilities. We’ll leave the subsequent promotion and distribution in your hands."

"Don’t worry, we will go all out." Robert put away the contract, a confident smile appearing on his face. "The delicacy and depth of Lost in Translation, combined with our distribution resources, will definitely achieve great results in the North American market."

After the signing, the two parties said their goodbyes by the lake.

Before the morning light of Venice had fully faded, Robert had already boarded a flight to Los Angeles with Future World Pictures’ promotion and distribution team.

Inside the cabin, while most people were still catching up on sleep, he was holding his tablet, repeatedly reviewing the promotion and distribution plan for Saw submitted by Daniel’s team, his brow furrowing deeper and deeper.

The plan was full of clichés like "poster blitzes," "midnight screenings," and "horror-themed trailer ads." It neither met the core demands of B-movie enthusiasts nor capitalized on the explosive power of an emerging platform like Facebook.

No wonder Future World had always been mediocre in the industry before, lacking breakthrough marketing thinking. Even the best films would find it hard to break out of their niche.

"It’s releasing in just two months. This kind of plan absolutely won’t do." Robert swiped his finger across the screen, deleting the item "invite second-tier horror stars to promote" from the plan, already determined to redesign it.

He took out his phone and sent messages to Irene, Chen Shiyu, James Wan, and Leigh Whannell respectively, arranging a meeting at 10:00 AM the following morning in the top-floor conference room of Future World Pictures. There was only one theme: scrap everything and start over to create a revolutionary promotion and distribution plan for Saw.

However, considering that Irene still had work on her hands, she could only attend the meeting via video, while everyone else replied that they would attend on time.

The sunshine in Los Angeles was still blazing. After getting off the plane, Chen Shiyu went straight to the top-floor conference room of Future World Pictures.

Speaking of which, this was his first time coming to the office here, and he was somewhat curious. However, considering that Irene’s time was extremely tight, he had to give up the idea of taking a tour and focus on holding the meeting first.

When he walked into the conference room, everyone except Irene had already arrived.

After everyone exchanged brief pleasantries, Irene appeared on the screen right on time.