The 19th Sundance Film Festival has come to an end, and "City of God" has undoubtedly become the focus of attention.

The last time Sundance was won by a non-English film was in 1999. The Vietnamese film "Love Three Seasons" successfully won the title, becoming the first non-English winning work in Sundance's history. Just four years later, "City of God" created another history, amazed Parker City with its outrageous attitude, and became the second work in Sundance's 19-year history to win the award in a non-English attitude.

In an instant, the wind and clouds changed.

However, although the Sundance Film Festival is a paradise for independent films, winning over Sundance does not mean that it is a favorite of the mainstream market. In the past three years, the winners of the jury awards have been cold in the mainstream market and have not attracted more attention.

In the nineteen years since the founding of Sundance, the status of independent films in the United States has undergone earth-shaking changes. The success of "Pulp Novels" has become the first independent film in film history with a box office of over 100 million yuan. "Mulan Flower", "American Beauty", "Three Kings of Escape from Prison", and "Fromish" have changed the film attribute composition of the mainstream market.

But these works are quite special. They are either works produced by long-standing independent filmmakers or works invested and produced by independent brands under large studios. They have no direct relationship with Sundance. Sundance focuses on not only independent films, but also newcomers.

Sundance has been held for 19th session this year, but the most successful work is the "Crazy Clerk" in 1994.

"Crazy Shop" is a work written, directed and acted by the unknown little boy Kevin Smith. It was his first film work in his life. However, this independent film has become one of the most important works in the history of American evil movies. Together with "pulp novels", it completely changed the position of independent films in the film market.

The box office revenue after the release of "Crazy Clerk" was US$3.2 million. Although it is not as good as the US$3.8 million of the "Blood Maze", the cost of the work is only US$27,000, and the recycling profit is completely over the "Blood Maze". More importantly, this work performed very well in the video tape market, and it was still very popular until it entered the 21st century.

So far, the box office results of "Blood Maze" are the highest-grossing of all works produced by Sundance, with "Crazy Clerk" ranked second. Quentin Tarantino's debut work "Dog in the Water" who also came out of Sundance has a box office of only 2.8 million yuan, while Steven Soderberg's famous work "Sex, Lies and Video Cases" released in Sundance has a box office of 2.4 million US dollars.

It is worth mentioning that "Sex, Lies and Video Tapes" was released after winning the Palme d'Or at the Cannes Film Festival, but unfortunately the box office is still unsatisfactory.

"Sundans" often means niche, special, weird, evil, and all these factors may be the reasons that prevent audiences from entering the cinema. However, this year's situation seems to have changed, and "City of God" is triggering a propaganda revolution in its dark horse posture.

"City of God" not only triggered a wave of discussion in Park City, but also gave praise from audiences to film critics, which also laid the groundwork for the film to win the jury awards; it also became the focus of hot discussion on the Internet. Javier's blog has become the most passionate topic of the news media in the past 11 days, especially many viewers have chosen to arrive in Park City in person to attend the Sundance Film Festival because of reading the blog. Online and offline interactions connect the virtual and reality on both sides of the Internet, becoming a new topic in the 21st century.

The powerful influence of the blog has even spread from ordinary people to traditional authoritative media, and many media including the New York Times have expressed concerns about this, and Fox TV's Prime Time News and NBC TV's "Saturday Night Live" also discussed this.

Many viewers said that they were quite interested in the movie "City of God", and their attention to the Sundance Film Festival began to rise.

This is a very interesting phenomenon. Generally speaking, movies are entering the film festival to use the influence of the film festival to promote themselves; but this time, things have turned around. The strong influence of "City of God" on the blog has actually won more attention for the Sundance Film Festival.

This phenomenon has also successfully aroused the interest of countless experts in communication, journalism and sociology. After all, the Internet is still a new thing at the moment of the early 21st century.

Therefore, the performance of "City of God" after entering the film market is not predictable for the time being - this is the first time and is new to everyone. Many people have begun to pay attention to "City of God", from practitioners in the film industry, to practitioners of traditional media such as television and newspapers, and to professionals from other industries, they all have a little curiosity.

If the box office of "City of God" breaks the shackles of Sundance and succeeds, even if it is not a shocking victory like "Blair the Witch", as long as it can prove the possibility of using online publicity channels, it will be a drastic innovation for the entire media system.

Quietly, "City of God" carried the power of the Sundance Film Festival jury award, and appeared on the entertainment page headlines of major newspapers and magazines with a strong attitude, winning incredible attention. The release date of the movie has not yet been determined, and it has received such treatment. For "City of God", time will give an answer to whether it is a good or a bad thing.

Paramount Pictures issued an announcement as soon as possible. They bought the distribution rights of the work in the English-speaking areas for $1.8 million, and will arrange for the movie to meet the audience as soon as possible. Less than 24 hours after the announcement was released, less than 18 hours after "City of God" won the jury award, Paramount Pictures issued another announcement that they also bought the distribution rights of the movie in South America, and will try their best to promote the simultaneous release of the movie in Brazil and the United States.

The two announcements once again sparked a wave of discussion. The $1.8 million deal is the well-deserved king of Sundance Film Festival this year. "City of God" once again became the focus of discussion with a proud attitude.

It is worth mentioning that as the attention of "City of God" gradually heats up, the scandal between film director Lancelot and actress Jessica Alba has also appeared in many gossip magazines. This is the first time for Sundance.

As we all know, those who landed in Sundance are independent films, and more than 90% of them are new directors. Since new directors do not have too many explosive points and no more past achievements are worth discussing, they can almost be said to be a blank piece of paper. Imagine that the media specifically reported that "new director henry-bean won the 2001 Sundance Jury Award". After such news comes out, everyone is confused. "Who?" Therefore, every year, the focus of media attention is on the winning works, focusing on the news of the works themselves. Not to mention scandals, even reports about new directors are limited.

But this year there was an exception. Jessica, as the heroine of "The Apocalypse", made a brilliant debut in 2001, attracting the attention of many TV series fans. Although she still lacks representative works on the big screen so far, at least she is a beautiful actress who knows the name. Putting her and the director together makes the scandal immediately interesting.

"Us Weekly" joked, "It seems that this talented new director is still a romantic Don Juan."

When the annual Sundance Film Festival ended, when Parker City returned to peace, this Sundance quietly created countless records, with the highest number of participants, the highest number of viewers, the most mobilized media, the most news, the most online topics, and the most influential... Even after a few months, people were still talking about Sundance, talking about the films participating in the exhibition, the ownership of awards, and the future of independent films.

All of this is actually due to a "City of God". Although it is too incredible and even ridiculous to say, it is true. As Robert said, Lance was honored to appear on the Sundance stage, but it is also the glory of Sundance. Since 2003, Sundance has entered a new era.

When Sundance ends on January 26, who can predict the direction of the next ten years?

After the closing ceremony and award ceremony, Lance returned to the backstage and became the darling of the scene in an instant. Almost everyone was looking for Lance and trying to send their blessings in person. The scene was very lively. I finally left the scene, but when I returned to the hotel, it was already two hours later.

"Let's go upstairs, we'll have to catch a plane tomorrow." Percy greeted the children in front of him. They would go back to Brazil tomorrow, and then make arrangements after the screening time and itinerary of "City of God" were scheduled. But more likely, they would return to their daily lives. They were not movie stars, not in North America, but just a tiny existence in the slum of the City of God.

Percy's words calmed down the excitement of the children, said good night to Lance, and then turned and left reluctantly. Alexander Rodriguez, who was at the end, stood there without moving. Lance raised his chin and signaled him to go upstairs.

Lance is deeply touched by the living conditions of the City of God. The despair permeated by the movie "City of God" is his true thoughts, but he knows that he cannot help so many people. His mercy and sympathy are just useless hopes. Therefore, Lance acted very calmly and even a little ruthless, so that when several children left just now, they seemed a little disappointed.

Faced with Alexander, Lance did not reveal his true thoughts.

But Alexander raised his head and looked at Lance deeply, for a long time, and said, "Mr. Strello, do you say, can I become a videographer?"

Looking at Alexander's black and white eyes, Lance seemed to have returned to their first day at the City of God. He met in a mess in the chaos of the gunfight, and the firmness and fragility hidden deep in his eyes, but contradictions were united together.
Chapter completed!