Wim Wenders seemed to sense someone staring at him, turned his head to look over, and saw a group of men and women with oriental faces. He didn't know Xu Wangqiu, but when he saw Xu Wangqiu smiling at himself, he thought to himself who this person was, and how did he feel like he knew me? He didn't think much about it, turned his head, smiled and waved at the reporters present.

Junya Sato didn't know Wim Wenders, and when he saw hundreds of reporters taking pictures around him, he knew that he was definitely not an ordinary person, and said curiously: "Wangqiu, do you know who that person is?"

Xu Wangqiu said softly: "Wim Wenders." ”

Junya Sato said in surprise: "That Wim Wenders of the four masterpieces of the new German movie?"

Xu Wangqiu nodded slightly: "Yes, it's him." ”

Now the Venice Film Festival is not like later generations, where the shortlist will be announced a month or two in advance, and the whole world knows which films have been shortlisted. They are now informing the countries of the shortlisted films to send them to Venice. Therefore, Junya Sato doesn't know which films are shortlisted, and he doesn't know who the opponent is. At this time, hearing that the other party was Wim Wenders, he exhaled softly: "Wim Wenders, he must be here to compete, our opponent is very strong." ”

Xu Wangqiu has seen most of Wim Wenders' films, and in Wim Wenders's works, "The State of Things" can only be regarded as a medium grade, not a top grade, and confidently said: "Don't worry, our movies are better than his." ”

Coming out of the airport, Xu Wangqiu and the others, under the leadership of the reception staff, boarded the passenger ship to Lido Island. Since its inception in 1932, the Venice Film Festival has been held on the island of Lido.

The water city of Venice is made up of several islands, the largest of which is the main island of Venice and the second largest is Lido. Lido is a very quiet and livable place where most of the operators of tourist facilities, commercial districts, and entertainment venues live in Venice, but during the Venice Film Festival in August and September, it suddenly becomes a stage where the whole world is watching.

Xu Wangqiu originally thought that Wim Wenders would be on the passenger ship, and planned to wait for him to get on the ship and have a few words with him. Unexpectedly, Wim Wenders arrived at the docks, got on a speedboat, left the swarming reporters behind, and sped away.

Looking at Wim Wenders's distant figure, Xu Wangqiu shook his head slightly, thinking that the treatment of big directors is different, we can only squeeze passenger boats, but people have special speedboat pick-up.

In the eyes of ordinary people, the three major film festivals are the temples of art, which are very cold, but in fact they are very snobbish. If it is a big director or a big star, the film festival will give the best treatment, and even meet some of their excessive requirements. For young directors who are not too famous, even if they are shortlisted for the main competition unit, the film festival is only responsible for the director's accommodation and air ticket costs. The rest of the crew had to pay for the festival when they thought of it.

Wim Wenders is one of the four great German new films, famous in Europe, and the festival naturally gives him top treatment, Xu Wangqiu and Junya Sato are both shortlisted for the first time, and their films are more commercial, and the festival does not pay special attention to them.

Just when Xu Wangqiu shook his head secretly, a reporter-like man walked over casually, smiled at him, and said, "Director Xu Wangqiu, hello." I'm Raymond Zitlon a reporter for Le Monde, can you talk about that?"

Xu Wangqiu said in surprise: "You know me?"

"I interviewed you last year in Cannes. Those Italian journalists are so stupid, they all rushed to shoot Wim Wenders, but they didn't recognize you. Zitlon smiled and complimented, "I think you're a better director than Wim Wenders." ”

Xu Wangqiu felt very relieved when he heard this, thinking that this guy has a good vision, but he is still very modest: "I'm just a new director who has made three films, Wim Wenders is one of the four masters of new German films, and there is a gap between me and him." Okay, let's not talk about that, just ask any questions you have, right?"

Zitron immediately threw out his most important question: "What is your film called, what is it about, is it about war, like "Falcon" and "The Hoe?"

Xu Wangqiu did not hide it: "The movie is called "A Game of Chess That Hasn't Been Finished", and it is indeed related to war. This film is jointly shot by China and Dongying, and tells the fate of two families in China and Dongying in the context of war. This film is a little more artistic than "The Falcon" and "The Hoe", and is a realistic film about shooting in a surreal way. ”

Xu Wangqiu saw that Junya Sato and the others all turned their heads to look at him, so he said: "Let me introduce you, this is directed by Junya Sato, and this movie was co-shot by me and him." This is the leading actor of the movie, the famous actor of Toei Mikuni Rentaro ......"

Junya Sato They are not well-known in Europe, Zitron has not seen their works and is not particularly interested in them. He asked Junya Sato how they felt about working with Xu Wangqiu, and then kept throwing questions to Xu Wangqiu.

Junya Sato didn't feel left out either, and they all listened quietly. They have worked with Xu Wangqiu for several months, and they all know that Xu Wangqiu is the kind of director who is super capable and particularly eye-catching, just like the sun, which will block the light of others.

Fifteen minutes passed quickly, and the ship docked at Lido. Xu Wangqiu waved goodbye to Zitlon and, under the leadership of the reception staff, walked towards the hotel they had booked. Since Xu Wangqiu and Junya Sato were shortlisted for the first time, the festival only provided accommodation for the two of them, and Daying gave up the official hotel and booked a room for them at the Grand Canal Hotel in Oman.

The Grand Canal Hotel Oman was built in 1550 as the Papadópoli Palace, which was later sold to wealthy Venetian merchants and converted into a hotel. Thanks to its rich history, the hotel is like stepping into a museum with a rich history, from the bedside décor to the sofa corner, you can see intricately carved artworks everywhere, including the original mural by the famous Italian painter Tiepolo.

The Grand Canal Hotel in Oman has a long history and reputation, and the price of the room is of course surprisingly expensive, with the cheapest costing more than $400 and the most expensive costing nearly $3,000. If it weren't for the Daying Company's money, Xu Wangqiu would definitely not be able to afford it.

Xu Wangqiu put down his luggage, lay on the bed for two minutes, and then walked out of the room in good spirits. Last year, "Falcon" was screened in Cannes, and when the delegation arrived in Cannes, the first thing the head of the troupe, Hu Jian, did, was to ask Zhang Yimou to go to the movie palace to see if the five-star red flag was raised. Now that the rest of the Chinese delegation has not arrived, Xu Wangqiu can only go by himself.

Coming out of the hotel, Xu Wangqiu felt a strong movie atmosphere. The streets are lined with posters such as Akira Kurosawa's Rashomon, Buñuel's La Belle Daylight, Tarkovsky's Ivan's Childhood, Satyajit Rey's River Song, and many more, all of which have been featured in Venice and will be featured at the Venice Film Festival this year.

Ten minutes on foot, the Cinema Palace is in front of you. Similar to the situation of the Cannes Film Festival, the current Cinema Palace of the Venice Film Festival is not the Cinema Palace in Xu Wangqiu's memory, but the old Cinema Palace, which was built in 1937.

Italians are known for their laziness and procrastination, and the festival officially opens tomorrow, and the decoration around the Palais du Cinémaths is not yet complete. At this time, the staff was busy arranging the outfield of the Festival Palace, and the original ordinary white building was lined with red triangular decorations.

It's just that when Xu Wangqiu saw the flag hanging in front of the movie palace clearly, his face suddenly sank.

There are dozens of different national flags hanging in front of the movie palace, and the five-star red flag is also among them, but the blue sky and white sun flag are fluttering next to it.

There is only one China in the world, and on any international occasion it can only hang the five-star red flag, not the blue sky and white sun flag. For example, when Taiwan participates in the Olympic Games, it can only be called Chinese Taipei, and can only hang the flag of the Chinese Taipei Olympic Committee, not the blue sky and white sun flag. Of course, Taiwan is unwilling to do this, and always tries to show his face in the international arena, and always tries to hang the blue sky and white sun flag on international occasions.

During this period, there were many conflicts between the mainland delegation and the Taiwan delegation on international occasions over the issue of hanging the flag. Once this happens, there are only two final outcomes, either the organizing committee of the event will remove the blue sky and white sun flag, or the mainland delegation will withdraw.

Xu Wangqiu knew that this was a matter of principle and could not be sloppy, so he immediately returned to the hotel to contact the embassy and reported the matter. When the embassy heard that the five-star red flag and the blue sky and white sun flag were displayed at the same time, the embassy attached great importance to it, saying that they would immediately contact the consulate in Venice, and the consul would come over soon.

Soon after hanging up the phone, Fang Zhenwu and the others arrived and stayed at the Grand Canal Hotel in Oman. They were very angry when they heard that the film festival had hung out the five-star red flag and the blue sky and white sun flag at the same time, and felt that the film festival was deliberately causing trouble. However, no one has experience in dealing with this kind of thing, so they don't know how to operate it, so they can only wait for the people from the consulate to come and listen to their arrangements.

Two hours later, Consul Huang Bo of the Chinese Consulate in Venice arrived. After listening to Xu Wangqiu's report, he personally went to the outside of the movie palace to confirm that he was indeed hanging the blue sky and white sun flag.

After returning to the hotel, Huang Bo said solemnly: "The one-China principle is our bottom line, and there is no room for compromise. On the same occasion, two Chinese flags cannot be hoisted, and the Taiwan flag must be taken down. The Venice Film Festival is a cultural event under the Italian Ministry of Culture, which is a member of the Venice Biennale, and the President of the Venice Film Festival is appointed by the Ministry of Culture and is directly under the leadership of the President of the Biennale. We split up, and I met with the officials of the Italian Ministry of Culture to protest to them and ask them to correct their mistakes. You should discuss it and send two representatives to the organizing committee of the film festival to express their solemn position and ask them to correct their mistakes. You are artists, and it would be more appropriate for you to protest directly to the festival. ”

It was the first time Tang Yuqiang had encountered this kind of thing, and said worriedly: "What if they don't change?"

Huang Bo said solemnly: "If they correct their mistakes, we will no longer pursue the matter, and if they refuse to correct it, they can only withdraw from the film festival." ”

If it is an ordinary film, and the Chinese film delegation withdraws, then the film will definitely be withdrawn; but the situation of "A Game of Chess That Has Not Been Finished" is more special, it is a co-production, not only for the Chinese delegation, but also for the Dongying delegation. Fang Zhenwu briefly introduced the situation to Huang Bo, and then threw out the question: "It's not a problem for us to withdraw from the film festival, but what about Dongying?

Huang Bo didn't expect that "A Game of Chess That Didn't End" was a co-production, involving the Dongying delegation, and muttered: "The film must also be withdrawn." If the Chinese delegation withdrew, but the film did not, the protest would not be complete. This matter involves the Dongying delegation, and you should explain it to them well, and I believe they will be able to understand it. ”

Xu Wangqiu nodded and said, "Let's go to the organizing committee to protest first." If they refuse to correct it, then I'll talk to them about Sato. It's just the Venice Film Festival, it's not a big deal, it's a big deal that we'll go to other film festivals next year. ”