In a very short period of time, the 50 written statements in Tang Guoqiang's hands were snatched up by reporters. didn't catch the reporters, they surrounded Xu Wangqiu, and threw out all kinds of questions like cannons.

A reporter asked: ""A Game of Chess That Hasn't Been Finished" is a Sino-Japanese co-production, and the Dongying delegation has also come to Venice, will they withdraw?"

Xu Wangqiu nodded and said, "Will withdraw, the Dongying delegation has the same position as us on this matter." The members of the Dongying delegation were also very angry when they learned about this incident, and solemnly stated on the spot that if the organizing committee did not correct the misalignment, resulting in the withdrawal of the Chinese delegation and the main creators of the Chinese Academy from the film festival, then the Dongying delegation would also withdraw from this Venice Film Festival. Due to the refusal of the organizing committee to correct the mistakes, both of us decided to withdraw from this year's festival. ”

A reporter said: "We received news that the flag in front of the movie palace has been removed. Will you still insist on quitting?"

Xu Wangqiu's attitude was very resolute: "Yesterday at noon, we have made it clear to the organizing committee that if the flag is not removed before 12 noon today, then we will withdraw from this film festival. At 1:36 p.m. today, the organizing committee called me and told me that the flag had been removed and that we should continue to participate in the festival. If something like this happened, the organizing committee should apologize and give a reasonable explanation, but the organizing committee did nothing. We cannot accept this contemptuous attitude of the organizing committee, and the decision to withdraw will not be changed. ”

After answering a few reporters' questions, Xu Wangqiu pushed aside the crowd and walked to the hotel.

At this moment, a middle-aged man walked towards him quickly, and stretched out his right hand with a smile: "Mr. Xu Wangqiu, hello." ”

Many reporters present were stunned when they saw the man, showing an incredible expression.

Someone exclaimed: "That's De Harden, president of the West Berlin Film Festival, how could he be here?"

Xu Wangqiu didn't know De Harden, looked at him, and asked, "Yes, is there anything wrong with you?"

De Harden smiled: "I'm De Harden, the president of the West Berlin Film Festival, I've seen your "Hoe Rape", it was a very good movie, I'm very interested in your movie "A Game of Chess That Didn't End", can you talk about it?"

Xu Wangqiu was slightly stunned when he heard this, it was not strange that he was able to meet the chairman of the West Berlin Film Festival in Venice. The film festival is a grand event for filmmakers, and when the film festival is held, the presidents of other film festivals often come to join in the excitement and dig into the corners of the wall. He wondered why the president of the West Berlin Film Festival had just announced his withdrawal from the Venice Film Festival.

When he decided to withdraw from the Venice Film Festival, Xu Wangqiu had already thought about sending "A Game of Chess That Didn't End" to other film festivals, either to West Berlin or to Cannes. He is not worried that Cannes or West Berlin will not accept his own films, after all, the level of "A Game of Chess That Never Ends" is there, and as long as you are not blind, you will not easily refuse such a film. Moreover, the three major film festivals are in competition, and choosing a withdrawn film like "A Game of Chess That Has Not Been Finished" is a slap in the face for them, and they welcome this kind of movie.

For example, in 1998, Zhang Yimou sent "No One Missing" to Cannes, but the chairman of the Cannes Film Festival saw the scene of raising the national flag at the end of the movie, so he said that Zhang Yimou was promoting for the government. Zhang Yimou withdrew from the Cannes Film Festival in a fit of rage and went to Venice with the film, and finally "No One is Missing" won the Golden Lion Award in Venice.

However, in Xu Wangqiu's heart, West Berlin is not the first choice, because West Berlin is the most political of the three major film festivals. In addition to the withdrawal of the Soviet-led delegation in 1979 due to "The Deer Hunter", the entire jury resigned due to political issues, and the festival had to be terminated early.

If "An Unfinished Game of Chess" is sent to West Berlin and the crooked flag is hung up, will it be withdrawn again?

Now that the chairman of the West Berlin Film Festival has come to the door in person, Xu Wangqiu feels that West Berlin attaches great importance to "A Game of Chess That Has Not Been Finished", and he protested to the organizing committee in Venice for two days, but the chairman of the film festival did not show up, and West Berlin obviously attaches more importance to himself. He thought he could talk to De Harden and make things clear. If the other party can guarantee that the same incident will not happen in West Berlin, then "A Game of Chess That Never Ends" can go to West Berlin.

Xu Wangqiu smiled and shook hands with De Harden: "It turned out to be Mr. De Harden, look up for a long time." This is not the place to talk, let's go inside and talk. He stretched out his hand forward: "Come, this way, please." ”

Xu Wangqiu told Tang Guoqiang to tell the others about the press conference, and then walked into the hotel café with De Harden.

After the two walked into the café, they found a window seat and sat down. Xu Wangqiu beckoned to the waiter and ordered two cups of coffee. After the waiter left, he looked at De Harden and said curiously: "How did you know that we were withdrawing from this festival, and the news spread so quickly?"

De Harden laughed and said, "It was Marco Mueller who told me. This morning, he approached me and said that you were going to leave the festival, and that your film was a masterpiece of realism shot with surrealism. He said that China has made many excellent films in the past, such as "Spring in a Small Town", but for various reasons, these films have not been screened overseas and have not produced the response they deserve, which is a pity, so he suggested that I bring your films to Berlin. ”

Xu Wangqiu suddenly realized, it turned out that Marco Muller specially found De Harden and recommended our movie to him, this guy is worthy of being an old friend of the Chinese, interesting enough. He stared at De Harden and said slowly: "Since Marco Müller has briefed you on the situation, then you should be the reason why we withdraw, and can the West Berlin Film Festival guarantee that the same situation will not happen?"

De Harden didn't answer, but asked, "Do you know Edgar Snow?"

Xu Wangqiu was slightly stunned, not sure if the Edgar Snow that De Harden said was the Edgar Snow he knew, and asked, "Are you talking about Edgar Snow from "Red Star Shining in China"?"

"Yes, it's that Edgar Snow, he's my friend. Seeing Xu Wangqiu's suspicious face, De Harden explained with a smile, "In 1969, Snow took his documentary about China to West Berlin for screening. Frankly, not a great documentary, but we grew friends and I often visited his house for dinner. He also worked hard to get the Chinese government to invite us to China to watch and select films. Unfortunately, until his death, it was not realized, and China was not prepared at that time. In 1980, I was invited to visit China, and I watched a lot of Chinese movies that time, most of them were relatively mediocre, with the exception of one of them, which was your "Hoe Rape". At that time, I wanted to take this film to West Berlin, but for various reasons I couldn't make it, and finally chose "The Return of the Swallow". I love your films, and I respect China, Venice, and it will never be repeated in West Berlin. ”

Xu Wangqiu was not familiar with De Harden, and when he entered the film industry, De Harden had already retired. He didn't know that De Harden, like Marco Mueller, was notoriously fond of Chinese films. In the 21 years that De Harden has been at the helm of the Berlinale, Chinese films have won gold and silver in Berlin.

In 1982, Modu Fine Arts Film Factory's "Three Monks" won the Silver Bear Award; in 1988, Zhang Yimou's "Red Sorghum" won the Golden Bear Award, which was the first time that a Chinese film won the grand prize at a major international film festival; since then, Wu Ziniu's "Evening Bell", Ang Lee's "The Wedding Banquet", Xie Fei's "Natal Year" and "Fragrant Soul Girl", Li Shaohong's "Red Pink", Zhang Yimou's "My Father and Mother" and other films have won awards at the Berlin Film Festival.

Xu Wangqiu felt that De Harden's words were very sincere and should not be empty words, but he still asked: "What if Hu Jinquan brings his new film to Berlin?"

De Harden was very affirmative: "We will stick to our principles and will never fly their flag." ”

When Xu Wangqiu heard him say this, he was completely relieved: "Since this is the case, then let's go to Berlin." ”

As the host of the film festival, Lido Island is a star-studded festival for filmmakers from all over the world, as well as a carnival of joy for fans and stargazers. At night, the whole island becomes more lively. Stars, directors, and producers are all dressed up and appear at various parties and receptions. Filmmakers are usually scattered in various countries, and it is rare to have the opportunity to meet, and the film festival has become a platform for everyone to communicate and communicate.

While the filmmakers were partying and partying, the English version of "A Game of Chess That Didn't End" was being shown in a small theater on the Lido. There were very few spectators, except for all the members of the crew of "A Game of Chess That Didn't End", only Marco Muller and De Harden.

When Marco Muller watched "A Game of Unfinished Chess" at Daying a little over a month ago, the double film had just been completed and had not yet been mixed. At that time, he was shocked and thought it was a masterpiece. Now seeing the remixed version of "A Game of Chess That Hasn't Been Finished", he finds that the finished film is not quite the same as he imagined.

Marco Mill thought that the film would use a lot of music to enhance the audience's feelings, but he didn't expect that there was no music at all in the film, only various sounds in reality, such as car sounds, crowd sounds, gunshots, etc. It's only at the end of the movie and when the subtitles come out that there is a faint music. But there is one unique sound that runs through the entire film, and that is the sound of breathing.

The breathing sound of the movie is very unique and constantly changing, the breathing sound is particularly strong when the content is intense, and the breathing sound is particularly weak when it is soothing, and it is impossible to hear it if you don't listen carefully. This change in breathing makes people clearly feel the changes in the emotions and mood of the characters, giving people a strong psychological impact.

Marco Müller didn't know how to describe this film and couldn't think of any words to describe it, it was so unique and so good. He believes that the organizing committee will regret it in the future, and even become an international laughing stock, they are so blind that they let go of such a movie.

De Harden has watched Xu Wangqiu's "Falcon" and "Hoe Rape" and knows that Xu Wangqiu has outstanding ability, but when he really finished watching "A Game of Chess That Hasn't Been Finished", he was still deeply shocked. It's really a masterpiece, no, it's a masterpiece within a masterpiece. He couldn't believe that this was true, and he couldn't believe that the organizing committee of the Venice Film Festival would let such a film withdraw.

De Harden turned his head to look at Marco Muller and asked in disbelief: "What does the organizing committee think, to let such a film withdraw from the competition, are they in the water in their brains?"

Marco Müller came back to his senses and let out a long sigh: "I repeatedly reminded the organizing committee to watch "A Game of Chess That Didn't End" first, and then evaluate it after watching the movie, but no one listened to it at all. They can't be blamed for this, because Venice only returned to normal in 79 years, the organization and management are relatively chaotic, the Berlin and Cannes film festivals will be held for 12 days, while Venice will only have 6 days, the time is very tight, and there will be many movies every day. In addition, this year's Venice film lineup is particularly large, with many film festival masters coming, and the organizing committee is busy. ”