After breakfast, Xu Wangqiu didn't rush back to the room, and went outside to buy a few newspapers. He didn't know Italian, so he took the newspaper to find a translator and asked him to see how the media reported on the absence of the Chinese delegation.

To Xu Wangqiu's regret, the media almost did not mention this incident, and the focus of the report was on the masters who attended the film festival, and they were all praising this film festival as a rare film event. Only one media outlet mentioned the incident, but it only understated that "the Chinese delegation was absent for some reason" from the opening ceremony, but did not say why.

Xu Wangqiu was very depressed in his heart, and he had the feeling of punching cotton, if this matter was placed forty years later, it would definitely be reported by the global media, but now most media don't mention it. This is also something that can't be helped, now China's strength is too weak, and Chinese films have no status in the world, and others don't care about Chinese movies at all.

Xu Wangqiu and Sen Chongdao originally let the crew members move freely, and the two of them waited for the news of the organizing committee at the hotel. However, none of the crew members went out and stayed in the hotel. Everyone was angered by the contemptuous attitude of the organizing committee of the film festival, and felt that the organizing committee's delaying attitude was disrespectful to the entire crew.

In fact, Xu Wangqiu has no hope for the organizing committee, and knows that there is probably only one way to quit the competition. After returning to the hotel, he began to discuss with the crew how to write a letter of protest, as well as a withdrawal statement.

The letter of protest was addressed to the organizing committee and was used to protest, while the statement was sent to the media to explain to the world why the delegation was protesting and why it was withdrawing from the festival.

Although he no longer had hope for the organizing committee, Xu Wangqiu still did not forget to send someone to the movie palace to see if the flag had been removed. Every hour, he sends someone to the Palais du Cinema to check it out.

When the time pointed to 9:50, Xu Wangqiu asked Tang Yuqiang to go to the movie palace again to see if the flag had been removed.

More than twenty minutes later, Tang Yanqiang ran back out of breath. He gasped and said excitedly: "There are a lot of reporters gathered in the Palais du Cinema. As soon as I passed, they rushed over and asked me if I was from the Chinese delegation and if we were really going to withdraw from the festival. I thought it was important, so I came back and reported it. ”

Xu Wangqiu's eyes lit up when he heard this, what he was most worried about was that the delegation withdrew from the film festival but there were no media reports, and no one cared, and the media reporters were interested, which was a great thing, and immediately asked: "How did you answer?"

Tang Yanqiang scratched his head: "Didn't you say that when you encounter a question that is not easy to answer, you will say that you have no comment, and I will say that you have no comment." ”

Xu Wangqiu wants to scold people a little, he should speak out actively at this time, how can he say that he has nothing to say, he knows that he can't blame Tang Yanqiang for this matter, after all, Tang Yuqiang has no experience in dealing with this kind of thing, and he is afraid of stabbing the basket; since the reporters are interested in this matter, then they can make this matter known to the whole world.

As Tang Yuqiang said, a large number of reporters gathered in the Film Palace. When Xu Wangqiu came to the movie palace, as soon as the reporters saw him, they surrounded him and threw out questions like cannons.

From the mouths of the reporters, Xu Wangqiu knew what happened. It turned out that last night Le Monde's Zitlon interviewed Giovanni in the organizing committee office and asked why the crew of "A Game of Chess That Didn't End" didn't appear at the opening ceremony. Giovanni threw the blame on the Chinese delegation and Xu Wangqiu, claiming that the Venice Film Festival was about art, not politics, and that they didn't care about the issue of hanging the flag, but the delegation used politics to interfere in art and threatened the organizing committee to withdraw the flag by not attending the opening ceremony, and the organizing committee refused their request, so they were absent from the opening ceremony.

This morning, Le Monde published an interview with Zitron. When the editors-in-chief of other French newspapers saw the news, they immediately called the reporters in Venice and asked them to follow the news, preferably to the Chinese delegation and hear what they had to say. As a result, French journalists searched the streets like mad dogs for the traces of the Chinese delegation.

Journalists from other countries joined their team when they found out what had happened, looking for the Chinese delegation everywhere.

After understanding the reason, Xu Wangqiu scolded Giovanni for being shameless, obviously it was the fault of the organizing committee, but he said that the delegation interfered in art with politics, and also said that the delegation wanted to blackmail them, how could people be shameless to this extent.

Xu Wangqiu immediately told the reporters present that the Organizing Committee of the Film Festival violated the promise made when China and Italy established diplomatic relations, and it was a very serious mistake and that the Organizing Committee of the Film Festival was playing politics. Subsequently, he explained the matter in detail, pointing out that the delegation had given the organizing committee enough time, but the organizing committee had not given a clear answer until now.

Xu Wangqiu pointed to the hanging curved flag and said coldly: "Everyone has seen that flag! Before 12 o'clock at noon, if this flag is not taken down, then please come to the door of the Grand Canal Hotel in Oman at 2 o'clock in the afternoon, and we will issue a statement to officially announce our withdrawal from the Venice Film Festival." ”

When the time was approaching 12 o'clock, Xu Wangqiu came to the movie palace again for the final confirmation. As he expected, the bent flag was still flying at the entrance of the Palais du Cinéma, and the organizing committee of the festival did not take the delegation's protest to heart at all. Xu Wangqiu looked up at the five-star red flag, exhaled softly, and walked into the office of the organizing committee with the protest letter that had been prepared long ago.

Xu Wangqiu put the negotiation documents in front of Giovanni and said coldly: "In view of your perfunctory prevarication and refusal to correct your mistakes, the Chinese film delegation solemnly announced its withdrawal from this Venice Film Festival and withdrew the participating films. ”

After speaking, Xu Wangqiu didn't look at Giovanni and left without looking back.

After lunch, all the crew members returned to the hotel to prepare for the evacuation. The actors began to pack their bags, the production directors of China and Japan went to Marco Polo Airport to book flights, and Xu Wangqiu organized the language in his room in preparation for the press conference for a while.

Just then, the phone in the room rang suddenly. Xu Wangqiu hesitated, but still connected the phone.

Giovanni's voice came from the other end of the line: "At your request, we have taken down the Crooked Flag. Don't evacuate and continue to attend the festival. ”

Xu Wangqiu sneered, thinking to himself that I will go to your uncle, what kind of attitude do you have. When something like this happens, you don't apologize, but speak in this tone, as if we are making trouble without any reason. Does it take a lot of time to remove a flag? It's just a phone call, but you don't do anything, you just deliberately delay. Wait until we decide to quit before you remove the flag. I tell you, it's too late to withdraw the flag! I can't get used to your arrogant attitude!

Xu Wangqiu raised his wrist, looked at the time, and said coldly: "It's 1:35 p.m., and the time we agreed on is 12 noon." It's been 1 hour and 35 minutes, no, it's 1 hour and 36 minutes now. You have never respected us from the beginning to the end, and we cannot accept this contemptuous attitude of yours, and have decided to withdraw from the Venice Film Festival. Don't you like to hang flags, now you can hang them however you want. ”

With that, he clicked and hung up the phone, and then unplugged the phone.

Since 1 p.m., the entrance of the hotel has been crowded with media reporters who have heard the news, and there are five or six hundred people. It's free time, there are no film screenings, no press conferences, and all the reporters who are interested in this matter are coming. They were in groups of three or five, discussing this matter in a whisper, some reporters thought that Xu Wangqiu and they were doing the right thing, and some reporters thought that Xu Wangqiu was making a big fuss.

When the clock pointed to two o'clock, the reporters stopped the discussion and turned their eyes to the hotel lobby, and many people picked up their cameras and pointed their lenses at the hotel door. Then they saw Xu Wangqiu and Tang Yuqiang walking out of the hotel, Tang Yuqiang holding a handful of documents in his hand. The reporters held the cameras in their hands and took a fierce shot at Xu Wangqiu and Tang Yanqiang.

Xu Wangqiu walked to the steps in front of the hotel, looked at the reporters on the scene with a blank face, and said slowly: "Hello media friends! I am Xu Wangqiu, head of the Chinese film delegation, and also the Chinese director of the movie "A Game of Chess That Never Ends". I have invited you here to make a statement.

In July this year, when "A Game of Chess That Never Ends" was in the final stage of Dongying, Mr. Marco Müller, the Asian filmmaker of the Venice Film Festival, came to the door and wanted us to participate in this year's Venice Film Festival. Because the film was relatively tight in post-production, we were worried that the subtitles would not be completed, so we refused Marco Muller's invitation. However, Marco Müller liked the film very much, and after repeated persuasion, we finally agreed to participate in this festival.

We think that the Venice Film Festival is the most artistically important of the three major film festivals, and it is very remarkable that we have always adhered to the position of art. However, on the afternoon of August 27, when we arrived in Venice, we found that Venice had become a political stage, and a crooked flag was hung at the entrance of the Palais du Cinémath.

In 1970, when China and Italy established diplomatic relations, the Italian government explicitly promised that there was only one China in the world, the People's Republic of China, and that Wanwan was an inseparable part of China. However, the Venice Film Festival, which is sponsored by the Italian Ministry of Culture, to openly hang the crooked flag is a violation of this principle and an extremely serious mistake.

After discovering this problem, we negotiated with the organizing committee of the film festival, but the organizing committee passed the buck and did not correct it, and it was not until 8 o'clock that night that the organizing committee removed the bending flag. What we didn't expect was that at noon on the 28th, the organizing committee once again hung the bent flag at the entrance of the movie palace. We were shocked by this move by the organizing committee and wondered why they did it. We approached the organizing committee again to negotiate, but the organizing committee kept passing the buck and refused to make corrections.

The members of the Chinese film delegation expressed their indignation at the behavior of the organizing committee and strongly protested against the negligence and disrespect of the Chinese delegation by the organizing committee of the film festival. Here, we solemnly announce that the Chinese film delegation has withdrawn from this Venice Film Festival and withdrawn the film "A Game of Chess That Has Not Been Played".

In the 70s, director Antonioni was invited to China to shoot a documentary, and in 1980, the famous Italian director Giorgiano Montaldo went to China to shoot the TV series "Marco Polo", which received all-round support from China, and the TV series was released in Europe in the first half of this year, causing a sensation. However, in this year's Venice Film Festival, the actions of the festival organizing committee are playing politics and undermining the original promise of the Italian government. The actions of the organizing committee of the film festival are a violation of film art and a serious injury to the traditional legal friendship between China and Italy. In this regard, the Chinese film delegation expressed puzzlement and indignation. The Organizing Committee of the Venice Film Festival shall be fully responsible for the adverse consequences arising therefrom. ”

When Xu Wangqiu said this, he stood up and bowed to the media at the scene, pointed to the documents in Tang Yuqiang's hand, and said, "There are fifty written statements here, and friends who are interested in this can come and get them." He nodded at Tang Yuqiang and said, "Send the statement to everyone!"