The annual Jiada Film Festival attracts millions of tourists and film enthusiasts from around the globe.
During its peak, the number of visitors and fans even surpassed ten million.
Although this year's festival did not reach ten million, it still saw over a million attendees.
At the film festival, one can not only watch films from various countries at half price but also savor international cuisine and experience the diverse customs of participating nations.
Most importantly, tourists and fans frequently have the chance to encounter movie stars, singers, and other celebrities from different countries.
The Jiada Film Festival can be considered one of Jiada Nation's significant annual revenue streams.
Wang He and Jin Qiqi's group, lacking any particularly famous actors, blended in with the other tourists.
Young Master Wang covered all expenses for food, accommodation, and entertainment, leading his group around the festival.
Just as they finished watching a fire-eating stunt performance from Bai Xiang Country, they bumped into a group from Xiao Bangzi Country.
"Those people from Xiao Bangzi Country... why did they just leave and then buy tickets to go back in?"
"Probably attracted by our country's movies, planning a rewatch!"
Two sharp-eyed members of the film crew, noticing Pu Guochang leading his group back into the screening hall, stood still and whispered to each other.
The others also noticed Pu Guochang's peculiar behavior due to the crew members' discussion.
Wang He, holding a blonde bombshell, glanced over and frowned, muttering, "Those little Xiba probably aren't rewatching the movie. I suspect they're up to no good."
Jin Qiqi and Director Liu Weiqiang nodded in agreement.
After all, everyone was well aware of the character of people from Xiao Bangzi Country.
Moreover, the little Xiba have always harbored animosity towards Long Country. Even a chaebol group president wouldn't rewatch a Long Country film; they must be involved in some shady business.
After deliberation, the group from Feihe Film Industry headed straight for the film festival's cinema.
Upon purchasing tickets and entering the screening hall, the large contingent of over thirty people immediately drew the attention of the other moviegoers.
As the movie had already started, the cinema was dimly lit.
Pu Guochang, seated in the middle, couldn't clearly see Wang He and merely cursed "Xiba" derisively. He then quietly instructed his female secretary to be mindful of the hidden camera in her clothing and to avoid being discovered.
The members of Feihe Film Industry dispersed throughout the screening hall, each subtly observing Pu Guochang's group.
The experienced Director Liu Weiqiang, along with Wang He and Jin Qiqi, soon noticed the female secretary's peculiar actions.
...
After the three-hour and twenty-minute film concluded, the audience began to exit the screening hall in an orderly fashion.
Most of the foreign viewers were watching "Black and White Edge" for the first time.
Although their facial expressions were not overly exaggerated or excited, it was evident that each person felt a sense of solemnity after the movie.
As for Pu Guochang and his entourage, they hurried out after the post-credit scene.
Bolek Hotel.
"Director Kim, transmit the secretly filmed movie back to the country and have the public relations team at the group headquarters handle it.
Remember, distribute it globally; do not concentrate it within Xiao Bangzi Country."
"Yes, President."
Director Kim Xiaoji took the memory cards from the three cameras and withdrew, beginning to carry out the president's orders.
After they left, the pure-looking nineteen-year-old assistant, now dressed in a school uniform, couldn't help but ask, "President, why send it back to headquarters? Can't we just release it directly?"
Before President Pu could speak, the secretary quickly explained, "Xiao Can, the rules of the film festival are very strict. If caught secretly filming a movie in a cinema, regardless of your nationality, you will be directly sentenced by the local authorities.
This is a countermeasure agreed upon by various countries to prevent anyone from uploading secretly filmed movies online.
Three years ago at the Jiada Film Festival, someone secretly recorded and uploaded a film, causing Bird Lai Wu to lose tens of millions in box office revenue.
Therefore, the president is sending the recorded movie back to the country to avoid being discovered by the Jiada Film Festival organizers."
"En Xi really understands me!"
President Pu nodded with satisfaction, then patted the little assistant's head. Watching her kneel to act, he smiled, "Xiao Can, learn more from En Xi in the future. Once you've learned everything, I will promote you to the position of director-general of the group."
"Mmm... mmm... Thank... thank... President..."
The little assistant, with her mouth sealed, responded with heavy breaths.
Seven o'clock in the evening.
On the official website of the film festival, netizens from various countries were still discussing the film scheduling of Xiao Bangzi Country.
Netizens from Bai Xiang Country and Sakura Country did not speak up for the little Xiba, preferring to watch the drama unfold.
Facing the isolated Xiao Xiba, Chinese exchange students launched a devastating attack.
First, they taunted the enraged Xiao Xiba regarding their film schedule.
Then, Chinese exchange student netizens began to attack them on all fronts.
From Xiao Xiba's plagiarism and occupation of Long Country's history, to their illegal operations in various competitions, and finally to their proud mobile phones and kimchi.
Chinese exchange student netizens brought all the dark secrets of Xiao Bangzi Country to the internet. It was pure posthumous flailing.
Witnessing the full combat power of Chinese netizens, the Xiao Xiba, despite their immense anger, were outmatched without external support, for every word they said, they were cursed thrice.
They had no power to retaliate.
Just as Chinese netizens were crushing a group of Xiao Xiba,
the webpage was suddenly flooded with sarcastic comments from all over the world.
People curiously clicked, only to see movie screenshots and disparaging remarks.
"Long Country's action star Lin Ke's film 'Break Through the Siege.' Let's see how pathetic their action scenes are. You can see the protective gear tied to the actors and extras. This movie claims to feature action, but I think it's action with protective gear."
The screenshots in the comments marked the protective gear on the star Lin Ke and the extras with red circles.
"'The Last Battle.' The movie title sounds grand, but upon clicking, the plot is terrible. And they used a dummy for the car chase scenes? Are they treating the audience like fools? Filming with a dummy is worse than using special effects. Oh right, your country's special effects are the worst."
The car chase scene in the screenshot was magnified, clearly showing a plastic dummy in the car.
"'Black and White Edge.' This movie is said to have an investment of over 100 million yuan, but all the actors are unfamiliar. The lead actor, who knows where he popped out from, might even be the investor's son. There isn't a single famous actor in the entire film. I suspect this movie might be a front for a criminal group to launder money."
The screenshots included a collection of stills of Gao Fei and his crew in the movie.
With the emergence of these three "essence" comments, many other critiques of Long Country's three films quickly followed.
The continuously smear-and-mock comments dominated the comment section, and the previously suppressed netizens of Xiao Bangzi Country finally had a chance to fight back.
They all saved those screenshots and began to mock the Chinese netizens fiercely.
They attacked the three Long Country films, claiming that their second-tier scheduling was due to national relations.
Otherwise, given Long Country's film quality, they would forever be at the bottom and would never be among the top two.
Faced with the cold sarcasm of the little Xiba, Chinese netizens immediately lost their confidence to retaliate.
They knew the quality of their country's films.
When Xiao Bangzi Country attacked based on film quality, Chinese netizens indeed found no grounds for counterattack.
After being suppressed for several hours, was mere commenting enough to satisfy the little Xiba?
Suddenly, dozens of web links appeared in the comment section.
When netizens from various countries clicked on the links, the pages redirected to forum pages on entertainment news websites.
On these forum pages, over a dozen posts mocking, ridiculing, and cursing Long Country's three films appeared.
Posts claiming Long Country didn't deserve second-tier scheduling...
Posts proclaiming Long Country's films had once again hit a new low...
Posts suggesting Long Country's films were used by illegal organizations for money laundering, and so on...
The entire forum page was filled with doubt and ridicule.
Furthermore, each user who posted was from a different country, with IPs not originating from the same nation.
Intrigued by the numerous posts, netizens clicked on them.
Upon randomly opening a post, one would find a description in a foreign language followed by a short video of about thirty seconds.
"The fight scenes of Long Country's action star Lin Ke are incredibly ugly. The quality of these action scenes is worse than that of children."
The short video was a compilation of clips from "Break Through the Siege."
Lin Ke's fight scenes were all depicted with him being cornered by the antagonists and ganged up on.
The next post was about the film "The Last Battle."
"Quickly check out 'The Last Battle.' It's advertised as a big production with explosion and car chase scenes, but it's worse than the comedic stunts in Bai Xiang Country. It's truly disgusting."
Similarly, the video also contained a compilation of film clips.
The car chase and explosion scenes selected were all carefully chosen, smaller-scale moments.
Subsequent posts were related to "Black and White Edge."
"In this 'Black and White Edge,' it's one thing that the male and female leads, as well as the supporting actors, are not famous Long Country actors, but the plot is hilarious. The theme of the film festival is to combat crime, yet the lead actor makes deals with criminals. Is it promoting the police or deliberately promoting criminals?"
The video clips in the compilation.
They were all scenes of Gao Fei, playing an undercover agent, making deals with criminals.
The ten-odd posts followed the same posting format.
Moreover, the thirty-second short videos within them were all about Long Country's three films.
From the movie plots to the action scenes, to various shots, they were all thoroughly criticized.
After watching the forum posts, netizens from various countries did not immediately reply, but the netizens of Xiao Bangzi Country immediately became active.
"I told you so, Long Country's movies are as trashy as ever. Now that they've been compiled and uploaded online, it must be that the audience couldn't stand it anymore!"
"These complaints in the posts are so satisfying to read. Why does Long Country occupy the second-tier scheduling? Make way for our Xiao Bangzi Country's films immediately!"
With the support of various sarcastic posts, the little Xiba immediately began to celebrate.
They even went back to the official film festival website, demanding the organizers withdraw Long Country's schedule and reinstate the film schedule for Xiao Bangzi Country.