Lu Chuan, one of the leading "sixth generation" of Chinese
directors, is to start shooting an epic war movie featuring the
Nanjing Massacre next month after receiving official approval for
the project.
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The film, to be titled Nanjing! Nanjing!, has been
approved by the State Administration of Radio Film and Television,
and filming is expected to start in April and be completed by the
end of the year.
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Lu's film Kekexili: Mountain Patrol about attempts to save
the Tibetan antelope from poachers won the best feature film award
at the 41st Taiwan Golden Horse Awards.
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Lu said he hoped to shoot "a true Chinese war and disaster
film".
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The movie would feature a scene in which 40,000 people were killed,
Lu said told a Chinese newspaper at the end of last year.
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The cost of production was expected to surpass 200 million yuan
(US$25.64 million), and would include a reconstruction of 1930s
Nanjing in Jilin province at a cost of 16 million yuan (US$2.05
million).
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It is one of four movies on the Nanjing Massacre this year, the
70th anniversary of the atrocity, but it is the only one yet
approved by the State Administration of Radio, Film and
Television.
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Lu studied in a military school for four years in Nanjing. "When I
was in the school, I heard so many stories about Nanjing Massacre,
and I have wanted since then to shoot a film about the
event."
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"We've spent two years collecting historical documents about the
massacre. I will try to make history clear and explain it in the
movie, rather than expose the sorrow between nations."
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The Nanjing Massacre occurred in December 1937 when Japanese troops
occupied Nanjing, then capital of China. More than 300,000 Chinese
are believed to have been murdered in the slaughter.
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The "sixth generation" refers to a group of Chinese directors who
graduated from the Beijing Film Academy and Central Drama Institute
in the late 1980s and 1990s. They focus on contemporary society and
their striking personal styles distinguish them from the "fifth
generation", led by Zhang Yimou and Chen Kaige.
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(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2007)