Nanking Nanking Historical Film Overview
City of Life and Death, also known by its Chinese title 南京！南京！, is a 2009 historical war drama film written and directed by Chuan Lu. Set in 1937 during the Second Sino-Japanese War, the movie depicts the capture of the Chinese capital of Nanjing by the Imperial Japanese Army and the subsequent Nanking Massacre.
Production and Release
Produced by figures including Steffen Wild, Jie Ren, Song Xing, Sanping Han, and Chuan Lu, the feature has a runtime of 132 minutes and was filmed primarily in Mandarin. Cinematography was handled by Yu Cao. The film premiered in mainland China on April 22, 2009.
Cast
The film features an ensemble cast portraying both fictional and historical individuals:
- Ye Liu as Lu Jianxiong
- Gao Yuanyuan as Miss Jiang
- Hideo Nakaizumi as Kadokawa
- Ryu Kohata as Ida
- Bin Liu as Shunzi
- Zhuangzhuang Tian
- Wei Fan as Mr. Tang
- Lan Qin as Mrs. Tang
- Yiyan Jiang as Xiao Jiang
- John Paisley as John Rabe
- Di Yao as Tang Xiaomei
- Yisui Zhao as Shunzi
Festival Screenings and Recognition
The film was screened at various international events, including the 34th Toronto International Film Festival, the 14th Pusan International Film Festival, and the 24th Mar del Plata Film Festival in 2009. It later appeared at the 12th Deauville Asian Film Festival, the Udine Far East Film festival, and the 18th Vesoul International Film Festival of Asian Cinema.
At the 3rd Asia Pacific Screen Awards in November 2009, the production received awards for Achievement in Cinematography and Achievement in Directing. It also earned the second-place Black Dragon Audience Award at the 2010 Udine Far East Film festival.