Writer: Lu Chuan
Producer: Han Sanping, Qin Hong, Zhou Li, John Chong, Andy Zhang
Editor: Teng Yun
Cinematographer: Cao Yu
Music: Liu Tong
Cast: Liu Ye, Hideo Nakaizumi, Fan Wei, Gao Yuanyuan, Qin Lan

Acclaimes director Lu Chuan’s much-anticipated Nanjing drama resists the swelling music and overwrought melodrama of so many depictions of war, shifting the focus from a top-down, authoritative history lesson to an unprecedented personal epic. Kadokawa, a conflicted Japanese soldier shares private moments with a “comfort woman” while Chinese bureaucrat Tang’s tragic personal story is elevated above that of his celebrated employer John Rabe.  The small moments of bravery and tragedy accumulate, eschewing sweeping historicity in favor of a quiet sadness.  This visually arresting realist masterpiece offers a genuine, affecting portrait of humanity in war that moves the fraught Nanjing narrative one step nearer to closure.

Lu Chuan graduated from the Beijing Film Academy. His films include MISSING GUN, which screened at the Venice International Film Festival, and KEKEXILI: MOUNTAIN PATROL.