Now Playing: City Of Life And Death

Opening Friday, July 8 at the Midtown Art Cinema for an exclusive one week engagement.

This film by Director Lu Chuan is his first big budget epic and is a masterful re-telling of one of the most horrific periods in modern Asian history.

In December 1937, the Imperial Japanese Army laid siege to the Chinese capital of Nanking, killing as many as 300,000 citizens during a six-week reign of terror, the details of which Japan and China dispute to this day. Abandoned by the outside world and with no resources or defenses, the people of Nanking were subjected to torture, rape and death by a chaotic army that had little experience operating in a foreign country. Chinese filmmaker Lu Chuan's (Mountain Patrol: Kekexili) latest film is a bold re-creation of these events, told with startling humanism through the eyes of both victims and occupiers. Delving into the psychology of the Chinese's struggle to survive and a Japanese soldier's struggle with his conscience, Lu's film is ultimately an indictment against the cruelty of war. Shot in dazzling black-and-white Cinemascope, City of Life and Death is a visionary re-telling of one of the most horrific chapters in modern Asian history, and an unforgettable masterpiece of contemporary world cinema. (Partially subtitled) Official Web Site

Director:  Lu Chuan

Cast:  Ye Liu, Yuanyuan Gao, Hideo Nakaizumi, Wei Fan, Yiyan Jiang, Ryu Kohata, Bin Liu, John Paisley, Beverly Peckous, Lan Qin, Sam Voutas, Di Yao, Yisui Zhao

MPAA Rating:  NR
Run Time:  2hrs 12mins
Release Year:  2009
Country Of Origin:  China/Hong Kong

USCPFA-Atlanta Forums - An Overview

  • “Chinese Perspectives on International Relations,” November 4, 2001, Agnes Scott College
  • “China, the United States, and the World Trade Organization,” April 14, 2002, Agnes Scott College
  • “Hong Kong and China: Five Years under One Country, Two Systems,” November 3, 2002, Agnes Scott College
  • “China’s Quest for Belief,” April 6, 2003, Agnes Scott College
  • “Medicine and Health Care in China,” November 23, 2003, Agnes Scott College
  • “New Business – Big Opportunity: Developing Trade between Georgia and China” May 4, 2004, Agnes Scott College
  • “China and Its Neighbors,” February 27, 2005, Agnes Scott College
  • “Meet the Authors: Issues in Contemporary China” April 17, 2005, Agnes Scott College
  • “China’s Legal System: What’s Happening?” October 23, 2005, Kennesaw State University
  • “China’s Energy Policy,” April 22, 2007, Agnes Scott College
  • “Normalization of US-China Relations, 1979: A Journey through The Carter Library Archives,” October 14, 2007, The Carter Center Library Theater
  • “Why the World’s Energy Future Depends on the U.S. and China,” October 19, 2008, Mercer University-Atlanta
  • “The Silk Road Then and Now: Perspectives on Xinjiang,” May 3, 2009, Agnes Scott College
  • “China during Thirty Years of US-China Relations, 1979-2009,” October 25, 2009, Agnes Scott College
  • “Shanghai,” May 2, 2010, Mercer University – Atlanta
  • “Science and Technology in China,” October 17, 2010, Mercer University - Atlanta
  • “Cinema in Contemporary China: Independent Films and Directors,” April 3, 2011, Agnes Scott College