Chinese director Lu Chuan's film "City of Life and Death" opens in the UK on Friday, April 16, 2010, Chinesenews.com reports.

Director Lu Chuan attends a press conference for the film "City of Life and Death" in Nanjing, capital of east China's Jiangsu Province, April 19, 2009. The film, with the Chinese title as "Nanjing! Nanjing!", focuses on Chinese soldiers and civilians' fight against Japanese invaders before and after the Nanjing Massacre in 1937. It took four years and cost 80 million yuan (about US$11.7 million) to finish the work. On Dec. 13, 1937, the invading Japanese army occupied Nanjing and launched a six-week massacre. [Xinhua File Photo]

The Second World War epic will be shown at 35 cinemas in cities such as London, Edinburgh, Liverpool, Manchester, Bath and Oxford. The film will be screened once in each cinema, until September of this year.

Director Lu took his film to the London Film Festival last year, leaving a deep impression on British film distributors.

The film presents the 1937 Nanjing massacre, when Japanese troops invaded the city and committed all sorts of attrocities. It focuses on the fight put up by Chinese soldiers and civilians against the invaders before and after the events of Nanjing.

It took four years and cost 80 million yuan (US$11.7 million) to complete the film, which is known by the title "Nanjing! Nanjing!" in Chinese. Over 20,000 college students volunteered as extras in the film.

Director Lu also stressed that the theme of the film is the resilient spirit of Chinese people when faced with danger. In this sense, it differs from many films dealing with the massacre, which portray the victims as weak and helpless.