2007 Sundance Film Festival Award Winner 'NANKING' to Have Its First Theatrical Release in China on July 7

2007 Sundance Film Festival Award Winner 'NANKING' to Have Its First Theatrical Release in China on July 7 June 27, 2007 -- Producer Ted Leonsis, Oscar-Winning Director Bill Guttentag and Co-Director Dan Sturman to Attend Beijing Premiere on July 3 -- Release Follows Critically Acclaimed Showing at Shanghai Film Festival on June 22 -- WINNER! Documentary Editing Award - Sundance Film Festival 2007 -- WINNER! Humanitarian Award for Best Documentary - Hong Kong International Film Festival 2007 BEIJING, June 27 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- Following its critically acclaimed debut at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival and the recent showing at the Shanghai Film Festival, NANKING will receive its first theatrical release in China on July 7. Producer Ted Leonsis, Academy-Award-winning director Bill Guttentag and co-director Dan Sturman will attend the July 3 premiere of the film at the National Political Consultative Auditorium in Beijing. NANKING will be released in China by Hua Xia, with rollout beginning on July 7 marking the 70th Anniversary of the War of Resistance Against Japan. In North America, it will be released by THINKFilm ( http://www.thinkfilmcompany.com ) in December 2007 to coincide with the 70th anniversary of the massacres in Nanking. Producer Ted Leonsis had never made a film before when he read about what happened in Nanking in 1937. After learning about a small group of Westerners that banded together to establish a Safety Zone where more than 200,000 Chinese found refuge, he was moved to tell their story. Leonsis, a pioneer in the new media industry, a Vice Chairman at AOL LLC and a Washington, DC sports team owner, decided to finance and produce a film that would appeal to Western and Chinese audiences. A powerful, emotional, and relevant reminder of the heartbreaking toll war takes on the innocent, NANKING tells the story of the Japanese invasion of Nanking, China, in the early days of World War II. As part of a campaign to conquer all of China, the Japanese subjected Nanking -- which was then China's capital -- to months of aerial bombardment, and when it fell, the Japanese army engaged in murder and rape on a horrifying scale. In the midst of the rampage, the small group of unarmed Westerners that established the Safety Zone, were made up of missionaries, university professors, doctors, and businessmen -- including a German member of the Nazi party. This group bore witness to the events, while risking their own lives to protect civilians from slaughter. The story is told through deeply moving interviews with Chinese survivors, chilling archival footage and photos of the events, and testimonies of former Japanese soldiers. At the heart of NANKING is a filmed stage reading of the Westerners' letters and diaries, featuring such actors as Woody Harrelson, Mariel Hemingway, Rosalind Chao, Sonny Saito and Jurgen Prochnow. Through its interweaving of historical images, direct testimony and the reading of first-hand accounts, the film puts the viewer on the streets of Nanking and brings the forgotten past to startling life. NANKING is a testament to the courage and conviction of individuals who were determined to act in the face of evil and a powerful tribute to the resilience of the Chinese people -- a gripping account of light in the darkest of times. For more information, please visit: http://www.nankingthefilm.com NOTE TO EDITORS: For further information, to request tickets to the premiere or to request interviews with producer Ted Leonsis, or co-directors Bill Guttentag or Dan Sturman, please contact: NANKING - FILM PREMIERE DETAILS: Date: July 3, 2007 Time: 2:00pm Beijing Location: National Political Consultative Auditorium, NO.23, Taipingqiao Dajie, Xicheng District, in Beijing. For more information, please contact: English Speaking: New York-based (rep for the film and producers, directors) Emma Griffiths, 42West Tel: [phone] Email: [e-mail] Chinese Speaking: Beijing-based (rep for film distribution in China) Mr. Zhao Jie Tel: [phone] Email: [e-mail]