This video shows a scene of a communist-led Liberation Army troop mobilizing on a muddy road. The quality is very bad and I suspect it was actually shot with a cell phone. Story of The Assembly (Chinese literal title: The Assembly Call) is set in 1947, right in the middle of the bloody Chinese civil war. A company from the communist-led army was assigned with a suicide mission – stopping the enemy advance by all costs. They were told they would be able to withdraw once they heard the assembly call. But the call never came and everyone, except the company leader, died. Years later, the sole survivor begins to search for the truth and collect evident to prove that his men all died as real heroes.

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A large number of props made for Chinese director Feng Xiaogang's US$10 million war drama, The Assembly, just burnt in South Korea, according to someone from the production studio Beijing H. Brothers. They several hundreds of dummy corpses and an unknown number of prop fire arms and artilleries. A Korean company, which was also involved in the production of Korea War epic Taegukgi Hwinalrimyeo (aka. Tae Gi: The Brotherhood of War) was contracted to make these props and these props accidentally caught on fire. The Korean company has promised to start remaking these props and make the delivery in about a month. The burnt props actually took it nearly three months to make. Feng originally planed to shoot snowy war scene by the end of this month and without these props, the shooting would probably have to be rescheduled.

Story of The Assembly (Chinese literal title: The Assembly Call) is set in 1947, right in the middle of the bloody Chinese civil war. A company from the communist-led army was assigned with a suicide mission – stopping the enemy advance by all costs and they were told they would be able to withdraw once they heard the assembly call. But the call never came and everyone, except the company leader, died. Years later, the sole survivor begins to search for the truth and collect evident to prove that his men all died as real heroes.

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Chinese director Wang Xiaoshuai recently announced his new project titled Zuo You (Left Right). Inspired by a true story, Left Right tells a devoiced couple discover their daughter is about to die from blood cancer. They have to born another child together and use the baby's umbilical cord blood to save their daughter. But they have already happily remarried. The cast includes Zhang Jiayi, Liu Weiwei, Yu Nan, Tian Yuan and Cheng Taishen. Shooting will start later this month in Beijing and will only last about a month. The production studio has planned to premiere the film at the coming Cannes Film Festival in May next year.

Just turned 40 this year, Wang Xiaoshuai is one of the most active figure among China's Sixth Generation Directors. He graduated from Beijing Film Academy in 1989 and spent the next two years without work. He stayed at the dying Fujian Film Studio during the following two years without making one single movie. In 1993, he returned to Beijing and made his first film The Days, a low budget film shot in black and white and late became a favorite in multiple international festivals. He then made Suicides (1994) and Frozen (1996), which are praised at various festivals and ignored in China. In 1996, he directed Ruan's Song (aka. So Close to Paradise), his first film financed by the state. After being reedited and turned back several times, the film was finally approved by the Chinese government in 1999 and was shown at that year's Cannes Film Festival. In the same year, he presented his second state finance project, The House. In 2000, he made Beijing Bicycle, which won Grand Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival the year after. However, the film was immediately banned in China for failing to get the official approval. In 2002 he made one segment of Jeonjaeng Geu Ihu and in 2003 he made Drifters. His latest completed film, Shanghai Drams (slightly re-edited by the Chinese censorship authority) won the Grand Jury Prize at last year's Cannes Film Festival. Like many other Sixth Generation Directors in China, Wang's movies are all telling stories of the working class people in modern day China in documentary style.

Wang Xiaoshaui has also announced a poster designing contest for Left Right. Please submit your design to  zuoyouwxs2006@sina.com for a chance to win 10,000 yuans (US$1,250).

Here are the two teaser poster designs for Protege, featuring an unblossoming and a blossoming opium. The tagline printed on the poster is "Every truth about drugs."

Sina.com has acquired three photos of the shooting of Feng Xiaogang's US$10 million war drama The Assembly, taken in Zhejiang Province of eastern China. It is a scene of a communist-lead troop mobilizing on a muddy road. The leaves serve as natural camouflage against enemy planes.

After Sha Po Lang and Dragon Tiger Gate Screen action star Donnie Yen and director Wilson Yip have teamed up for the third time to make City Without Mercy (Po Jun), as a follow-up to Sha Po Lang. It is not  Sha Po Lang 2 because, reportedly, the sequel rights have already been taken by Sammo Hung.

Set in Macao in the late 1990s, City without Mercy tells a brand new story not related to Sha Po Lang. Donnie Yen plays a hardened cop leading his men to fight a local gang run by three ruthless sworn brothers. They are played by veteran Hong Kong star Ray Lui, Collin Chou from The Matrix sequels and Shi Xingyu, a real Shaolin monk who played the tall Coolie in Kung Fu Hustle. Luis Koo plays another cop undercover as a bodyguard of the three bothers. Koo's identity is exposed and is rescued by Yen, who is about to arrest three brothers. Over one night, everyone who can testify against three brothers are dead, except Koo. Koo's girlfriend (Fan Bingbing) is kidnapped by three brother and Yen is ordered to be arrested for breaking the regulations. Yen and Koo have no choice but to fight back. The cast also include Kent Cheng (playing a senior cop) and  Xu Qing (playing Yen's new supervisor).

Budgeted as about US$8 million by Hong Kong-based Mandarin Films and Beijing-based Poly Bona, City without Mercy is set to be available by the coming May Day in Hong Kong and the mainland China.

(Thanks to "Day", "mary" and Kington Jiang.)

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