China Lion Film Distribution has announced it will release Chinese epic 1942 day-and-date with China on 30 November. The film, directed by box office golden boy Feng Xiaogang (Assembly, Aftershock, If You Are The One), and starring Hollywood A-listers Adrien Brody and Tim Robbins alongside a host of premiere mainland talent, is clearly aiming for some awards season action, despite China's official entry this year being Chen Kaige's Caught In The Web.
Back to 1942 (as it will be retitled overseas) is based on the celebrated novel Remembering 1942, written by Liu Zhengyun, and details the devastating famine that ravaged Henan province while Nationalist troops clashed with invading Japanese forces during World War II. The cast is headed up by Xu Fan, Zhang Guoli, Chen Daoming, Zhang Mo and Zhang Hanyu, while the inclusion of Brody and Robbins marks another obvious effort to make mainstream Chinese Cinema more appealing to international distributors and audiences.
China Lion will open Back to 1942 first in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Toronto, Washington D.C. and Vancouver, before widening the release later in the year. You can check out the theatrical trailer below.