File photo of the film crew at a press conference

The China Film Group Corporation, the investor for the movie Red Cliff, disclosed yesterday that the CCTV Movie Channel will broadcast 150-minutes of real time film sequence of the movie Red Cliff on November 17, as reported by the Beijing Times.

It will be the first time in China's television history to broadcast such a long, large-scale and real time film sequence. All the major actors will be present on that day.

Red Cliff, directed by John Woo, is China's most heavily invested movie in 2007. It has become the focus of media attention since it was launched this April. The China Film Group and the Movie Channel reached a deal before shooting started that the Movie Channel would broadcast a real time film sequence.

A director inside the Movie Channel explained that the Red Cliff cast and crew will move to Yixian Reservoir in Hebei to shoot the climax of the movie. The Movie Channel has decided to broadcast the real time film sequence of several important parts of the movie.

The broadcast will last for two and a half hours. The movie channel will send their film and production crew to Red Cliff's film site to conduct a multi-angle and 3D live broadcast, revolving around the working scenes directed by John Woo using actors' real time performances.

This broadcast is different from a simple visit to the film site previously broadcast on television. This will be a well-organized and carefully planned live broadcast with the cooperation of all the leading roles of the movie.     

All the leading actors; Tony Leung acting as Zhou Yu, Takeshi Kaneshivo acting as Zhuge Liang, Chiling acting as Xiao Qiao, Zhang Fengyi acting as Cao Cao, Zhang Zhen acting as Sun Quan and Zhao Wei acting as Sun Shangxiang will be on site.

While broadcasting the film procedure, movie experts and historians studying the three kingdoms will be invited to simultaneously explain various cinema film techniques along with pertinent historical stories and literary legends concerning Red Cliff. Twenty special documentary films will be incorporated into the live broadcast to educate the audience about both the on-and-off-screen Red Cliff stories.  
 
The China Film Group is working with the Movie Channel to broadcast the live film sequence. Their aim is to provide a new channel for audiences to learn about and show their concern for movies via this new program and to pioneer a new route to promote the spread of Chinese movies. This broadcast will start sometime on November 17; a specific broadcast time has not yet been decided.

(China.org.cn by Zhang Ming'ai, November 9, 2007)