By Jakob Montrasio

A new film on the life of John Rabe (November 23, 1882 – January 5, 1950), the German businessman whose Nanking Safety Zone sheltered some 200,000 Chinese from slaughter during the Nanking Massacre, is coming out very soon.

Photo by Majestic / Jörg Gruber

German academy award winning director Florian Gallenberger helmed the principal photography of John Rabe from October 2007 until February 2008 in and around Shanghai. John Rabe features stars such as Ulrich Tukur, Daniel Brühl, Steve Buscemi as well as rising Chinese star Zhang Jingchu (张静初). The movie is set to be released later this year.

Majestic Film Verleih, the company who will bring the movie to German cinemas released 8 official press pictures who show the stars in action. Also, German broadcasting agency 'Deutsche Welle' released a clip on YouTube with a report about the shooting in Shanghai. But first the pictures...

Dr. Robert Wilson (Steve Buscemi), the Nanjing hospital chief, fights tirelessly for the survival of the people:

Photo by Majestic / Tomoko Kikuchi

Dr. Georg Rosen (Daniel Brühl), employee of the German embassy, tries to handle the threat in regard of the Chinese civilians in diplomatic ways:

Photo by Majestic / Ruggero Rossi

Valérie Dupres (Anne Consigny), leader of the International Girls College, can’t enjoy the festivities - she’s worried about her students:

Photo by Majestic / Tomoko Kikuchi

Nazi Werner Fließ (Mathias Herrmann) is supposed to take John Rabe’s (Ulrich Tukur) place as the leader of the Siemens branch in Nanking:

Photo by Majestic / Ruggero Rossi

The members of the international committee for creating a safety zone (Ulrich Tukur, Anne Consigny, Steve Buscemi, Christian Rodska, Daniel Brühl, Shaun Lawton) don’t know how to handle the rush of 250.000 people at once:

Photo by Majestic / Ruggero Rossi

Dora Rabe (Dagmar Manzel) tries to convince her husband John (Ulrich Tukur) to leave Nanking:

Photo by Majestic / Jörg Gruber

Schoolgirl Langshu (Zhang Jingchu, 张静初), a student of Valérie Dupres, takes pictures of the Japanese war crimes in Nanjing:

Photo by Majestic / Tomoko Kikuchi

And now the video report by Deutsche Welle: The John Rabe part is in the first half:

The scene with the dancing people in the report was shot in the Shanghai Science Hall. This contributor worked on the movie as an on-set VFX assistant, appearing as extras in the movie along with his wife. Watch out for the full-length official trailer soon!

Cross posted on Jakob Montrasio's Net.