Film tribute to a music hero

Actor Hu Jun will play Xian Xinghai in the film. [Photo/China Daily]

The movie, which will be shot in Almaty, Moscow and Yan'an in Northwest China's Shaanxi province, is set to premiere on June 13, 2018, the birthday of Xian's daughter.

Hu, the actor who plays Xian, says he accepted the role an hour after being invited to act in the film.

"It's a big honor to play Xian. I was born in a family of musicians, and his Yellow River Cantata is one of my favorites," says the 49-year-old Beijing native, who has impressed many with his tough-guy roles on screen.

Aitzhanov, known for playing Kazakh President Nursultan Nazarbayev in the biographical hit The Way of the Leader, says Xian and Baykadamov were both noble men who devoted their lives to their countries.

Kairbekov Bakhyt, president of Kazakhfilm JSC, says he hopes the coproduction will inspire more cultural exchanges between the two countries.

Two avenues in Almaty were named after Xian and Baykadamov before Nazarbayev's visit to China in 1998.

Xian is revered in Kazakhstan as some of his most influential works－Liberation of the Nation, Sacred War and Red All over the River－were created during his last years there.

Xian died in a Moscow hospital in 1945.