Director Jia Zhangke (Sina.com)

Film maker Jia Zhangke is in Shanghai shooting a 90-minute documentary Shanghai Legend for the 2010 World Expo.

The film will introduce Shanghai's architecture, culture and life and explore the Expo theme, "Better City, Better Life."

Despite his busy schedule, the award-winning director attended the premiere of Park Shanghai last night.

The film, by 26-year-old director Huang Kai, focuses on a group of former classmates who get together to talk about their lives and offers insights into the delicate emotions and desires of the city's younger generation.

Jia said he was attracted by the story line and said the film was a creative take on the spiritual lives of today's young people.

Born in 1970 in Shanxi Province, Jia's art-house movies Platform, Xiao Wu and The World received acclaim from critics and movie fans alike.

His Still Life, the tale of two outsiders who travel to a village near the Three Gorges seeking their long-lost spouses, won the Golden Lion at the 2006 Venice Film Festival.

(Shanghai Daily February 13, 2009)