Zhang Ziyi (left) and Aaron Kwok attend the grand premiere for Love For Life in Beijing on May 5 (M1905.COM)

A grand premiere was held in Beijing on May 5, for director Gu Changwei's AIDS-themed feature film, Love For Life starring Aaron Kwok and Zhang Ziyi, the m1905.com reports.

The premiere attracted many celebrity couples including John Woo and his wife, Tong Dawei and Guan Yue as well as influential Chinese directors like Feng Xiaogang, Wang Quan'an and Jia Zhangke.

Zhang Ziyi and Aaron Kwok play deserted HIV sufferers who break the convention to get married.

Zhang shot the film when she was embroiled in personal issues and a credit crisis after an earthquake donation.

It was an emotional moment when she talked about the film.

"For me it is not merely a character or a film work, it records a period of my life," said Zhang, "I hope more people will resonate with the figure and recognize that I did during a difficult time."

The always fashionable Hong Kong singer-actor Aaron Kwok stars as a local peasant in the film who speaks with a northern Shaanxi dialect. The actor showed off his new accent and sang a local song on the premiere.

Director Gu joked he counted sheep to sleep last night as he was really concerned about the film that took him four years to make. A short documentary, Together with a focus on AIDS, also made by director Gu won best documentary awards in the 18th High College Student Film Festival this April.

This marks Zhang Ziyi and Aaron Kwok's first cooperation on the big screen. They joined hands to sing the theme song for the film.

Love for Life is lauded as the most sincere Chinese film in recent years by showbiz critic, Hong Huang.

The film is slated for a nationwide release on May 10.

(CRIENGLISH.com May 6, 2011)