President Jiang Zemin will for the first time be portrayed in a major movie to be released on the mainland next year, a report said yesterday.
The 20 million yuan (HK$18.6 million) film on the life of late paramount leader Deng Xiaoping is scheduled for release in May as a tribute to the Chinese Communist Party's 16th Congress, the pro-Beijing Wen Wei Po newspaper reported yesterday.
During the congress, set for next October, the party is expected to undergo leadership changes. Mr Jiang may step down as party chief.
The report did not say how Mr Jiang would be portrayed in the movie, or provide many details about the film. It did say it would re-create the scenes of Deng marking his return to power by watching a football match in Beijing in the late 1970s and reviewing a military parade on the 35th anniversary of the founding of the People's Republic in 1984.
Mr Jiang became the party's secretary-general in 1989 after the crackdown on student demonstrations in Tiananmen Square.
The movie is being seen as another bid to further elevate his status in the party.
