Couple acts in sad love story

Ni Ni, lead actress of The Flowers of War, Zhang Yimou's emotional drama in 2011, acts with her boyfriend Feng Shaofeng in Love Will Tear Us Apart, a romantic tearjerker. Directed by young helmer Li Weiran, the two play a couple deeply in love but end up torturing each other. Ni, 25, stood out from thousands of candidates to act opposite Christian Bale in The Flowers of War in 2011. In the film, she played a prostitute who saved young students from Japanese soldiers in the Nanking Massacre in 1937. Love Will Tear Us Apart will premiere later this year.

Best friends in real and reel life

Taiwan pop singer Christine Fan makes her big-screen debut in The Stolen Years, a romantic drama to be released on Aug 22. Fan plays the best friend of the heroine, who loses her memory but gains a better relationship with her boyfriend. The heroine is portrayed by mainland actress Bai Baihe, a good friend of Fan in real life too. Fan also writes and sings the film's theme song. The film was nominated for best picture in the 16th Shanghai International Film Festival in June but did not win. Director Barbara Wong is known for her two documentaries, which interviewed men and women of various social walks to talk about their opinion on sex and relationship.