Coming up: A love story set in wartime Northeast China

Ballet in the Flames of War revolves around the romance between a Chinese ballet enthusiast and a Russian scout. [Photo provided to China Daily]

As a young Chinese woman swirls on her toes to the music of Swan Lake, the scene abruptly changes to that of a battlefield on which former Soviet troops are seen helping Chinese villagers fight Japanese invaders.

The setting is from Ballet in the Flames of War, a 35-million-yuan ($5.5 million) movie, which has been produced by a Chinese government-backed studio and involves Russian filmmakers. It is expected to hit Chinese mainland theaters on Friday.

Nearly 10 percent screening occupancy at cinemas will be arranged on that day.

In the manner of some Hollywood blockbusters, this war-themed movie has been given a stylized treatment to distinguish it from others that are being shown in China this year in commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the victory in the War of Resistance against Japanese Aggression (1937-45).

With Nikita Mikhalkov, Russia's answer to Steven Spielberg, as the movie's production supervisor, the romance epic has been injected with many Russian elements. For example, the popular Russian folk song Dark Eyes, national tree white birch and favorite food "big bread". Such aspects of the movie are likely to strike a cord with Chinese viewers given their closeness to Russians.