Lu Chuan, director of award-winning film "City of Life and Death," on Thursday started shooting a short film for the China Pavilion at the upcoming Shanghai Expo.

The 8-minute film, "Beautiful Progress," or Mei De Li Cheng," would focus on the changes in Chinese cities since China introduced the reform and opening-up policy in 1978, Lu said.

He said a weathered man and his young son would be the leading roles in the film.

"All the vicissitudes will be threaded with expressions in their eyes," said He.

The filming will take about 20 days in cities including Beijing and Shanghai, and the film will be played at the top floor of the China Pavilion during the Shanghai Expo opening on May 1.

The expo will run till the end of Oct. It is expected to attract 70 million visitors from around the world.

Lu said he accepted the task just when he was putting finishing touch to his anti-fascist film "Nanking! Nanking!" or "City of Life and Death" in early 2009.

The film has won awards at the 46th annual Golden Horse Film Awards in last November and the top Golden Shell award at the 2009 San Sebastian film festival in Spain.