Rare historic footage of the founding ceremony of the People's Republic of China in 1949 has been rediscovered in Russia and restored for the film "Mao Zedong 1949."

A set of newly released photos show how the historical footage was enhanced, which was filmed in 1949 by Russians. The restoration was done to show audiences the realness and magnificence of the event where Chairman Mao Zedong officially announced the founding of the Chinese state to the world.

The founding ceremony, on Oct. 1, 1949, is of great significance to modern China. In many films on the founding of the People's Republic of China, audiences never saw the color version of the historic moment on the big screen.

Actually, color footage of the founding ceremony did exist. However, a fire destroyed most of the precious materials so only those in black-and-white were archived in China. 

Some audiences watched "Mao Zedong 1949" in advance screenings recently, and many were surprised and thrilled to see the 4K high-definition restored film in color.

"Mao Zedong 1949," directed by Huang Jianxin and Ning Haiqiang, will revisit the stories of Chairman Mao Zedong and many other revolutionary heroes from high-level founding fathers to grassroots soldiers during the dawning period of the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949. This film is one of the major motion pictures to mark PRC's 70th anniversary, and will be released on Sept. 20.