A man loses a lower tooth and for luck tries to find a handy rooftop where he can deposit it by tradition. But whoever heard of such folklore and wherever can one find a simple rooftop these days in this modern heaven of skyscrapers?

His search, both comic and touching, is the subject of "Rooftop Games," a 30-minute film exploring a human side of Shanghai's enormous growth both upward and outward. Sometimes you can barely glimpse the sky and modern buildings block regular access to the roof. A small but telling example: It can be difficult to maintain traditions in an age of headlong progress.

The film is one of eight 30-minute documentary films showing many facets of Shanghai, new and old, to be shown at World Expo Shanghai 2010. The series is now being aired on www.eastmovie.com and will soon be screened on television.

The films by noted directors follow an old woman returning to the Shanghai of her childhood and seeking memory lanes; they feature the glorious wetlands on Chongming Island, home to millions of migrating birds in spring and autumn; they take a look at Shanghai's Old Town and visit the new creative zones cropping up in renovated factories and warehouses.

The four-hour series is selected from nearly 140 hours of film.

Meanwhile, famous director Jia Zhangke is already shooting a two-hour documentary for the Expo, "Shanghai, Shanghai."

The idea for the series originated when Shanghai World Expo Land Holding Co Ltd started filming and photographing the enormous process of relocation from the Expo site in 2004. Why not capture more facets of the city to show during Expo, organizers asked.

"This is a cultural activity of Expo Land," said Bai Wenhua, chairman of the company, and also the producer of the series. "The aim of shooting the documentary is to introduce Shanghai's culture and Shanghai's life to explore the theme of Shanghai Expo, "Better City, Better Life."

Series directors

"Visual Shanghai" seeks to "manifest a city, a core of the land. The documentary covers many parts of Shanghai from eight different angles. The film approaches Shanghai's cultural heritage with modern visual features," Bai said.

Working on the Expo site - where old is being removed or transformed - Expo Land has a first-hand understanding of this piece of land. "It is important to both hold a successful World Expo on this site and to preserve the precious history and memories," Bai added.

Wang Zhongru, scriptwriter for "Evening Liasion," a film shot in 1995 by late designer/artist Chen Yifei, made two films - "Feather in Dongtan" and "Rooftop Games." He worked with well-known city sculptor Huang Yinghao.

American-Chinese director Christine Choy led a team telling about an elderly woman revisiting her hometown and remembering Shanghai's old days. The New York University professor's film "Who Killed Vincent Chin?" was nominated in the Osaka Film Festival in 1989.

Young director Zhuang Huaixuan tells a story about Shanghai's Old Town.

Lin Zhele, a 23-year-old recent graduate of Shanghai University, expresses the sounds and rhythms of Shanghai. Lin won the short film award in a film festival hosted by UniFrance.

In 2006 Shanghai Film Group asked Jia Zhangke to shoot a two-hour documentary "Shanghai, Shanghai" for the Expo. Jia said it would take him three years; he started filming in 2006. His artistic film "Still Life," set in China's Three Gorges Dam Project, won the Golden Lion prize at the Venice Film Festival in 2006.

Ren Zhonglun, president of the group, said "Shanghai, Shanghai" will depict a Shanghai very different from "Visual Shanghai." It is produced by Expo Land Holding Co and Shanghai Film Group Corp, which have invested more than four million yuan (US$572,000) in the film.

During the six-month Expo, the series will be screened in theme pavilions and on television in participating countries. "Visual Shanghai" DVDs will be issued.