How One Filmmaker’s Obsession With a Forgotten WWII Tragedy Led to the Doc ‘The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru’

The Hollywood Reporter
Story by Mathew Scott
from The Hollywood Reporter
Image from The Hollywood Reporter
scrn logline
A forgotten WWII tragedy is resurrected as a Chinese filmmaker's decade-long quest to uncover the untold stories of the 1,816 British POWs aboard the doomed Lisbon Maru.
beat sheet
  • Fang Li stumbled upon the Lisbon Maru story by chance while location scouting with author Han Han, sparking a personal mission to find the long-lost wreckage and bring the victims' forgotten tales to light.
  • The film's simple yet powerful hand-painted animation and focus on the oral histories of survivors and victims' families has made it a surprise box office hit in China, earning over $6.2 million and connecting with audiences in unexpected ways.
call sheet
Fang Li, Han Han, Tony Banham, Blue Sky Rescue, China's national underwater archaeology team, Gimini Sky, UK-China Film, The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru
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