Fang Li couldn't believe his ears when a fisherman shared the story behind what would become the Chinese director's latest documentary, The sinking of the Lisbon Maru.
The year was 2014 and Fang was on set in his role as a producer shooting the film The continent – a travel comedy-drama directed by Han Han – and it was as he headed from the coast of the eastern province of Zhejiang towards Dongji Island that the fisherman told a story that, for seventy years, had remained remarkably untold.
Fang learned of how on October 1, 1942, a Japanese military cargo ship loaded with 1,816 British prisoners of war hidden in its hull was on its way from Hong Kong to Japan when it was torpedoed by the USS Grouper.
In the aftermath of the attack – and as the ship slowly sank – Japanese troops locked the prisoners of war inside the holds. But the POWs fought for their lives, freeing themselves and taking to the sea, only to be shot at by the Japanese before local Chinese fishermen arrived and began plucking them from the water. In the end, 384 men survived and 828 died, either in the hold or in the water.
“I was quite surprised that someone who knew as much about history as I did had never heard of it,” Fang says. “I asked the locals about it and even went to have a look. It really happened.”
The director of Fang knew he had a film just waiting to be made. It then took six years to put it up The sinking of the Lisbon Maru Together. First Fang had to find the sunken ship, which had been lying intact on the ocean floor since 1942, then he had to find witnesses to the event and perhaps even survivors.
“At the time this happened, Western countries fixed their eyes on the war situation in the West and paid less attention to the situation in the Far East,” says Fang, whose documentary opened this year's Shanghai International Film Festival in June, where it was one of the successes of the event
“Moreover, in such a huge war situation, this was not a big event,” he adds. “So it hadn't been talked about much. After interviewing the families of the first group of witnesses, an overwhelming feeling of sadness hit me. There were so many joys and sorrows in these plots that they could not be invented.
The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru is one of two films showcased at the China Film Pavilion during this year's American Film Market in Las Vegas, as co-organizers China Film Co-production Corporation (CFCC) seek to showcase what they are labeling a growing diversity in content from the Chinese film industry.
The sinking of the Lisbon Maru
Courtesy of The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru
This diversity is fully visible in the dance-driven drama A tapestry of a legendary land, the other film presented in the pavilion with which, at first glance, it seems to have nothing in common Lisbon Maru. A closer look, however, reveals how both films tap into unknown chapters of Chinese history, at least cinematically.
Co-directed by Zhou Liya and Han Zhen and adapted from their hit stage play, Tapestry follows a fictional researcher of modern relics, who travels back in time to meet Xi Meng, the artist behind the famous Chinese painting A panorama of rivers and mountainswhich he created during the Northern Song Dynasty (960-1127). The film uses no dialogue, only dance, to imagine how a painting was created that is still shrouded in mystery today: it is rarely seen in public due to its fragility and not much is known about Xi, who is said to have been around 18 years old. old when he finished the project before inexplicably disappearing from mention in any literature of the time.
But Lisbon Maru AND Tapestry they are not the only titles that the China Film Pavilion will offer in Las Vegas. The pavilion also highlights the work of more than 50 Chinese film companies and more than 200 films. They cross genres that draw on history and culture, including Legends of the Condor Heroes: The Gallants AND Creation of the Gods I: Realm of Stormstaken from famous novels, as well as more contemporary stories such as those with colorful titles Gold or shit, HistoryAND Moments we sharedas well as animation titles such as White snake: afloatthe latter immensely popular Boonie Bears franchising, Boonie Bears: Time Twist AND I am what I am.
“The goal is not only to promote international trade in domestic films, but also to encourage resource sharing and collaboration across global markets,” the CFCC said in a statement about its AFM listing. “In the future, the China Film Pavilion plans to continue to expand opportunities for Chinese filmmakers to engage with the international community and continue to bring more Chinese films to audiences around the world.”
The China Film Pavilion is also designed to update visitors on the status of work in the country. Among the national successes was the drama of the Korean War The volunteers: to war IIpremiered on China's National Day (October 1) and grossed $161 million by the end of the month. There was also the launch of the re-edition of Harry Potter franchise, week by week starting October 11, with the first two installments combining for approximately $14 million by the end of the month.
After receiving overwhelming praise from critics and fans in Shanghai, The sinking of the Lisbon Maru was submitted as a Chinese Oscar nominee in the best international film category, but last week the film was deemed not to have met the Academy's requirements that a film must have “a predominantly (more than 50%) dialogue track ) not English. “
Meanwhile, Li is negotiating for international distribution and reflecting again on the story he has explored over the past decade in a film that he now hopes will bring some closure to the families of those involved.
“We found that, in the UK, families did not know where and how these men died, for decades,” Fang says. “For decades, and even generations, they could only rely on a photo, letter or memento to remember them. As for the fishermen [who rescued the POWs]both the old and the young still did not think that their ancestors had done anything worthy of praise. They just knew that they would always save those in distress at sea. So I hope this film shares that simple goodness.”