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rong yu, chief reporter of jimu news

on september 9, the documentary film "the sinking of the lisbon maru", directed by the famous producer and director fang li, welcomed douban's score on the 4th day of its release. the super high rating of 9.2 points made it the highest-rated domestic cinema film on douban in 2024. on september 6, fang li brought his work "the sinking of the lisbon maru" to wuhan to hold several audience meetings, telling how he spent 10 years bringing the story of the "lisbon maru" to the big screen.

in 2014, fang li and his good friend han han went to dongji island in zhoushan, zhejiang to shoot han han's directorial debut "no regrets". it was at that time that fang li learned the story of the "lisbon maru" from a local fisherman.

in 1942, the "lisbon maru" requisitioned by the japanese army was escorting more than 1,800 british prisoners of war back to japan from hong kong, china. when passing through the waters of zhoushan islands in zhejiang province, the "lisbon maru" without a prisoner transport mark was hit by a us submarine. at the critical moment, kind-hearted zhoushan fishermen drove 46 small wooden fishing boats and saved the lives of 384 british prisoners of war from the sea.

this is an important testimony to the fact that china and britain fought side by side as allies in the second world war to fight against fascist aggression. it is also a historical story of the deep friendship forged between the peoples of the two countries.

fang li said that from the first time he learned about the story of the "lisbon maru" to later seeing a large amount of related information and historical photos, he decided to let more people around the world know about this history, thus starting the ten-year creation of the documentary film "the sinking of the lisbon maru".

from china to britain, the united states, and japan, from the oral histories of the descendants of the parties involved to the historical documents of many countries, fang li and his crew spent nearly eight years, and finally presented this little-known history of world war ii to the audience in a 123-minute film.

when fang li was communicating with wuhan movie fans, he was asked what he would do if he had not found the "lisbon maru" shipwreck in the deep sea. he said firmly: "if we can't find it, we will keep looking. if we can't find it, we will not give up. what if we work for 8 years? even if it takes 18 years, we will finish it. this is a historical mission."

fang li said that he was driven by a strong emotion when filming "the sinking of the lisbon maru". "i spent so much energy to make this film because i wanted to share with everyone the precious and shining humanity. i am a chinese, this is a chinese story, and it happened in our country. so in the end, i took the audience to see the world, to find emotions, and to find every unknown story of the 'lisbon maru'."

according to fang li, there was no script or pre-set in the creation of "the sinking of the lisbon maru". everything happened naturally. "i didn't have a single word in the script. i just walked into their lives, just like chatting with them. first, you can listen, and second, you can resonate with them emotionally. why do these elderly people like me so much? because i feel that they are my relatives, and they also feel that i am their relative. and i am very happy that i am a representative of the chinese people."

"the sinking of the lisbon maru" was shown at the shanghai international film festival in june this year. fang li revealed at the film festival press conference that he sold all his houses and maxed out several credit cards in order to make this movie. some people even commented that his state at the time was "an idealist who lost everything", but this was what he had to do.

as of 8 p.m. on september 9, the box office of "lisbon maru" has just approached 3 million yuan after four days of release. although many filmmakers and celebrities have been promoting the film on social platforms, and audiences have praised the film as "worth it", "lisbon maru" still needs to meet more like-minded people in theaters.

(image source: official public information of the film)

(source: jimu news)

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