The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru

On 2 October 1942 the Japanese freighter Lisbon Maru, carrying more than eighteen hundred British prisoners of war in its holds, was torpedoed off the Chinese coast by an American submarine that did not know the prisoners were aboard. As the ship began to sink, Japanese soldiers covered the hatches of the holds with planks and canvas. Chinese fishermen from Zhoushan put out to sea and pulled hundreds of men out of the water. Fang Li heard about the incident from a fisherman and spent eight years pursuing it. The documentary located the ship thirty metres down, reached the relatives of the prisoners by advertising in British newspapers, and spoke with the last surviving witnesses. The telling makes room for the British, Japanese, American and Chinese sides alike. More than eight hundred men died. The film became China's Oscar submission for 2025, the first documentary the country has sent in that category.