Chinese documentary explores sinking of WWII ship

The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, a China-made documentary about a shipwreck that killed more than 800 British soldiers during World War II, will be released in cinemas around China on September 6.

The film produced and directed by Fang Li won high praise after its premiere at the Shanghai International Film Festival in June.

The Lisbon Maru was a freight vessel converted into an armed troop carrier by the Japanese Army during World War II. In October 1942 it carried more than 1800 British POWs from Hong Kong to Japan when it was torpedoed by the US navy. It sank off the Zhoushan Islands in East China's Zhejiang province. More than 800 British soldiers were killed in the incident, and more than 300 were rescued by Chinese fishermen nearby.

Fang's documentary - based on the book of the same title by British historian Tony Benham - recounts the historical event, the heroic rescue campaign, what happened to the survivors, as well as the stories behind those who were lost in the disaster of war.

Fang spent eight long years making the documentary, traveling across continents to interview the survivors, rescuers and the family members of the victims.

Fang is a marine physicist, who successfully located the Lisbon Maru on the sea floor in 2016. He was so stricken by what happened to the soldiers and their family, as well as the heroic feat of the Chinese fishermen, that he decided to tell their stories in a documentary movie.