\n<\/p>\n
\n\tChinese director Guan Hu\u2019s WWII tentpole Dongji Rescue<\/em>, a sweeping historical action drama based on the true story of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru \u2014 one of the deadliest maritime disasters of the Pacific Theater \u2014 is heading to European cinemas.\u00a0British specialty distributor Trinity CineAsia acquired all regional rights to the film and will release it in the U.K. and Ireland on Aug. 22, followed by other European markets from Aug. 29.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tDongji Rescue<\/em> dramatizes the events surrounding the 1942 torpedoing of the Lisbon Maru, a Japanese ship covertly transporting 1,800 British POWs. After the vessel was mistakenly struck by an American submarine off China\u2019s Dongji Island, more than 800 survivors were rescued by Chinese fishermen in an extraordinary act of wartime bravery.<\/p>\n \n\tCo-directed by Guan and actor-turned-filmmaker Fei Zhenxiang from an $80 million budget, Dongji Rescue <\/em>has been hailed as one of the most technically ambitious projects ever mounted in China. Shot in Imax with over 40 percent of its runtime taking place underwater, the film employed advanced robotics, large-scale water tanks, and full-scale ship recreations, while authentically reconstructing WWII-era fishing village architecture on Dongji Island.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tWu Lei and Zhu Yilong in Dongji Rescue<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n \n\tTrinity CineAsia previously released Guan\u2019s acclaimed drama Black Dog<\/em>, which won Cannes\u2019 Un Certain Regard prize in 2024, as well as his big-budget war epic The Eight Hundred<\/em>, which was China\u2019s second-biggest film of 2020.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\tDongji Rescue stars Zhu Yilong (Lost in the Stars<\/em>), Wu Lei (Nirvana in Fire<\/em>), Ni Ni (The Flowers of War<\/em>), and British newcomer William Franklyn-Miller, who plays a British army medic hidden by villagers during the disaster\u2019s aftermath. The film also features Michael Gaston, Ni Dahong, and Li Jiuxiao.<\/p>\n \n\tTrinity CineAsia will hold a UK premiere for Dongji Rescue on Aug. 15 \u2014 the 80th anniversary of V-J Day \u2014 at London\u2019s Odeon Leicester Square, with the directors, producers and starring cast set to attend.\u00a0<\/p>\n \n\t\u201cDongji Rescue<\/em> is based on a true story which has particular relevance in the U.K., of course, as it involves British POWs in a desperate shipwreck, but also a specific resonance that can connect with everyone everywhere \u2014 a humanistic, intimate story on a large historic canvas, a la Dunkirk<\/em> or Atonement<\/em>, and we\u2019re looking forward to audiences being wowed and moved to tears at the same time,\u201d said Cedric Behrel, executive director of Trinity CineAsia.<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tWilliam Franklyn Miller and Wu Lei in Dongji Rescue. <\/em><\/span><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t7th Art Pictures<\/p>\n \n\tDongji Rescue<\/em> is produced by 7th Art Pictures and supported by Enlight Pictures, Tao Piao Piao, and China Film Group. The film opens in China on August 8.<\/p>\n \n\tAdded Liang Jing, producer and head of 7th Art Pictures: \u201cWe are delighted to collaborate with Trinity CineAsia \u2014 who previously distributed Black Dog<\/em> and The Eight Hundred<\/em> for us \u2014 to bring this touching story, buried in the dust of modern history, to global audiences \u2014 especially to the British audience, so that the descendants of British soldiers who survived that disaster know: we are still here, we still remember this story!\u201d<\/p>\n \n\tDongji Rescue<\/em>\u2018s official story summary is as follows: \u201cOctober 1942, most of China is living under the shadow of imperial Japan. Following the Fall of British Hong Kong in December 1941, many British service personnel were taken prisoner. The Lisbon Maru \u2014 a Japanese merchant ship covertly carrying around 1,800 British POWs in the Far East \u2014 is torpedoed by mistake off the coast of China\u2019s Dongji Island by an American submarine, unaware of the lives hidden below deck. Guided by the code of the islanders \u2014 \u201cthose in peril at sea must be saved\u201d \u2014 two young fishermen, brothers Abi (Zhu Yilong) and Adang (Wu Lei), risk everything to hide a British army medic (William Franklyn-Miller) in their village after being spotted drifting in the sea. A brutal manhunt by the Japanese forces to find the missing soldier ensues. As the ship begins to sink, and the truth about the POWs stranded at sea comes to the surface, the villagers set out on a perilous mission to rescue the British soldiers and reclaim their land.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Chinese director Guan Hu\u2019s WWII tentpole Dongji Rescue, a sweeping historical action drama based on the true story of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru \u2014 one of the deadliest maritime disasters of the Pacific Theater \u2014 is heading to European cinemas.\u00a0British specialty distributor Trinity CineAsia acquired all regional rights to the film and will<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":12665,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[54],"tags":[4715,6313,6311,3238,715,6308,2447,6309,6312,397,6310],"class_list":{"0":"post-12664","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-entertainment","8":"tag-80m","9":"tag-cinemas","10":"tag-dongji","11":"tag-epic","12":"tag-european","13":"tag-guan","14":"tag-heads","15":"tag-hus","16":"tag-rescue","17":"tag-u-k","18":"tag-wwii"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12664","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12664"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12664\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/12665"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}