"The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru" premiere: Uncovering the truth of the "Lisbon Maru" incident that has been hidden for 82 years

"Eight years ago this month, I decided to search for the wreck of the Lisbon Maru. My motivation was curiosity and the urgency to record this period of history." On June 14, director and producer Fang Li premiered the documentary "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru" at the Shanghai International Film Festival.

After eight years of hard work, this marine technology expert who has made filmmaking his second career finally breathed a sigh of relief. "I have fulfilled a promise in my heart. It doesn't matter how much money or time the film took to make. It carries the hopes and expectations of more than 2,000 families. More than 1,800 families of prisoners of war hope to see the experiences of their fathers; more than 200 families of Zhoushan fishermen, their fathers' good deeds and heroic deeds deserve to be remembered."

In October 1942, the Japanese army requisitioned the passenger and cargo ship "Lisbon Maru" to escort more than 1,800 British prisoners of war back to Japan from Hong Kong. When passing through the waters near Zhoushan, it was hit by the US military. More than 800 British prisoners of war were killed, and 384 British prisoners of war were rescued by local fishermen at the risk of their lives. This is the "Lisbon Maru" incident.

In 2015, during his visit to the UK, President Xi Jinping cited the rescue of the Lisbon Maru as an example, emphasizing that the friendship between the Chinese and British peoples forged in the flames of war will never fade and become a precious asset in the relationship between the two countries. In 2022, President Xi Jinping wrote back to the families of the survivors of the Lisbon Maru, encouraging them to continue to actively commit to China-UK friendship and looking forward to more British friends contributing to China-UK relations. Xi Jinping pointed out that the touching deeds of the fishermen in Zhoushan, Zhejiang Province, China who bravely rescued British prisoners of war on the Lisbon Maru in 1942 are an important testimony to the fact that China and Britain fought side by side as allies in the Second World War and jointly resisted fascist aggression, and it is also a historical story of the deep friendship between the peoples of the two countries.

Back in 2013, when Fang Li was filming the movie "See You Tomorrow" on Dongji Island in Zhejiang Province, he first heard about the "Lisbon Maru" incident from Zhoushan fishermen and was deeply shocked. "I was moved by the heroic deeds of the Chinese fishermen, and I couldn't let go of those British prisoners of war." Three years later, Fang Li, who couldn't let go of this story, decided to shoot a Chinese and English documentary for global audiences to salvage this history and the stories of more than 1,800 forgotten prisoners of war. "To investigate and clarify history, we need physical evidence. According to the recorded coordinates of the shipwreck, we went to search for the Lisbon Maru shipwreck. We found nothing in the first ten days, but finally found it 36 ​​kilometers away and drew a sonar map."

Fang Li said that the decision to tell the story of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru was based on a filmmaker's intuition about the urgency of time. "When I started filming this story, there were only a few eyewitnesses alive, all of whom were over 90 years old." If we don't record it, it will be too late. In March 2018, the crew came to Zhoushan for the first time and interviewed Lin Agen, a fisherman who witnessed the Lisbon Maru incident. He was 94 years old at the time. Later, they went to the UK to interview Dennis Morley, a 99-year-old eyewitness.

Dennis Morley, survivor of the Lisbon Maru incident

"The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru" is entirely based on real historical events. Over the past eight years, its filming has gone through many difficulties. In the UK, this incident is not known to the public. In order to find the descendants of prisoners of war, the crew placed large advertisements in the mainstream media in the UK, and finally successfully contacted 380 families of prisoners of war. The crew also visited more than 100 British towns, collected tens of thousands of historical photos, interviewed nearly 120 descendants of prisoners of war face to face, and studied more than one million words of English and Japanese materials. Through the exploration and excavation of the shipwreck, the documentary thoroughly tells the story of the sinking of the "Lisbon Maru" and more thrilling and little-known stories behind it.

On the day of the premiere of "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru", many descendants of eyewitnesses of the "Lisbon Maru" incident flew thousands of miles to Shanghai and watched the premiere of the film at Shanghai Film City.

Jane Clements and Catherine Birch brought a 2.4 kg, 12-foot-long, 8-foot-wide stone tablet. They are the niece and cousin of the victim Kenneth Hawkinson. This small stone tablet is the tombstone they prepared for their elders. It is engraved with Hawkinson's age when he died - 22 years old, serial number - 3055984, and the time of death - October 2, 1942. "The first time I went to interview this family, they took me to check the family tree and the family cemetery, where there was an empty tomb. This time, they want to sink this tombstone into the seabed where the victims rest," said Fang Li.

Fang Li shows this special tombstone. Photo by Lai Xinlin

Denise Winnie's father, Denis Morley, was a member of the Royal Scottish Regiment and was imprisoned in cabin number two on the Lisbon Maru by the Japanese. "When the torpedo hit the hull, a huge noise came from the bottom of the ship, and the lights went out... Then several more torpedoes hit, and the hull began to tilt. All I can remember about that moment was panic, panic, and panic." Morley recalled to the crew a few years ago. "My father passed away a few years ago. He lived for more than 100 years." Denise Winnie told reporters that she was by her father's side in his later years. "It was not until the crew came to interview that I heard about my father's experience during the war for the first time."

Descendants of the eyewitnesses of the "Lisbon Maru" incident, photo by Lai Xinlin

"I have always wanted to thank the Chinese people, especially the fishermen in Zhoushan. Without their heroic deeds, I would not be sitting here today." Kenneth Andrew Salmon recalled that his father was a survivor of the "Lisbon Maru" incident, but his father lived with guilt for the rest of his life because many of his comrades died, but he survived. "For a long time, my father was reluctant to talk about it. Later, he began to write his memoirs to record the people who died on the Lisbon Maru."

Philip Graham Bainbridge, another descendant of an eyewitness, is grateful for the release of the documentary "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru". "My mother has been waiting for her father to come home, guarding the doll that her father gave her, waiting for her whole life." He said that his mother could not let it go for a while, and advertised everywhere, asking if anyone had seen her father and knew what happened to him. "After she saw the rough cut of the documentary, she finally knew why her father lost his life, and she was relieved." Another family member of an eyewitness said: "The Chinese audience present had nothing to do with our relatives, but many of them shed tears. I was very moved that there are so many Chinese audiences paying attention to this history from such a long distance."

"But in the past six or seven years, all the eyewitnesses we saw on the screen have passed away." In the view of Jiao Xiongping, the international planner of the film, the documentary "The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru" is a rare creative work in film history. "It is like an investigative report, showing the truth of the whole incident. The film can become a 'Spring and Autumn Pen' to fill a gap in history and also trigger the next generation to think about the war. In this sense, this film is worthy of the significance of film creation."

"I am a latecomer in filmmaking. I don't make films for commercial reasons, but because I am moved. I accidentally caught up with this period of history." Fang Li said with emotion that making this documentary was tiring and painful, but he was also relieved. "Eight years is nothing. I can finish it in 18 years. There is no turning back after starting this."