Trinity CineAsia has acquired distribution rights in multiple European territories to Dongi Rescue, an $80m Chinese war epic by Cannes award-winning filmmaker Guan Hu.
The UK-based distributor secured the rights from Beijing’s The Seventh Art Pictures and the deal includes the UK and Ireland where the film will be released on August 22.
Trinity CineAsia did not specify all the European territories where it will handle distribution but told Screen it planned to release in German-speaking and French-speaking territories after the UK and Ireland as well as Scandinavia and the Netherlands from August 29. A release in China is set for August 8. The UK premiere is scheduled to take place in London on August 15, the 80th anniversary of VJ Day (Victory in Japan).
Dongi Rescue is set during the Second World War when a Japanese freighter carrying British prisoners of war was mistakenly attacked off the coast of China near Shanghai. The story follows a group of Chinese islanders who embark on a dangerous mission to rescue the PoWs who are trapped on the warship.
The film is based on the sinking of the 1942 sinking of the Lisbon Maru, in which POWs were rescued by Chinese fishermen after it was torpedoed by a US submarine. More than 800 were saved from around 1,800 that were onboard. The events were covered in documentary The Sinking Of The Lisbon Maru, which was China’s submission for the international Oscar but was subsequently deemed ineligible.
It is co-directed by Guan Hu, who won the Un Certain Regard Prize at Cannes in 2024 with Black Dog, and his longtime assistant director Fei Zhenxiang. Producer is Liang Jing, who co-founded The Seventh Art Pictures with Guan.
The cast includes leading Chinese stars Zhu Yilong of Only the River Flows and Lost in the Stars; Wu Lei from Shadow and Nirvana In Fire), and Ni Ni of The Flowers Of War, The Rise Of Phoenixes. The cast also includes UK newcomer William Franklyn-Miller, whose has upcoming roles in Apple TV/Skydance sci-fi series Neuromancer and Young Washington.
The film, previously titled Dong Ji Island, is co-presented by Shanghai Tao Piao Piao Movie and TV Culture Co. and Beijing Enlight Pictures
It will also play on Imax screens in China, following on from Guan’s success on the large-screen format with war epic The Eight Hundred, which took $433m (RMB3.1bn) at the Chinese box office.
With a reported budget of around $80m, more than 40% of the film takes place underwater, shot using Imax cameras. The underwater sequences employed robotics and required the actors to perform extended breath-holding. The production team built large-scale sets on location at Dongji Island, authentically restoring Second World War-era fishing village architecture. The ship was also recreated at full scale.
The distribution deal marks Trinity CineAsia’s third collaboration with The Seventh Art Pictures after handling the release of Black Dog and The Eight Hundred. It also builds on the distributor’s growing European release slate, having opened Chinese animated blockbuster Ne Zha 2 across 37 territories earlier this year.
“After our recent success releasing films in Europe, we found now was not the time to stop,” said Cedric Behrel, executive director of Trinity CineAsia. “Guan Hu is an extraordinary filmmaker, and his track record speaks for itself. Dongji Rescue… is a humanistic, intimate story on a large historic canvas, a la Dunkirk or Atonement.”