China‘s submission for the Oscars Best International Feature Film race this year, the World War II documentary The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, has been ruled ineligible by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.
We’re hearing that the film, the first documentary ever submitted by China for International Feature, did not meet the Academy’s submission requirement that more than 50% of the film’s dialogue track (as well as the completed film) be in a language or languages other than English.
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Because it was discovered that threshold wasn’t met after the Academy’s October 2 deadline for submissions in the category, China can’t re-submit another film for consideration.
The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru still can be considered in the Documentary Feature category. The Oscar shortlists in both International Feature and Documentary Feature categories, along with eight others, will be revealed December 17.
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Directed by Fang Li, The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru told the story of a little-known World War II tragedy: In 1942, the Japanese ship the Lisbon Maru, while transporting British prisoners-of-war, was torpedoed by the U.S. Navy. More than 800 British troops were killed, while about 380 were saved by nearby Chinese fishermen.
The film includes live interviews, historical footage and animated reconstructions.
The documentary opened the Shanghai International Film Festival in June and was released in China in early September.
China had previously been nominated twice in the International Feature category, for Zhang Yimou’s Ju Dou in 1990 and Hero in 2002. It has never won the Oscar.
THR was the first to report on the China ruling today.