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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...

Trinity CineAsia has locked down exclusive European distribution rights from Seventh Art Pictures to “Dongji Rescue,” the $80 million Chinese WWII action thriller from Cannes award-winning filmmaker Guan Hu.

The film, co-directed by Hu and Fei Zhenxiang, will hit U.K. and Irish cinemas Aug. 22, with other European territories following from Aug. 29. It opens in China on Aug. 8.

Drawing from the real-life Lisbon Maru incident of October 1942, the film dramatizes events when an American submarine accidentally torpedoed a Japanese vessel transporting approximately 1,800 British prisoners of war from Hong Kong. Chinese fishermen from Dongji Island ultimately rescued more than 800 survivors in what ranks among the war’s most devastating maritime tragedies involving British forces.

This was also the subject of documentary “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru,” which was China’s entry to the Oscars’ international category.

The cast combines Chinese stars Zhu Yilong (“Only the River Flows”), Wu Lei (“Shadow”), and...

Chinese director Guan Hu’s WWII tentpole Dongji Rescue, a sweeping historical action drama based on the true story of the sinking of the Lisbon Maru — one of the deadliest maritime disasters of the Pacific Theater — is heading to European cinemas. British 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.

Dongji Rescue 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’s Dongji Island, more than 800 survivors were rescued by Chinese fishermen in an extraordinary act of wartime bravery.

Co-directed by Guan and actor-turned-filmmaker Fei Zhenxiang from an $80 million budget, Dongji Rescue has been hailed as one of the most technically ambitious projects ever mounted in China. Shot...

Hollywood’s box office recovery continues to underpin Imax as it rides the premium gold rush, judging by the second-quarter financial results from the film technologies company released on Thursday.

Imax had revenue of $91.7 million in the latest quarter, up 3 percent from $89 million in the year-ago period, while net income rose 139 percent to $12 million, compared to a year-earlier $5.1 million. The adjusted earnings per-share hit 26 cents, against a year-earlier 18 cents.

The Q2 quarter in 2024 included the sale of the Imax original documentary The Blue Angels. Imax succeeded at the box office during the latest quarter with movies like F1: The Movie, Ryan Coogler’s Sinners and Mission: Impossible – The Final Reckoning on its screens. All three tentpoles were shot using Imax cameras with an eye to leveraging the company’s big screen experience.

“Imax delivered outstanding financial results in the second quarter as the key drivers of our business worked in concert,...

Hot on the heels of his Un Certain Regard prize win at last year’s Cannes for “Black Dog,” acclaimed Chinese director Guan Hu is set to unveil his latest project at this year’s Cannes Film Market.

The Seventh Art Pictures will handle international sales for “Dong Ji Island,” an $80 million war epic based on true events from World War II. Co-directed by Guan and his longtime assistant director Fei Zhenxiang, the film follows the harrowing rescue mission of local islanders who brave treacherous seas and Japanese forces to save British prisoners of war trapped on a sinking Japanese warship mistakenly attacked near China’s easternmost waters.

The film is based on the sinking of Japanese ship “Lisbon Maru,” which was also the subject of documentary “The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru,” which was China’s entry to the Oscars’ international category.

The production boasts an A-list Chinese cast including Zhu Yilong,...

China’s Seventh Art Pictures is launching sales in Cannes on $80M war epic Dong Ji Island, directed by Guan Hu, who won the Un Certain Regard prize in Cannes last year for Black Dog.

The film is co-directed by Fei Zhenxiang and stars Zhu Yilong (Lighting Up The Stars), Wu Lei and Ni Ni. Zhu Yilong’s credits also incude Wei Shujun’s Only The River Flows, which was selected for Cannes Un Certain Regard in 2023.

Fei has worked as Guan Hu’s assistant director since Mr Six and also directed some of the most popular Chinese TV series in recent years, including Love Like The Galaxy (2022).

Based on real events during the Second World War, Dong Ji Island follows the tragic tale of a Japanese warship secretly transporting British prisoners of war and mistakenly...

Close-Up is a column that spotlights films now playing on Mubi. Farewell My Concubine (1993) is playing on Mubi May 22 - June 21, 2016 in the United States.Farewell My Concubine, the Cannes-winning, Oscar-nominated, internationally-heralded 1993 film from director Chen Kaige, is quite the busy movie. Extensive in its meticulous depiction of Chinese history, the film charts the tumultuous course of the country from 1924 to 1977, including the ups and downs of political strife, the correspondingly fluctuating social conditions, and the general upheaval brought forth by 20th century modernity. With this as its framework, and with such large-scale concerns seeping into the primary narrative one minute and delicately fading away the next, the film is all the while essentially focused on two people, actors Douzi and Shitou. From their first encounter as young boys training for the Peking Opera, to their maturation on and off the stage as full-fledged stars and complex human beings, to a seemingly sedate middle-age conclusion,...