Oscars 2025: China out of race as Oscar entry deemed ineligible because....

Oscars 2025: Bad news for China’s entertainment industry as its official entry for Best International Feature has been deemed ineligible. China sent the film The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, a documentary feature as its official entry.

However, days after the submission was made, The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences confirmed that the film failed to meet their minimum language requirement for the award. According to the rules, any film to compete must have “a predominantly (more than 50 per cent) non-English dialogue track”.

Also, the films had to be submitted before the October 2 deadline.

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Now that the film has been deemed ineligible, China will not be able to send a replacement because it’s too late now.

What is The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru about?

The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru is directed by Fang Li. It tells the story of the titular “ship of death,” a cargo liner that was requisitioned by the Japanese Army during World War II. On Oct. 1, 1942, the ship was being used to transport POWs between Hong Kong and Japan when it was torpedoed in the East China Sea by an unwitting U.S. submarine. About three hundred and eighty-four British POWs were rescued by Chinese fishermen, but 828 died. They either drowned or were shot by Japanese soldiers while attempting to escape.

While out of the Oscars race, the film will next screen at the Asian World Film Festival on November 18.