The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru, was China's entry for the Best International Feature Oscar category for the 2025 Academy Awards. However, the film has been deemed ineligible for that award. While it will still be eligible in another category, China will not be able to submit another film for Best Feature.
China's best feature submission disqualified According to a report in The Hollywood Reporter, The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru from China is no longer in the running for the Best International Feature Oscar. The publication has said that The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has confirmed to them that the film failed to meet their minimum language requirement for the award. The rule requires that a film must have 'a predominantly (more than 50 percent) non-English dialogue track' to be eligible.
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| EXCLUSIVE What this disqualification means is that China cannot submit another film in the category. The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru was submitted just before the October 2 submission deadline. Since it was too late once this issue was discovered, China won't be able to submit a replacement.
Though the film is no longer eligible for the Best International Feature, it is still eligible for the Best Documentary Feature. More about The Sinking of the Lisbon Maru Directed by Fang Li, the film recounts the story of the titular 'ship of death,' a cargo liner that was requisiti.