Dongjiedo: WWII maritime action film opens July 1 with Asia's largest underwater set

Dongjiedo opens July 1. The maritime action film draws from the real Lisbon Maru incident during World War II, when a Japanese transport ship carrying 1,816 British prisoners of war went down. Residents of Dongjiedo dove into the sea and rescued hundreds of them.

The production constructed what it calls Asia's largest underwater set: 9,000㎡ (roughly 2,722 pyeong, or 1.3 soccer fields). The setup includes a system that generates approximately 200 waves, five water tanks, and 16 separate underwater filming spaces. Cast and crew spent more than 10 hours a day on location—between the open sea and the underwater set—to shoot it all.

Double Negative (DNEG) handled the visual effects. The studio worked on Dune, Jurassic World, and Blade Runner 2049. Their work here spans over 1,000 VFX shots depicting the Lisbon Maru's sinking. Pre-visualization alone took approximately eight months. Korean VFX company Motorhead, which worked on Hansan, Noryang: Death at Sea, and The Great Flood, also joined the project.

The score was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London by BAFTA-winning composer Atli Örvarsson.

Directors Guan Ho and Bi Jinshang (비진상) lead the film. Guan Ho won the Caméra d'Or in the Un Certain Regard section at the 77th Cannes Film Festival in 2024 for Black Dog. Bi Jinshang directed the drama Chenghan Canlan.

All three leads carry Zhang Yimou connections. Zhu Yilong (주일룡) was cast as the lead in Zhang's upcoming film Jingzhe Wusheng. Lei Ou (오뢰) worked with Zhang on Three Kingdoms: Shadow of the Dragon and broke through as an adult actress there. Ni Ni (니니) debuted in Zhang's The Flowers of War and became a star immediately after.