China filmmakers capture horror and humanity of Wuhan’s coronavirus lockdown

Name: We speak to a resident inside Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak
Uploaded: 2020-09-15T07:53:40.000Z
Duration: 2 min 50 s
Description: We speak to a resident inside Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak

Documentary shows life inside the city’s hospitals during the 76 days it was locked down in early fight against virus

Toronto film festival screens harrowing account which stays out of politics and focuses on human suffering

Reading Time:2 minutes

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A man in full protective gear carries a box containing the ashes of a deceased person at a Wuhan funeral home during the lockdown. Photo: EPA-EFE

Agence France-Presse

Published: 3:53pm, 15 Sep 2020Updated: 4:02pm, 15 Sep 2020

The first major documentary on the coronavirus pandemic’s original epicentre to hit theatres was screened at the Toronto film festival on Monday.

The film, 76 Days – named for the duration of the draconian lockdown in the central Chinese city of Wuhan – captures harrowing footage of terrified citizens hammering on hospital doors, medical staff collapsing from exhaustion, and relatives begging in vain to say goodbye to infected loved ones.

It was made in February, when the disease was still relatively unknown in the US, by two Chinese filmmakers who donned protective suits and embedded themselves in the city’s overrun hospitals. The images were edited together by New York-based director Hao Wu (People’s Republic of Desire).

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We speak to a resident inside Wuhan, the epicentre of the coronavirus outbreak

Shot in a claustrophobic, cinema verite style – without voice-over or direct-to-camera interviews – the film relies on the intimacy of the footage of doctors and patients grappling with a terrifying new reality.

Wu first contacted the two filmmakers, one of whom is anonymous for his own safety, after witnessing China’s early lockdown first-hand during a family visit for Lunar New Year.

The footage they sent him revealed how, in the chaos of the disease’s early weeks, they were able to get remarkable access – but at considerable personal risk and suffering.

“It was a horrible, horrible shooting experience for them,” Wu said. “They were fainting, it was really warm. A few times [filmmaker Weixi Chen] wanted to throw up inside [his] goggles, but he couldn’t because once you throw up, once you remove your PPE, you have to get out, you could not come back again. “It was like shooting in a war zone.”