Jan 22, 2021
A lone movie goer attends the first screening today of the film Days and Nights in Wuhan in a cineplex in Wuhan in central China s Hubei province. China is rolling out the state-backed film praising Wuhan ahead of the anniversary of the 76-day lockdown in the central Chinese city where the coronavirus was first detected. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)
WUHAN, China (AP) Two new films about Wuhan were released today, the eve of the anniversary of the start of a 76-day lockdown in the central Chinese city where the coronavirus was first detected. How they were released and who their audiences are stand in stark contrast.
January 23, 2021
The Diplomat has removed paywall restrictions on our coverage of the COVID–19 crisis.
Residents wearing protective gear wait near a toll booth where some are entering the locked-down city of Wuhan on Thursday, April 2, 2020.
Credit: AP Photo/Ng Han Guan
Advertisement
Two new films about Wuhan were released on January 22, the eve of the anniversary of the start of a 76-day lockdown in the central Chinese city where COVID-19 was first detected. How they were released and who their audiences are stand in stark contrast.
The first, a state-backed film praising Wuhan’s sacrifices, is being screened throughout China, targeting audiences that firmly back the ruling Communist Party’s response to the outbreak. The second, a somber documentary about the pandemic from artist and political activist Ai Weiwei, has been forced to seek viewers online, a testimony to the party’s influence over the global film industry.
How the two were released and who their audiences are stand in stark contrast.
Residents wearing masks past by a screen showing a trailer for the film Days and Nights in Wuhan outside a mall in Wuhan in central China s Hubei province on Friday. AP
Two new films about Wuhan were released today, on the eve of the anniversary of the 76-day lockdown in the central Chinese city where the coronavirus was first detected.
How they were released and who their audiences are stand in stark contrast.
The first,
Days and Nights in Wuhan, a state-backed film praising Wuhan’s sacrifices, is being screened throughout China, targeting audiences that firmly back the Communist Party’s response to the outbreak.
22 Jan 2021
The Chinese Communist Party began early celebrations for the anniversary of allegedly successful lockdowns imposed on millions of people in “heroic” Wuhan, the home city of the Chinese coronavirus, on Saturday, amid a resurgence of the virus in some of the country’s biggest cities, including Beijing, Shanghai, and Hong Kong.
The outbreak, which has seen “de facto” lockdowns in at least 11 regions of the northeast in addition to the Shanghai and Hong Kong actions, began about two weeks after China organized a massive New Year’s Eve party for thousands of people in Wuhan, seen in photos reveling in tightly packed quarters. Public health experts have discouraged mass gatherings in nations where the virus is still circulation, but China nonetheless held the party and compared it favorably to cancellations of similar events in places like New York City.