“If you control the power of narrative, you control history…” As the first anniversary of the Wuhan outbreak approaches, one documentary at the upcoming U.S. Daydance Film Festival is receiving special attention – In the Same Breath, the latest work by Chinese female filmmaker Wang Nanxi, which chronicles the chaos and disillusionment of the Wuhan outbreak in early 2020. In the Same Breath” is a documentary that chronicles the chaos and disillusionment of the Wuhan Epidemic in early 2020, but also pans to the United States to depict how the same scenario played out in the U.S., satirizing the mismanagement of the leaders of both countries.
The documentary is being produced with funding from HBO and will be shown on Warner Media’s platforms in the future. What’s so special about director Medical Device Wang and this documentary? Will Warner, which controls the world’s largest film and entertainment market, be forced to abandon the Chinese market because of this documentary? In the picture “In the Same Breath”, citing the official announcement in Wuhan on January 1, 2020 that eight people who spread rumors about the epidemic have been investigated and punished according to the law, several Chinese TV news anchors say the same thing: “Eight people who spread rumors have been investigated and punished according to the law”.
Her documentaries such as “Rogue Swallow” (known in China as “After Hainan”) and “The Land of the Only Living” have won numerous awards, and “The Land of the Only Living” was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature at the 2020 Academy Awards. Born in rural Jiangxi, China, 36-year-old Medical Device Wang was forced to drop out of school when her father passed away when she was 12 years old and could not afford the tuition fees. But she didn’t give up and went to vocational school, eventually studying English literature at Shanghai University, then moving to the U.S. to study communication at Ohio State University, where she completed a master’s degree in documentary film at New York University and now lives in New York.
During his studies at NYU, he returned to China with his camera and completed his first feature film “Rogue Yan” in 2016, featuring sex worker advocate Ye Haiyan, who protested against the “sacrifice” of six primary school girls to officials by the principal of Hainan Elementary School in China. When he first filmed “Rascal Swallow”, he only wanted to learn about Ye Haiyan’s Life as a sex worker, but later he followed Ye Haiyan to Hainan Island to protest against the sexual assault of the principal of Hainan Elementary School, and witnessed how the officials suppressed the rights activists and blocked information during the process.
In 2019, Mr. Wang completed the documentary film “The Land of One Child”, which asks about the consequences of China’s one-child policy. He said that she was named “male medical device” because her Family wanted her to be a pillar of the family and to carry the family’s hope of having a child. After having a child of her own, she decided to return to her hometown and explore the deep sense of helplessness and powerlessness of disadvantaged individuals under China’s one-child policy, such as the fact that the one-child policy should be “for the sake of the country”.
In the Same Breath” is still in the same vein as his latest documentary, which has a strong sense of reflection and core concern. The film includes a selection of Chinese news footage: several TV news anchors speak in unison about “eight rumor spreaders being investigated and punished according to the law” in Wuhan, and through remote interviews and footage shot by several citizen journalists, the heartbreaking scenes in Wuhan – the pain of not being able to say goodbye to loved ones, frontline medical workers and funeral workers – are gradually presented. The trauma of being constantly confronted with death. His wife was left to watch the ambulance carry away the body after he was refused treatment by various hospitals.
His wife was left to watch the ambulance carry his body away. Medical doctors condemned the Chinese Communist Party for mishandling the case and concealing it, but the same thing happened again in the United States soon after. In the documentary, Anthony Fauci, an epidemic prevention expert, was quoted as saying in March 2020 that “there is no need to wear a mask”; however, the truth is that the epidemic in New York began to spread last March. The United States then became a “replica of Wuhan” overnight – an empty station hall in New York, a nurse disciplined by a hospital for wearing a mask, and another nurse fired for expressing safety concerns. But the final image of the documentary stops at the Time when the first vaccines are received, hoping that this will serve as a positive symbol. Medical Device also wants to use the documentary to ask: What have we learned from this outbreak? How can we prevent ourselves from repeating the same mistakes?
Disinfection personnel outside the South China Seafood Market in Wuhan last March.
Since the film has not yet been officially released, will the Chinese Communist Party respond? How will they respond? Will Warner Group, the sponsor behind the documentary, be “punished” by China? It remains to be seen. An expert familiar with China’s entertainment industry told the Washington Post, “Look what happened to the NBA back then (when the Rockets’ GM tweeted in support of Hong Kong, causing China’s displeasure)! Chinese platforms pulled all game broadcasts and you can’t buy Rockets-related merchandise anymore!”
Sony’s 1997 film “Seven Years in Tibet,” starring Brad Pitt, sparked discontent with the Chinese Communist Party because it dealt with life in Tibet from 1944 to 1951, which led to the suspension of business relations with Sony’s producers. Brad Pitt himself was also implicated in a 10-year visa ban imposed by the Chinese Communist Party.
For film makers, touching sensitive issues in China must be a big risk, which is why the outside world is wondering if HBO and Warner Group are really not worried about ruining their “money”? For all the questions, HBO has not yet any response. The medical device also said that HBO has not interfered with the production of the documentary for commercial reasons.
Because of her past filming experience, Wang said that the Chinese Communist Party became “concerned” about her mother back Home in November last year, which she saw as a renewed attempt to exert pressure. But it also made her feel compelled to keep going – to tell the story of the run-up to the outbreak and how the Chinese government used the tragedy to inspire extreme patriotism, “when the government is telling us where to look, it’s also telling us where not to look.”
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