THE FILM: PARTICIPANTS

Yin, 30, volunteer medical driver and factory worker
After being furloughed from his job in a tobacco factory during the lockdown, Yin works as a volunteer driver for medical workers shuttling them between the quarantine hotels and the hospitals. Unable to endure the monotony of his lockdown daily routine at home with his wife, Xu, who is 37 weeks pregnant, Yin seeks advice from his passengers and fulfills his sense of duty during the pandemic.

Xu, 23, tour guide, wife of Yin
Xu is in full term pregnancy and is expecting to give birth to a “pandemic baby” during the extraordinary lockdown period in Wuhan. She is as nervous as any first-time-mother, but with the added stress of protecting her family from an invisible virus. This is doubly aggravating to her since her husband, Yin, decides to be a volunteer medical driver risking his own safety for others and, in her eyes, neglecting his role as a father-to-be.

Dr. Xiannian Zheng, 35, ER Chief Physician
Dr. Zheng works at Wuhan No. 5 Hospital which is the first designated hospital for critical COVID-19 cases. As the ER chief doctor, he faces insurmountable pressure, known and unknown obstacles, and the high risk of catching the virus himself. Though the hospital is constantly in lack of medical supplies, he races against time, dedicated to save more lives and embolden the spirits of his overworked colleagues.

Dr. Guiqing Zhang, 55, Psychologist
Arriving from Xinjiang province as a volunteer, Dr. Zhang, a psychologist, provides professional support for thousands of patients in Fangcang Temporary Hospital. Dealing with the unexpected news of her father’s terminal lung cancer, she nonetheless forges ahead to help her patients heal and find ways to endure their mandatory quarantine.

Susu, 34, ICU Nurse
Working in the ICU with the most severe COVID-19 cases, Susu practices patience and kindness as she cares for of each of her patients, especially “Grumpy Grandpa” in Bed 15. Quarantined in a hotel for medical workers and unable to return home to see her two children and her husband, Susu perseveres by turning her love for her family towards her patients.

Xiuli Liu, 41, Lailai’s Mother
After testing positive for COVID-19, Mama Liu and her son, Lai Lai, are quarantined in the Fangcang Temporary Hospital for treatment and observation. To be released from the mandatory quarantine, you must test negative for COVID-19 three times. With the impending closure of the temporary hospital and not knowing the prospects of their recovery, Mama Liu fights to protect her son and their livelihoods in a medical system bogged-down by bureaucracy.

Lailai, 9
As a 9-year-old boy, Lai Lai is still trying to understand what living in the Fangcang Temporary Hospital means, which largely means escaping into his mother’s smartphone and video games. Seeing his mother being so protective of him, he decides that even if he recovers first, he will never leave his mother’s side.

Grandpa Shen, 56
Under Nurse Susu’s watchful eye in the ICU, Grandpa Shen is Bed Patient 15 recovering from COVID-19. Amongst the medical staff, he is jokingly known as “Grumpy Grandpa”, a common stereotype for Wuhan senior citizens who have the national reputation of being curmudgeonly

Key Issues

WuhanWuhan chronicles the early months of the global pandemic in the first city that faced locked down—Wuhan, China. At a time when much uncertainty and fear existed, the filmmakers were able to capture the everyday lives of people living, surviving, and helping one another maintain their human connections. These stories illuminate many topics and will be of special interest to people who want to explore the following topics:

• COVID-19
• Health care
• Mental health & Trauma
• Caregiving
• Intergenerational families
• Parenting
• Friendship
• Grief
• Community, Volunteerism, & Mutual Aid
• Adversity & Courage
• Propaganda & Misinformation