A Vital Portrait of Human Resilience in Wuhan, China—the First Feature Documentary on the COVID-19 Pandemic to Play at a Film Festival—Receives World Premiere at TIFF 2020, Sept. 10-19
“Urgent, powerful filmmaking. You feel like you are there in those rooms
as coronavirus is breaking out and nobody knows what’s going on.”
– Cameron Bailey, TIFF Artistic Director
The Toronto International Film Festival will present the world premiere of 76 DAYS, a raw and emotional look at the struggles of the people of Wuhan, China, in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak. Directed by New York filmmaker Hao Wu (People’s Republic of Desire) and two China-based journalists (Weixi Chen and “Anonymous”) who took enormous personal risks to film at four different hospitals, 76 DAYS is the first documentary feature on the coronavirus pandemic to screen at a film festival.
On January 23rd, 2020, China locked down Wuhan, a city of 11 million, to combat the emerging COVID-19 outbreak. Set deep inside the frontlines of the crisis, 76 DAYS tells indelible human stories at the center of this pandemic—from a woman begging in vain to bid a final farewell to her father, a grandpa with dementia searching for his way home, a couple anxious to meet their newborn, to a nurse determined to return personal items to families of the deceased. These raw and intimate stories bear witness to the death and rebirth of a city under a 76-day lockdown, and to the human resilience that persists in times of profound tragedy.
76 DAYS is directed by Hao Wu, Weixi Chen and Anonymous. It is produced by Hao Wu and Jean Tsien.
TIFF Screenings:
*P&I – Sunday, Sept. 13, 11:00 am – Digital Cinema Pro
Avail. worldwide except for China, Hong Kong and Taiwan
Monday, Sept. 14, 5:15 pm – Bell Lightbox 4
*Tuesday, Sept. 15, 6:00 pm – Bell Digital Cinema
Only avail. in Canada
Thursday, Sept. 17, 4:30 pm – Bell Lightbox 1
*Denotes digital screenings