76 Days

Ends Thursday, March 4

(USA / 2020 / Directed by Weixi Chen, Hao Wu, & Anonymous)

Set in the early days of the COVID-19 outbreak, this raw and intimate documentary captures an invaluable record of life inside Wuhan, China, ground zero for the outbreak of COVID-19. On January 23rd, the city of 11 million people went into a lockdown that lasted 76 days. This film concentrates on medical workers and patients, giving a pulse-racing account of what it was like to survive.

The opening sequences feel almost like science fiction or an apocalyptic thriller. We watch hospital workers encased in PPE racing from one patient to another. At the hospital doors, a desperate crowd is clamoring for entry, but the demand is overwhelming, and the workers can only admit a few people at a time. For all these fantastical elements, this is the reality of 2020. Deep inside the frontlines of the crisis in four different hospitals, 76 Days captures indelible human stories – from a woman begging in vain to bid a final farewell to her father, to a grandfather with dementia searching for his way home, a couple anxious to meet their newborn, and a nurse working tirelessly to return personal items to families of the deceased. These raw and intimate stories bear witness to a city in crisis, and to the human resilience that persists in times of profound tragedy. 76 Days will be a lasting work of art for future generations trying to understand this pandemic.

Unrated / 1 hr 33 mins.