76 DAYS
A film by Hao Wu, Weixi Chen
2020, 93 minutes
2020, 93 minutes
No. 351
Documentary
Documentary
Shortlisted | Best Documentary Feature | 2021 Academy Awards
Winner | Documentary Feature | 2021 Primetime Emmy Awards
Winner | Documentary Feature | 2021 Primetime Emmy Awards
Description
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 in four hospitals, 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.
Festivals
Winner, Audience Award for Best Documentary, AFI Fest
Winner, Grand Prize in Feature Documentary, Social Impact Award, Heartland International Film Festival
Official Selection, Toronto International Film Fesitval
Reviews
“Four Stars. Gripping and compassionate. One of the miracles of 76 Days is its very existence: Filmed by journalist Weixi Chen and an anonymous co-director, with their images edited together by U.S.-based filmmaker Hao Wu, the film is a triumph of investigative commitment and perseverance. This is a film about courage, as well as empathy, professionalism and resilience — and it’s a film that embodies those values itself.” – Washington Post
“An extraordinary documentary.” – The Guardian,
“Rarely has recent global history seemed so far away, yet so present. It's one of the year's essential documents.” – Chicago Tribune
“There have already been a few documentaries about the Covid-19 pandemic, and I expect many more in the years to come. But 76 Days will surely be remembered as one of the gutsiest, best, and, oddly, most hopeful… 76 Days manages to be funny and heart-racing, heartbreaking and humanizing — and it ends, improbably enough, on a note of hope. It’s a massive project that provides a glimpse into reality and an invaluable record of this moment.” – Vox
“Utterly compelling. The first significant piece of cinema made about the coronavirus pandemic.” – The Atlantic
