Coronation, the first feature film on the Wuhan lockdown shot by Ai Weiwei

Coronation is the title of Ai Weiwei ’s latest film focusing on forced confinement in Wuhan. Deserted streets, cleaners dressed in protective gear washing the streets and surfaces with disinfectants, the sound of alarms announcing the arrival of health workers ready to load people onto stretchers. Almost apocalyptic images that give an idea of what life was like in Wuhan during the lockdown.

The film aims to view the city through the lens of China’s strong state control. The artist, who has always been openly critical of the Chinese government and was imprisoned for a full eighty days for it in 2011, recently directed and produced the film from his home in Berlin. Actors were ordinary citizens of Wuhan.

Coronation is the first feature film about the Coronavirus in Wuhan, the first city to be affected by the pandemic: it aims to depict the militarized state of control, the response to the medical emergency, and the lives of ordinary people in the shadow of a dictatorship state. Lasting 115 minutes, the feature film has been available on Vimeo On Demand since Aug. 21.

Ai Weiwei began shooting the film in January, for two months he photographed and in another two months he completedediting. “It is probably the feature film I made the fastest,” the artist himself commented. He added, "It was intended to capture the real situation as best as possible, including the city and the lockdown, the intensive care in the different hospitals, the surveillance areas in the hospitals, and how goods were delivered under lockdown conditions."

It also includes interviews with patients and their families; many of them expressed frustration and anger about the very heavy restrictions dictated by the government.

Through the pandemic, the film aims to show the government’s crisis management and social control, “a mixture of surveillance, brainwashing and brutal control over every aspect of society.” “The result is a society that lacks trust, transparency and respect for humanity,” said Ai Weiwei.

Pictured is Wuham Central Station during the lockdown. Ph.Credit Ai Weiwei

Coronation, the first feature film on the Wuhan lockdown shot by Ai Weiwei

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