• Director(s):

    LE BELZIC (Sébastien)

  • Producer(s):

    ARTE GEIE

  • Territories:

    Worldwide.

  • Production year:

    2020

  • Language(s):

    German, English, French

  • Rights:

    TV, DVD, NON-THEATRICAL, INTERNET, VOD

China has decided to fight against the COVID-19 epidemic by putting the whole country in quarantine. In Beijing this means empty streets, compulsory masks and checkpoints as the whole apparatus of the state is used to impose severe restrictions on the population’s movements​.

Since the Maoist revolution, in every district, street, residence, or company, Party agents have been observing, controlling, reporting, and informing the government on every movement the Chinese people have been doing. They are now barricading, and are inventing more stringent rules every day to force everyone to stand still. Sébastien Le Belzic, a journalist based in Beijing for 15 years, found himself confined to his building with his family.
The only way to escape the constant watch is through social networks. This is also how our reporter manages to converse with some brave bloggers who try to inform the Chinese of the current coronavirus situation. But it’s not easy to communicate on internet. Because there is a virus that the Party fears more than all the others: freedom.
A report from inside the epidemic by a French resident of Beijing.