Fizzle Out

December, 2022, Documentary, 20 minutes.

Position: Director, Cinematographer, Editor, Colorist.

n the first month of the COVID-19 outbreak in 2020, I traveled alone to Wuhan as an independent filmmaker and joined the production of a documentary directed by the renowned Chinese documentarian Bo Qin. Together, we filmed inside ICU wards, followed the so-called “patient zero,” and documented elderly communities deeply affected by the pandemic.

During that period, I shot continuously for sixty days, capturing a vast amount of footage—much of which was not used in the final cut of Bo Qin’s film. Out of this experience, I created Fizzle Out, a documentary centered on the conflict between a grassroots community secretary and small vendors struggling to resume business under Wuhan’s lockdown policy during the pandemic.

In December 2022, when Mainland China abruptly lifted all lockdown restrictions and preventive measures, I revisited and re-edited the footage I had captured that year, transforming it into a personal reflection on endurance, authority, and the fading collective memory of that extraordinary time.