SDFF Co-Director Jean McGlothlin sits down with Yung Chang, the filmmaker behind two SDFF 2021 films that deal with dangerous, politically fraught, and ultimately tragic, situations. Wuhan Wuhan captures the early days of the coronavirus at the epicenter of what would become a worldwide pandemic, while This Is Not A Movie tracks journalist Robert Fisk who has perpetually put his life at risk to cover conflicts in the Middle East. Truth and empathy are mutually constitutive elements that form the core of both films, which capture human experience at points of catastrophic world change and posit a path forward out of the current crisis in truth, which is at the heart of so much tragedy.
This interview is one of a handful of video exclusives made available to the public as part of SDFF 2021, and will be up year-round. Wuhan Wuhan and This Is Not A Movie streamed as part of SDFF 2021 from June 10-13.