I Remember follows filmmaker Jane Deng’s journey into locked-down Wuhan in early 2020 and the years of reflection that followed. What she initially expected to be a one-week trip became six months of filming alongside patients, healthcare workers, journalists, homeless people, and social workers. Her camera captured both the unfolding public health crisis and the people confronting loss, defending their right to speak, and finding ways to rebuild.
As a producer, I see the film’s power in the relationship between witnessing and remembering. Jane’s proximity to her subjects gives the documentary an intimacy that extends beyond the immediate events of the outbreak. As she returns to Wuhan over the following years, the film also confronts the lasting burden of what she witnessed: the consequences faced by those who spoke out, the promises she made to her subjects, and her own struggle to revisit the footage.
Completed in New York in 2025, I Remember brings these experiences into a deeply personal account of survival, silence, and memory. For me, presenting this film means creating space for audiences to encounter Wuhan through individual lives and relationships. It asks what it means to carry other people’s stories—and how cinema can preserve those stories when remembering itself becomes difficult.
I Remember · Official poster
Production & Cultural Context
I Remember offers an intimate perspective on the early COVID-19 outbreak in Wuhan through the experiences of a Chinese filmmaker who entered the city at age 23. Drawing on Jane Deng’s lived experience across China, the United Kingdom, and the United States, the film connects a specific local history with broader questions of survival, censorship, and how personal and collective memories are preserved.
The documentary centers ordinary Wuhan residents whose experiences can be obscured by larger political and media narratives. Told primarily in Mandarin with English subtitles, it invites international audiences to engage with their lives through their own words, while retaining the cultural specificity of the community portrayed.
The core production team spans China and the United States and is led by women and people of color. Collaboration across time zones and political contexts brings multiple perspectives to a story rooted in the director’s firsthand experience.
As a producer, my aim is to help this story reach audiences across cultural and linguistic boundaries while preserving its intimacy and complexity. Through international screenings and dialogue, we hope the film can deepen understanding of the people of Wuhan and keep their experiences present in our collective memory.
Student Academy Awards / 2025
Recognition
The film received the Bronze Medal in the Documentary category at the 2025 Student Academy Awards.
Celebrating I Remember at the 2025 Student Academy Awards.
