Iranian doc ‘I, Earth, COVID’ production starts

Iranian documentarian Mehdi Qorbanpour has announced the production of his new documentary ‘I, Earth, COVID’ is underway.

The documentary is about coronavirus and will be filmed on Iran’s Kish Island.

“Late March, when the coronavirus outbreak started in Iran, I decided to make this documentary which has a personal subject. The idea came to my mind in the first days of the self-quarantine which is imposed on us because of the coronavirus crisis. In my opinion, not only the virus is a health matter, but also a critical period in history and culture. So we cannot ignore its impact on man’s life. Therefore, I decided to take the risk and make the documentary,” Qorbanpour said.

About the subject of the documentary, he said “the subject is about myself as a documentarian. It was a challenge for me; I had to decide on keeping myself safe in quarantine or going out to make the documentary which is my profession and duty”.

According to Qorbanpour, he has been living on Kish Island for a while to make a documentary, but the production of his project has been postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak. So he is using the opportunity to make his new documentary ‘I, Earth, COVID’ in a hospital on the island.

He added that despite the strict protections to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus, the virus found its way into the island and resulted in the death of a number of tourists.

The flu-like deadly coronavirus originated in China in late 2019 and later spread to more than 100 other countries around the globe.

The World Health Organization (WHO) has declared the virus a global pandemic.

PR/MG