Canadian filmmaker Mostafa Keshvari is currently the talk of the town, for he has made a movie titled Corona which is touted to be the first film to tackle the subject of the novel virus COVID-19. Interestingly Keshvari conceptualized the script for the movie after the outbreak hit Canada in late January this year and had completed filming it by February, 2020 before the entire world went into a lockdown. 

In various print interviews since then, Keshvari has said, “The idea came to me when I was in an elevator reading news about Chinese tourists being attacked, and I thought I am going to make a movie in an elevator. You see the rawness of the characters. They talk over each other and their fear becomes real,”

In addition to his condemnation of racial hate-crimes, Keshvari who  runs a network for budding artists from minority backgrounds in his line of work says at the time he embarked on his project, “nobody thought a white person could get it.” He adds, “It was then known as the Chinese virus, but now everyone can have it, so it is not just one race’s problem. The virus does not discriminate, so why should we?” 

Corona, the film takes place entirely on an elevator with a Chinese lady, a pregnant woman, a wheelchair-bound Nazi with a swastika tattoo on his forehead and some other neighbours. The trailer of the movie was released on March 8, 2020 and the same can be viewed above.