Video of actors on movie set falsely shared as 'psychiatric hospital patients escaping' in China
- This article is more than one year old.
- Published on July 1, 2023 at 11:32
- 3 min read
- By Clara IP, AFP Hong Kong
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"The Chengdu City No. 4 People's Hospital's wall collapsed, and mentally-ill patients fled," reads a simplified-Chinese tweet posted on June 13, 2023.
The tweet, posted by an account with more than 370,000 followers, has more than 1.5 million views.
The clip was shared in similar posts on Twitter here and here.
Film set
A keyword search found a longer version of the video posted on Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, on June 12, 2023 (archived link).
The video's caption says: "#No matter how bitter life is, I am still happy #filming site."
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in false posts (left) and the Douyin video (right):
The video in the false post corresponds to the first 30 seconds of the Douyin video.
The person who posted the video wrote in the comments section that it "was taken on a movie set".
"It is difficult for the actors in hot weather. Please don't misunderstand or misuse it!"
The Douyin user uploaded another video on the same day which showed a similar scene filmed from a different angle (archived link).
A woman can be heard shouting "3, 2, 1, action!" in Mandarin at the start of the video.
AFP has also found a Douyin video in an account that belongs to the movie's production team, which said the footage showed the filming of an upcoming comedy "Naodong Dakai" ("A Hole in the Head") in Chengdu's Pidu district (archived link).
"The scene where patients escaped from a psychiatric hospital was filmed and uploaded by netizens, and was misunderstood as genuine," text on the video reads.
The movie is jointly produced by Emei Film Group, Sichuan Huawen Company and Eying Group Media Company and directed by Tang Tao, as reported by local news organisation Sichuan Yaowen (archived here).
AFP contacted the production team for comment but has not received a reply, as of June 30.
Cheungdu Online Debunker, a Sina Weibo account associated with the city's government, has also dismissed the false claim in a post published on June 13 as false (archived link).
"Truth: a team making a movie," the article's headline read.
Filming in Chengdu
The Pidu government said in a statement published on May 26 that "A Hole in the Head" would start production in the district (archived link).
"Shooting will take place at various locations in the Pidu district," the statement said.
The location in the original video corresponds with the photos geotagged to the location of Shuhan Middle Street in Pidu district on Baidu Maps (archived link).
Shuhan Middle Street is located 1.2 kilometres (0.7 miles) away from the Chengdu City No.4 Hospital (archived link).
Below is a screenshot comparison of the video in the misleading post (left) and the Baidu Maps photo (right) with the painting and store branch indicator circled by AFP:
AFP found no credible news report about a hospital wall collapse or patients escaping from a psychiatric hospital in Chengdu in June 2023.
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