The Movie Beijing Doesn’t Want You to See | Yan Ma

American Thought Leaders

The Epoch Times

Government, News, Politics

4.9 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 15 August 2025

⏱️ 40 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Canadian-Chinese filmmaker Yan Ma knew from the outset that he was putting himself at risk for making a political thriller about a lab leak in China. “The Unrestricted War” is a movie that was inspired by the cover-up and outbreak of COVID-19 and spotlights how the Chinese Communist Party coerces its citizens, and even foreigners living within China, to achieve its ends.

Officials pressured Ma’s family members back in China in attempts to coerce him to stop the project. His Chinese team members faced similar pressure. Ethnically Chinese actors refused to participate in the film for fear of the Chinese regime targeting them, ruining their careers, or threatening their families. The actor cast as the lead of the project abruptly backed out just three days before filming, leaving Yan and his casting director scrambling to audition a new lead.

In this episode, we dive into some of the extraordinary challenges Yan and his team faced to make this movie a reality, and why he feels it was all worth it.

Views expressed in this video are opinions of the host and the guest, and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.

Transcript

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0:00.0	My producer, Sophia, they tried to recruit her to be a spy before she leaves the country.
0:05.0	Yang Ma is the director of the new feature film, The Unrestricted War,
0:10.0	a thriller inspired by the events surrounding the outbreak of COVID-19.
0:15.0	What they did after that turn a crisis, a public health crisis to a global disaster.
0:21.6	In this episode, he reveals some of the incredible challenges they face to make this film.
0:26.6	Sometimes we shot up on the set and the owner suddenly gets scared.
0:30.6	Oh, this is going to put me in danger.
0:32.6	Three days before filming, you auditioned a new lead for the film? Yeah.
0:38.3	Yeah, that's called Pretty. It was, yes.
0:42.3	His own family members in China were threatened by the Chinese communist regime.
0:46.3	They cut some of my family members' income.
0:49.3	They cut their paycheck.
0:50.3	Like the convenience store next to my house,
0:53.3	and I mean, the back to the store actually
0:55.1	turn into a secret Chinese PlayStation. That's ironic to me. This is American Thought Leaders, and I'm
1:04.0	Yan Ya Kelleck. Jan Ma, such a pleasure to have you on American Thought Leaders.
1:11.6	Thank you for having me.
1:12.6	You've made an really, really excellent film, but there were some moments where you were
1:20.1	wondering to yourself that maybe this film won't be made at all.
1:24.6	And I want to get you to tell me about them.
1:26.6	I'm talking about the ones that are not typical to most movies.
1:30.8	As a Chinese-Canadian filmmaker, we kind of knew this from the very beginning of the production.
	...

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