While Nanfu Wang was still working on another project, she set out to make a short film about the Chinese government's response to the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving her son with her mother.

But as COVID-19 spread, Wang became worried and started looking for more information during her stay in China, she found that much of it was censored or false propaganda disseminated by the Chinese government.

She began contacting cinematographers in Wuhan, China and soon realized that the stories about the pandemic were too important to be in a short film.

She started incorporating the American response to the pandemic after seeing some U.S. health officials share misinformation about it.

The critics' consensus reads: "Gripping and clear-eyed, In the Same Breath captures history as it's being written -- and governmental failures as they amplify worldwide tragedy.