Free China: The Courage to Believe

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Movie
German title Free China: The Courage to Believe
Original title Free China: The Courage to Believe
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 2012
length 61 minutes
Rod
Director Michael Perlman
script Michael Perlman
production Kean Wong and Michael Perlman
music Tony Chen
occupation

Jennifer Zeng, Dr. Charles Lee, David Kilgour, Chris Smith, Ethan Gutmann

Free China: The Courage to Believe is a 2012 documentary (61 minutes) about the persecution of Falun Gong starring Jennifer Zeng and Dr. Charles Lee. The film was written and directed by Michael Perlman, the documentary was produced by Kean Wong and Michael Perlman, with music by Tony Chen.

The film

The film tells the true story of Jennifer Zeng, mother and former member of the Chinese Communist Party . Jennifer Zeng practices Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa ) with over 70 million Chinese people , a spiritual qigong practice that consists of energy exercises, meditation and a moral philosophy and is linked to Buddhist traditions . The practice was first taught publicly in the spring of 1992 by Li Hongzhi in northeast China towards the end of the Chinese "qigong boom".

Initially supported by the government and sponsored by the state-run Qigong Association and other government agencies, Falun Gong was banned in 1999, and practitioners were monitored and persecuted. While monitoring Falun Gong practitioners, the Chinese Internet police intercepted an email from Jennifer Zeng, and she was arrested and detained for her belief. After being subjected to physical and mental torture , she had to choose whether to remain steadfast and in prison or to give up her belief so that she can tell her story to the people of the world and be reunited with her family.

Dr. Charles Lee, a Sino-American businessman, wanted to do his part to end the persecution by attempting to broadcast uncensored information on China's state-controlled television. However, he was expected upon arrival in China, arrested, and sentenced to three years of re-education in a forced labor camp. In the labor camp, he had to do forced labor , including making Homer Simpson slippers, which are sold in American shops.

With over a hundred thousand protests taking place in China every year, as any political scandal breaks out, more unrest builds among the Chinese. With China's prisoners of conscience being subjected to forced labor and even organ harvesting from Falun Gong practitioners and other dissidents, this documentary also covers deep issues such as genocide , human rights violations and unfair trade practices with the West. However, the film also shows how new Internet technologies are helping to bring more freedom to over 1.3 billion people in China and other repressive regimes .

Interviewees of the film

  • Jennifer Zeng - Author of Witnessing History: One Chinese Woman's Fight for Freedom
  • Dr. Charles Lee - Chinese-American businessman and labor camp survivor
  • David Kilgour - Former Canadian Secretary of State and Prosecutor and co-author of Bloody Harvest - Investigation Report into Allegations of Organ Harvesting from Falun Gong Practitioners in China
  • Chris Smith - US Congressman and Chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China
  • Ethan Gutmann - China analyst, human rights investigator and author of The Slaughter: Mass Murders, Organ Harvesting, and China's Secret Solution to Its Dissident Problem and Losing The New China: A Story of Commerce, Desire, and Betrayal ; Contributor to The Wall Street Journal Asia

Awards and performances

The film received several awards, including:

  • Top award for documentaries under 60 min. at the 45th WorldFest Houston International Film Festival (Houston, TX, April 21, 2012)
  • Top Award in the "International Political and Cultural Documentaries" category at the LA Awareness Film Festival (Venice, CA, May 6, 2012)
  • American Insight Free Speech Film Festival Winner (Philadelphia, May 16, 2012)
  • "Best of the Fest" at the Freethought International Film Festival (Denver, CO, August 3, 2012)
  • Top Award in the "International Political and Cultural Documentaries" category at the LA Awareness Film Festival (Venice, CA, November 4, 2012)
  • Best Feature Film at the IX International Short Film Festival - FENACO (Peru, November 17, 2012)
  • Nominated for "Best Sound Track Album 2012" at the Hollywood Music in Media Awards
  • Best program at the Open Film Festival Travno (Zagreb, Croatia, July 2013) #
  • Best Song for Indie Film / Documentary / Short at the 2013 Hollywood Music in # -s Media Awards (Los Angeles, CA, November 21, 2013)
  • Best Documentary at the 2014 Noida International Film Festival (Noida, India, February 9, 2014)
  • 86th Academy Oscar Contender for Best Documentary, Best Original Score and Song (2014)
  • International Winner - Feature Documentary at the 12th Annual Garden State Film Festival (Atlantic City, NJ, April 6, 2014)

Free China was presented as the official selection at

  • 2012 Ottawa International Film Festival, Canada
  • 2012 Ottawa Free Thinking Film Festival, Canada
  • 2012 LA Indie Film Festival, USA
  • 15th East Lansing Film Festival in 2012
  • 17th Palm Beach International Film Festival in 2012
  • 2013 Millenium International Documentary Film Festival in Belgium, June, 2013
  • 2013 International Human Rights Film Festival in Albania, September 29, 2013
  • 2013 CAM International Film Festival in Cairo, Egypt, October 2013

Screenings at political events

  • American Philosophical Society (May 2012)
  • US Congress (September 2012)
  • Google Headquarters (January 2013)
  • European Parliament, Brussels (March 2013)
  • London School of Economics (March 2013)
  • Israeli Parliament (April 2103)
  • British Parliament (July 2013)

Production data

  • Production year: 2012
  • Production company: New Tang Dynasty Television
  • Production: Kean Wong and Michael Perlman
  • Script and Direction: Michael Perlman (Tibet: Beyond Fear and The 99%: Occupy Everywhere)
  • Title song: "The Courage to Believe"
  • Music: Tony Chen
  • Lyrics: Kean Wong and Michael Perlman

Free China was made available in over 20 languages ​​by the end of 2014.

The online premiere was on February 3, 2015.

Film music, trailers, and DVDs of the film are available on the Free China website.

The film was shown in over 700 private theaters. On December 18, 2015, the Ukrainian TV station WYCTEP-Live broadcast the documentary Free China.

See also

Bibliography

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ A b Kean Wong, Free China: The filmmakers , NTDTV, accessed October 14, 2016
  2. ^ A b David Ownby, Falun Gong and the Future of China , New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 978-0-19-532905-6 , accessed November 12, 2016
  3. ^ David Palmer, Qigong Fever: Body, Science and Utopia in China , New York, NY: Columbia University Press, 2007, ISBN 0-231-14066-5 , accessed November 12
  4. Jump up ↑ Mickey Spiegel, Dangerous Meditation: China's Campaign Against Falungong , Human Rights Watch, 2002, ISBN 1-56432-269-6 , accessed November 12, 2016
  5. ↑ a b c d e f g FreeChina: The Film , NTDTV, accessed October 14, 2016
  6. ↑ David Kilgour, David Matas, An Independent Investigation into Allegations of Organ Harvesting of Falun Gong Practitioners in China (in 22 languages) , organharvestinvestigation.net, July 6, 2006, revised January 31, 2007, accessed October 14, 2016
  7. ↑ Jennifer Zeng, Witnessing History: One Woman's Fight for Freedom and Falun Gong, March 1, 2005, ISBN 978-1741144000
  8. ↑ Free China: Awards / Nominations , NTDTV, accessed October 14, 2016
  9. ↑ Free China: The Courage to Believe ( Memento from January 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ), The Arts Council, 2012–2013, accessed on October 14, 2016
  10. ↑ a b Free China: The DVD Shop , NTDTV, accessed October 14, 2016
  11. ↑ Free China: Trailers , NTDTV, accessed October 14, 2016
  12. ↑ Free China: Screenings , NTDTV, 2014, accessed October 14, 2016