Festival honors film makers exposing abuses in China
The first Shenzhou International Film Festival took place in Washington D. C. on Sunday, July 15,2007, with several of the filmmakers in attendance. Instead of the typical hierarchy of prizes, just two awards were given: One for Courage, and the other for Justice.
Shen Zhou International Film Festival
Film Festival Organizer Jingwei Wang explained that the festival has three main themes: exposing the crimes of the Chinese Communist Party, examining human rights issues, and helping to stop the persecution of innocent people.
“The biggest persecution in modern human history – the persecution of Falun Gong in China – began on July 20, 1999, and we feel that film is a peaceful and powerful tool to draw attention to this persecution and human rights violations.”
However, the films did not solely cover this subject. In the Courage category, the winning film was Seoul Train. With its riveting footage of a secretive “underground railroad”, it is a gripping documentary exposé into the life and death of North Koreans as they try to escape their homeland and China, where if caught, will be forcefully deported back to North Korea to dire consequences. Adrian Hong of Liberty in North Korea (LINK), whose full-time job is relocating North Korean refugees in China to a safe, third country, accepted the award on behalf of Jim Butterworth, Lisa Sleeth, and Aaron Lubarsky, the film directors.
The winner in the Justice category was the documentary Plum Blossom, following the lives of Australian Zhizhen Dai and her young daughter Fadu Chen. Zhizhen dedicated her life to fighting for human rights following the wrongful death of her practitioner husband Chengyong Chen at the hands of Chinese authorities.
Determined to let the world know about the brutal death of her husband, and the ongoing suffering of millions of persecuted Falun Gong practitioners in China, Zhizhen Dai now journeys around the world together with her daughter carrying the message of human rights, truth and justice.
Attendee Chris Sterns offered his impressions of the festival and the subject of the Falun Gong persecution depicted in several of the films:
“Very moving. I was very unaware of what’s happening over there; it’s a brand new thing for me to discover and I hope that somewhere down the line we become more aware of this and do something to help out.”
In commenting on the future of the Shenzhou International Film Festival, Jingwei Wang said, “I believe, it is a very important film festival, because it is not just pure art or entertainment, but rather film combined with social life. We have confidence that the festival will develop very quickly, and it’s not about a one day event only, we hope to reach out to many people over a long period of time – from heart to heart.”
The festival ended with the screening of the non-competing Compassion or Evil . When asked why she felt participation in this festival and making films about the persecution of Falun Gong in China was important, Lillian Hong, director of film and also star of Shake the World commented:
“Falun Gong practitioners have been under persecution since 1999; that’s eight years too long. They’ve suffered an enormous amount of pain torture, and death, so there should be a stop, and this is another way we’re trying to stop it. Movies are a really powerful art form (to expose these atrocities).
All of the films produced by Shenzhou Film studio will be available on the studio’s website, www.shenzhoufilm.com
Additional reporting provided on-location by Caylan Ford
http://www.shenzhoufilm.com/sz/en/2008/08/25/a309.html 2008-8-25 17:51