Hargrove Entertainment is proud to present the New York Theatrical Premier of the powerful, thought-provoking documentary: FALUN GONG'S CHALLENGE TO CHINA, a film by the award-winning journalist Danny Schechter. The film will be shown for one week, from May 11 to May 17, at the "Pioneer Two Boots Theatre," located at 155 East 3rd Street @ Avenue A, in New York's historic East Village.
Show times will be as follows:
Friday 5/11, 6:00 PM; Saturday 5/12, 4:00 PM; Sunday 5/13, 4:00 PM; Monday 5/14, 6:00 PM; Tuesday 5/15, 5:15PM; Wednesday 5/16, 4:15PM; Thursday 5/17, 6:00 PM.
Additional release dates across the US are being finalized.
"Falun Gong's Challenge to China" (Running Time: 58 Minutes)
Awards:
2001 Society of Professional Journalists - Sigma Delta Chi Television Documentary Award
2001 Unity In Media - Investigative Journalism
2001 Houston International Film Festival - REMI Award
2001 Ready For PBS Film Festival - Investigative Reporting
2001 Pulitzer Prize for International Journalism, Ian Johnson of The Wall Street Journal for Falun Gong Reporting
From the multi-award winning international veteran investigative journalist Danny Schechter ("Rights & Wrongs;" "South Africa Now") comes the first complete and objective look at FALUN GONG, a non-violent, anti-materialistic spiritual movement drawing on Buddhist and Taoist traditions. It has 100 million followers in over 40 countries around the world, including the U.S. The tremors its practitioners are causing in the corridors of power in the People's Republic of China today by way of their peaceful protests are indeed awesome. The practitioners follow the tradition of Mahatma Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr. and Bishop Desmond Tutu with their peaceful protests in support of freedom of conscience and freedom of association.
In one of the most bizarre cases of political repression in modern history, the People's Republic of China has banned a spiritual practice built around traditional exercises and meditation. On April 25, 1999, 10,000 FALUN GONG practitioners quietly surrounded the government leadership compound in the heart of Beijing. Their silent protest came on the heels of what they considered an inaccurate, slanderous attack on FALUN GONG in a state - sponsored magazine. Since then, FALUN GONG practitioners have stepped forward repeatedly to appeal to their government for the right to practice their faith, a right guaranteed them under the Chinese Constitution.
The Chinese government has responded by banning FALUN GONG, branding them an [the Chinese government's slanderous words omitted], to date arresting more than 50,000 practitioners (including a number of foreign nationals), killing at least 202 of them, with thousands of detainees as yet unaccounted for, while torturing thousands more and burning over 8 million books written by FALUN GONG founder Li Hongzhi, recently nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize, who is now living abroad.
The film incorporates video and audiotapes and still photos smuggled out of China to document the horrendous human rights abuses generated by the Chinese authorities in their attempts to wipe out FALUN GONG. The film traces the history of FALUN GONG, including the now-forgotten enthusiastic support of the spiritual group by the Chinese government during the early days of the movement, when it presented an award to Mr. Li Honghzi. The documentary presents a shocking cinematic record of the Chinese government's war against her own people and chronicles the FALUN GONG movement's indefatigable will to survive. This is a jolting documentary.
Note: Hargrove Entertainment Inc. is an international distribution and production company supplying award-winning programming to the theatrical, television, video, educational and news media markets worldwide.
May 10, 2001