(Clearwisdom.net) The third annual Shen Zhou International Film Festival opened today in Tokyo, Japan. Among the seven films exhibited, Forever, the newest production by Shen Zhou, made its debut and deeply touched the audience. Public awareness of the CCP's persecution of Falun Gong was further raised by this movie.
The opening of the festival
The Shen Zhou Film Studio has held two festivals, one in Washington, DC, in 2007 and in Busan, Korea, in 2008. The film studio devotes itself to human rights and traditional arts.
A congressman from Tokyo attended the festival and expressed his ongoing concern about the persecution of Falun Gong in China. He said that human rights have no boundary, that voters should judge a candidate also by his attitude toward human rights, and that the status quo of trampling human rights in the neighboring big state should not be ignored.
Mr. Xia Yifan, secretary of the Chinese Democracy Coalition headquarters and head of the press release department of the Japan branch of the Chinese Democracy Coalition, thanked the director and the whole cast and crew for their great work in encouraging people to for advocate human rights, freedom, and justice, all in opposition to despotism. He said that spiritual belief is the foundation of democratization in China.
A musical instrument specialist expressed appreciation for the invitation and remarked that the pure beauty in real art can truly move people.
The festival also received congratulatory letters from all walks of life in Japan. They expressed their wishes to stop the persecution in China as early as possible.
The first-run film Forever tells the story of Zheng Yongcheng, who was a Falun Gong practitioner. After his heart purified while cultivating Falun Gong's principles of Truthfulness-Compassion,-Forbearance, he was persecuted to death by the CCP just one day before his wedding ceremony. Jing Yuan, his fiance, was still wearing her bridal veil when she was informed of this grievous news. She swore before she left China, "I will make your story known to more people, I will work to end the CCP persecution of Falun Gong as soon as possible, and I will help more girls become truly happy brides." The words of the grief-stricken bride deeply shook the hearts of the audience, and many had tears rolling down down their faces.
After the screening, Wang Jinwei, the director, along with the leading actors and actresses, lined up on the stage and answered questions from the audience. Everyone who raised questioners said they didn't expect the film to be so touching. One of the local audience members expressed his desire to know more about Falun Gong. Another was curious where the cast and crew were from. Learning that the majority were from Tokyo and the capital rim, he was amazed by the brilliant cooperation of such a pure team.
A local citizen said he was invited by his friends to see the movie. "It is really good. Many religious groups have been persecuted throughout history, but true belief can never be suppressed by persecution," he said. He was glad to know that more than 500 thousand people practice Falun Gong in Taiwan, and that Falun Gong has spread to more than 100 countries around the world.
