Free China: The Courage to Believe profiles the lives of two Falun Gong practitioners and the danger and pain they encountered in China in their quest for spiritual freedom.
The absorbing documentary, to be shown at the upcoming Ottawa International Film Festival, begins with Chairman Mao’s elimination of culture, religion, and spiritual values in China so that the Communist Party would become all things to all people.
It then moves on to how Falun Gong was introduced into this moral vacuum in the early 1990s, and explains why and how the persecution of the practice began in July 1999.
Jennifer Zeng and Charles Lee are introduced early in the film. Zeng was a Communist Party member, wife, and mother who was arrested and sent to a labour camp because of her beliefs. She describes what she endured and the insidious tactics used to break her will and spirit to make her renounce her belief in Falun Gong’s principles.
Falun Gong (also known as Falun Dafa) is a spiritual practice from the Buddha school that uses meditation and gentle movements. Adherents follow the principles of truth, compassion, and forbearance to move to higher inner realms and return to their true self.
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