NEW YORK—A film that highlights the state-sanctioned forced organ harvesting in China, “State Organs,” has received an award for its efforts in raising awareness on the abuse.
Martha Flores Vasquez, Democrat district leader for the 40th district of the New York State Assembly, presented the award during a screening of the film at Cinema Village in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village on Nov. 21. It was the last day of the film’s seven-day screening at the theater.
The certificate recognized the film for its “courage and unwavering commitment to raising awareness of forced organ harvesting in China.”
“We’re witnessing it … through the eyes of those who have suffered,” Vasquez said. “Shame on that government.
“I wish that I could do more. All I can do is stand here and tell you that I am grateful. You’ve given to the world information that needed to be disclosed.”
Vasquez told The Epoch Times she hopes more people learn about the persecution depicted in the film and show their support.
“So the message to everyone should be that this is a horror, a real horror, not a story. Believe it, and support the Falun Dafa community, because no one should ever have to endure such pain, such agony, such mental anguish,” Vasquez said.
The documentary, directed by Peabody Award winner Raymond Zhang, delves into the stories of Yun Zhang and Shawn Huang, who vanished under mysterious circumstances in China in the early 2000s. It depicts the heart-wrenching journey of their families who searched for them for more than 20 years.
What the families uncover during their search is the horror of an organ harvesting industry legitimized by China’s communist regime.
The film is an official contender for the Academy Award’s Best Documentary Feature Film.
Several of audience members who watched the documentary work in the medical sector and they were stunned by what they learned.
“It’s not human,” Angelo Amabile, assistant professor in immunology and immunotherapy and director at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine, told The Epoch Times.
“You cannot just do this kind of surgical procedure on a person that is alive and is conscious,” Amabile said. “I cannot believe that people do that. That really made me sad.”
Amabile recalled seeing Falun Gong practitioners holding events at the nation’s capital and said what he saw was hope and light, despite China’s persecution targeting the spiritual group. Additionally, he applauded the practice’s three core principles, truthfulness, compassion, and tolerance, saying they are universal values.
Falun Gong, also known as Falun Dafa, is a spiritual practice consisting of meditative exercises and moral teachings. In 1999, the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) launched an expansive campaign of persecution targeting practitioners, and detaining them in prisons, brainwashing centers, and forced labor camps.
In 2019, an independent people’s panel called the China Tribunal, found that the Chinese regime had been harvesting organs from prisoners of conscience for years “on a significant scale,” with Falun Gong practitioners being the primary source of the organs.
Giulia Bencini, a transplant surgeon in New York, told The Epoch Times that she is disgusted by China’s practice of organ harvesting.
“I was revolted that people are doing the same profession that I’m doing, which is to save people’s lives, actually taking people’s lives,” Bencini said. “I was shocked, like disgusted by these people. Really, it’s even worse when you’re in the same field and you’re like, watching the devil themselves, it’s awful. It was awful.”
Bencini added that she had not heard about China’s persecution of Falun Gong before watching the documentary.
“I was really shocked to see that this specific group of people was persecuted for so long. It’s awful. I really hope that all this persecution will stop,” she said.
Chiara Rocha, a transplant surgeon affiliated with Mount Sinai Hospital, told The Epoch Times’ sister media NTD that the documentary was eye-opening.
“We always concentrate on the beauty of organ donation and of the miracle of giving life, but to see that this has been turned into torture and into persecution, it’s very saddening.”
To help stop China’s practice of forced organ harvesting, Rocha said, “just keep on talking about it, and keep on reaching out to the people.”
Sarah Lu contributed to this report.
From The Epoch Times