Background: Every Sunday, a group of Falun Gong practitioners gathers in New York City's Chinatown to show Chinese language films free of charge to the local community. The Movie Project began about three years ago as a vehicle for showing documentaries that clarify the truth about Falun Dafa. Later, the project began to show Chinese language films when practitioners realized that the community movie theatres in Chinatown no longer showed these films. Now, Dafa documentaries are shown during the intermission. Practitioners were able to both clarify the truth while building better relations with the community by offering these free movies. During the summer months, the movies are shown outside in a park where hundreds of people from the community come to watch. This winter, the Movie Project is being shown in a school auditorium. Practitioners have also set up a table with truth clarification materials for the audience in the lobby of the school, and they have introduced a raffle at the end of the program, which the audience seems to enjoy. Here is a touching story from a recent movie presentation.
A man came up to me right before the show began, almost in tears, yet accompanied by solemnity, rationality, compassion, justice, and righteousness. He said: "It's enough. The persecution should end. Should end now! Too many killings, too many tortures! Kind people, kind people are being murdered. This evil shall perish. My heart is hurting and breaking. How can a government be so evil to murder its own people! Jiang Zemin, out of his warped hatred and jealousy, manipulated the whole media machine to crush these kind-hearted innocent people. I'm not a practitioner, but as a citizen, I have a conscience, I have a heart, I don't say I'm a good person, but I know I have heart. I have to listen to my heart, and my heart is crying. Anyone with blood should call to end this inhumane persecution of the greatest Falun Gong practitioners. They're the model citizens, they're the best people you can ever find in this world. Out of my observations of you Falun Gong practitioners, you impress me with your good heart and good manner. You all are selfless and unconditionally give to the community..."
He went on talking about the evilness of the Jiang regime, and how unreliable it is. He also had insights about not engaging in politics to end this persecution. He supported wholeheartedly what we are doing now, using non-violent means to call for support to end this injustice and evil.
I tried my best to control my tears, as I saw in front of me a man of justice and righteousness, a sentient being who chose the brightest future for himself, for his boundless paradise and the incalculable sentient beings living in it.
Towards the end, I handed him a box of chocolate to show my respect and appreciation to him. He declined taking it. "I couldn't take it, I don't deserve it. You don't know how much joy I have to come to your shows every Sunday here. I've taken too much from you, and never have I given back anything. How can I still keep taking from you. I thank you deeply from the bottom of my heart. Please save this box of chocolate for next week's raffle. I know it's not easy for you to make money. It's my deepest regret that I'm incapable of assisting you to alleviate your pain, your fellow practitioners' pains in China." He was shedding tears and his voice was shaking.
I couldn't control my tears anymore.