Documentary on CCPs Organ Harvesting Shocks Chester County Audience

A screening of the documentary “State Organs” at the Chester County Library in Exton, Pennsylvania, on Nov. 1 left dozens of attendees visibly shaken as they learned about the Chinese Communist Party’s (CCP) systematic murder of prisoners of conscience—primarily Falun Gong practitioners—for their vital organs.“State Organs: Unmasking Transplant Abuse in China” tracks the heart-wrenching journey of two families over more than 20 years as they searched for their loved ones who went missing under mysterious circumstances in China in the early 2000s. Along their search, the families uncover the horror of a state-run organ harvesting operation killing innocent Chinese people.The documentary, directed by Peabody Award-winner Raymond Zhang, had won the Best Direction and Best Musical Score in the feature-length documentary category at the 2023 Leo Awards, and Best Human Rights Documentary at the 2024 Manhattan Film Festival. In March 2024, the Accolate recognized the documentary with the Award of Excellence.The documentary also highlights the shocking disparity in organ transplant wait times between China and the free world. While ethical systems like those in the United States often require years of waiting, China’s state-run hospitals advertise organ transplants within days or weeks, implying that human organs are being sourced on demand—an impossibility without a living pool of victims.Panelists speak at a screening of the documentary “State Organs” at the Chester County Library on Nov. 1, 2025. The Epoch Times‘It Leaves Me Speechless’: Local Official’s Emotional ResponseAmong the attendees was Michele D. Truitt, Supervisor of the Township of East Goshen in Chester County, who said the film “almost leaves me speechless.”“I can’t believe the atrocity that is being committed against the Falun Gong. It’s a political and spiritual religious atrocity, much like the Holocaust,” Truitt told The Epoch Times.Truitt, whose mother recently underwent a kidney transplant in the United States, said the film hit close to home. “She was very fortunate to receive two kidneys,” she said. “She had to go through a very, very vigorous process leading up to the transplant itself.”Michele D. Truitt, Supervisor of the Township of East Goshen in Chester County, Pa, at a screening of the documentary “State Organs” at the Chester County Library on Nov. 1, 2025. Jennifer Yang/The Epoch TimesTruitt said that her mother’s three-month wait for the kidneys was considered “highly unusual,” as they had been previously told that they could face a waiting time of “anywhere from three to five years.” In contrast, she learned from the documentary that in China, vital organs can be matched and transplanted within days.“It is shocking to me,” Truitt said. “They can just go over to China and say, this is what I need. They get what they need. But what they don’t get is the understanding that they have to respect the gift they’ve been given. Because it’s not a gift; in that case, this is a business transaction. If it’s a business transaction, it’s just money that’s exchanging hands, and there’s no respect for what’s behind it on either side.”Truitt called the practice “barbaric” and “a modern form of genocide.” She pledged to contact both her state and federal legislators. “I will make sure to tell at least 10 people about this,” she said, adding, “It’s not about organs; It’s about all human lives. All human lives do matter.”‘A Call for All of Us to Act’Other attendees expressed similar shock and determination to take action.Darry Brown, a local company owner, said the film “really let me know just how pervasive it is, and how it’s just getting worse and worse.”He told The Epoch Times: “It’s a strong call for all of us—whether you’re in America, Western or not, even in the Eastern Hemisphere—we need to do something. We have to stop this.”Darry Brown, a company owner, at a screening of the documentary “State Organs” at the Chester County Library on Nov. 1, 2025. Jennifer Yang/The Epoch TimesBrown described the screening as “chilling and heartbreaking,” adding that he plans to educate himself further and reach out to his elected officials.“I’m going to contact my local state senator and also U.S. Senator Fetterman,” he said. “We need to get this into law just to put an end to this.”Brown said the film revealed to him the global reach of the issue:“I would never have guessed in a million years that people could get organs in days,” he said. “I wasn’t aware that folks internationally had traveled to China for this. It’s unbelievable.”He praised the local screening effort: “A library like this is a hub for our county. It brings awareness to young and old,” Brown said. “I’m a member of a local church, and I hope to bring a speaker there to get attention to this.”Brown called the CCP’s forced organ harvesting “a Holocaust,” warning, “If we’re not doing something about this, then I don’t know what will move people to act.”Another attendee, Lisa Rogers, a yoga teacher from Chester County, said the film left her “amazed and disgusted.”During an interview with The Epoch Times, she said she had heard about the persecution that Falun Gong faced in China, but she hadn’t realized to what extent. “The level of what they’re doing—and that so many people are okay with doing that, especially doctors—it just seems so anti-human,” she said.Lisa Rogers, a yoga teacher, at a screening of the documentary “State Organs” at the Chester County Library on Nov. 1, 2025. Jennifer Yang/The Epoch TimesRogers said she had previously assumed the issue was “much smaller in scale.” The film, she said, “exploded” her perception of communist China’s human rights abuses.“I just didn’t realize it was at this scale that they were doing this,” Rogers said. “It’s horrifying to think that it’s almost accepted, that everyone there knows about it.”She emphasized that awareness must come first.“We have to be aware of it, and then push back and make legislation so they can’t spread propaganda here,” she said. “I think it’s very important to have screenings like this in local communities—it starts to get people aware of what’s happening, even though it’s far away.”Rogers said she would “definitely sign the petition online” and “talk to my family and friends about this, because I’m sure they’re not aware.”“I feel anger and distress,” she said, “but that’s the first step of being able to do something about these important issues.”For attendees, State Organs was more than a documentary—it was a moral reckoning.“It’s upsetting to know that there’s a country out there with a political party in place that is promoting the disposal of their residents’ lives, and for what good? It’s only a money transaction,” Truitt said. “A gift of an organ really needs to be something much more connected than that.”Jennifer Yang contributed to this report.