Red All Over: New York Company Rolls Out Red Carpet for Film Exposing Chinese Communist Infiltration
For decades, Americans have been warned about foreign propaganda influencing public opinion. But what if some of that influence has been laundered through America’s own media institutions? Investigative journalist Steve Lance has revealed how The New York Times and other establishment outlets helped shape public perception of a New York-based dance company in ways that closely tracked Chinese Communist Party narratives while downplaying evidence of harassment, intimidation, and transnational repression.
Now, the Film will be Available on VOD, while also Premiering at a RED CARPET event in Los Angeles, California on June 17.
WATCH SHORT VIDEO THAT EXPOSES THE NEW YORK TIMES’S AND ITS JOURNALISTS FOR PRO-CHINESE COMMUNIST PARTY NARRATIVES.
- Journalist Investigated media narratives surrounding a New York-based dance company
- Documents alleged CCP influence on American media coverage, exposed by Journalist
- Examines evidence ignored by establishment news organizations
- Explores transnational repression reaching American soil
- New documentary presents findings through interviews and footage
For years, Americans have been told what to think about this New York-based company through the lens of establishment media outlets. But according to Lance, his investigation uncovered something deeply troubling: major American news organizations, particularly The New York Times, have amplified narratives that mirror Chinese Communist Party talking points while largely ignoring the documented persecution campaign directed against a New York-based performing arts company.
Lance Caught This on Video!
Journalist Literally Catches New York Times on Recordings
Journalist Lance spent years examining the forces behind the attacks on Falun Gong, a spiritual group that has faced decades of persecution in China. In the course of his research, he encountered evidence of coordinated harassment, threats, sabotage attempts, and influence operations that he argues have increasingly migrated from China to the United States.
Yet despite extensive reporting by international human rights organizations and growing concerns about transnational repression, journalist Lance says much of the American media has chosen to focus elsewhere. Why are journalists willing to repeat allegations against Shen Yun while failing to investigate the broader campaign targeting the organization? Why are the voices of performers, medical professionals, researchers, and victims of persecution often absent from coverage?
In UNBROKEN, Lance follows the personal stories of artists caught in the crosshairs of this battle while also examining how narratives are shaped by powerful institutions. The film raises difficult questions about media responsibility, agenda-setting power, and whether some of America’s most influential news organizations have become unwitting vehicles for a foreign authoritarian regime’s messaging.
As debate intensifies over foreign influence, censorship, and press credibility, journalist Lance is available to discuss what he discovered during the making of the film, the media’s treatment of Shen Yun, and why he believes the story represents a case study in how public perception can be engineered.
UNBROKEN: The Untold Story of Shen Yun premieres on major VOD platforms June 12, 2026, with a red-carpet screening scheduled for June 17 at AMC The Grove 14 in Los Angeles.
WATCH THE TRAILER FOR UNBROKEN HERE
Relevant Article(s):
FILMMAKERS – UNBROKEN: A Shen Yun Story
OPTIONAL Q&A:
- What evidence led you as a journalist to conclude that The New York Times was advancing narratives favorable to the Chinese Communist Party?
- What did you discover during your investigation that was either ignored or underreported by major media outlets?
- How did the media coverage differ from the reality you encountered while interviewing performers, witnesses, and experts?
- Why do you believe establishment media showed little interest in investigating the broader campaign against this New York-based arts organization?
- What role does agenda-setting play when a major outlet decides how the public should perceive a controversial subject?
- What examples in UNBROKEN do you believe most clearly demonstrate media bias or selective reporting?
- How has the persecution campaign against this organization evolved from a foreign issue into an American one?
- What lessons should journalists and news consumers take away from your findings about media influence, foreign propaganda, and narrative control?
ABOUT STEVE LANCE…
Steve Lance is Executive Producer of the film as well as an investigative journalist. He focuses on investigative documentaries and cinematic storytelling rooted in real-world events. In UNBROKEN: The Untold Story of Shen Yun, Lance leads the film’s investigative narrative, examining threats, sabotage attempts, and the broader campaign targeting the performing arts company. Lance is also an investigative journalist and Vice President of NTD Television.
ABOUT LEVI BROWDE…
Browde serves as the Executive Director with the New York-based Falun Dafa Information Center – an organization dedicated to ending the human rights abuses against people who practice Falun Gong in China.
Over the past 20 years, Browde has been interviewed and quoted by the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, the Chicago Tribune, CNN, the Associated Press, TIME Magazine, BBC, AFP, and other media outlets. He has spoken about Falun Gong and human rights in China at briefings on Capitol Hill in Washington DC, at the United Nations human rights sessions in Geneva, Switzerland.
Browde studied East Asian Studies at Wesleyan University and is an avid supporter of traditional Chinese culture. He founded several software start-ups, and lives in New York with his wife and two sons.
ABOUT LEESHAI LEMISH…
Leeshai Lemish has been with Shen Yun since 2006. He earned his bachelor’s degree in Chinese history and language from Pomona College, California, and his master’s in international relations from the London School of Economics. He has spent extended periods studying, working, and conducting research throughout East Asia, and has authored articles on Chinese current affairs in both English and Chinese.
He joined Shen Yun Performing Arts as an MC when the company was founded in 2006 and has since emceed close to two thousand performances with the company, taking the stage with Shen Yun at prestigious theaters such as Lincoln Center and the Kennedy Center, the London Coliseum, Tokyo Opera City, and many others worldwide. In addition to his performance role, he has tracked and documented on his website over 100 cases of the Chinese Communist Party and its agents trying to sabotage Shen Yun internationally. He has testified on transnational repression in front of Congress, has been a featured guest on television and radio shows around the world, and is the host of the podcast Shen Yun Voices.
ABOUT YING CHEN…
Ying Chen is an orchestra conductor who has been with Shen Yun from the very beginning. She can offer insights and personal stories about how Shen Yun started as an all-volunteer group of first- generation immigrants, and through hard work, faith, and a relentless dedication to a grand vision to revive a culture almost destroyed in communist China, created the fastest growing performing arts company in American history.
Ying can also tell the horrific story of her family’s detention and torture in China, an experience that helped drive her and the entire community at Shen Yun to create a production that would shed light on the tyranny of the Chinese communist regime, while also inspiring people around the world with hope and a renewed sense of our common humanity.
The story of Ying, her family, and community at Shen Yun is a quintessential tale of facing the evils of the world with resilience and faith, and never letting others, even the largest totalitarian regime on earth, take away one’s hope.
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