An Evening for Anastasia Lin and a Sneak Peek at the Bleeding Edge

#FearlessBeauty – An evening for Anastasia Lin and a sneak peek at The Bleeding Edge

From the front page of the New York Times to CNN, People and Cosmopolitan over the last few weeks, Miss World Canada 2015, Anastasia Lin, has captured the attention of the world.

Anastasia Lin, you may know her as Miss Canada, is a 25-year-old Chinese-Canadian actress and classically trained pianist. Lin was born in China and moved to Canada at the age of thirteen. She attended the University of Toronto, where she double majored in International Relations and Theatre/Acting.

Anastasia Lin is an advocate for human rights and religious freedom in China, and a believer in the Falun Gong/Falun Dafa meditation practice, which was outlawed in 1999 by China’s ruling Communist Party. There have been reports of systematic torture, forced labor, illegal imprisonment, organ harvesting and abusive psychiatric measures, with the purpose of forcing practitioners to recant their belief in Falun Gong.

As Miss World Canada Anastasia Lin planned to continue her path and take part in this year’s Miss World pageant, which takes place in the southern island province of Hainan, China, she was barred from entering the country, apparently because of her outspoken advocacy. A Chinese official stopped her from boarding her connecting flight in Hong Kong by telling her on telephone that she would not be granted a Chinese visa upon arrival. China declared her persona non grata, a term in diplomacy that literally means “an unwelcome person,” barring her from joining the Miss World final on December 19, 2015.

While she has been banned from China and the Miss World Finals for her human rights advocacy, here in Toronto, a group of special guests and media were invited to The Spoke Club last night to support and celebrate her outstanding work.

Anastasia Lin

Dressed in a lovely gown, her sash and, of course, her crown, Anastasia Lin, determined to be a voice for the voiceless, shared what she was not allowed to share at the pageant. She also shared the piano piece she had planned on playing at the pageant final in China. She played a song she learned from a friend, a woman who was once abused in Chinese labour camps, and dedicated to those who are still suffering in silence.

Guests were also given a sneak peak at The Bleeding Edge, a film coming out in 2016 which stars Anastasia Lin as a woman imprisoned and tortured for speaking out against human rights and abuses in China. Jason Loftus, President and CEO of Mark Media and the Executive Producer of the film, along with Leon Lee, Executive Producer of Flying Cloud Productions and the Producer and Director of The Bleeding Edge, hosted the event.

“If I do not speak out for what is right, it will send out a terrible message to those who are experiencing China’s fear and intimidation and don’t have the ability to fight back,”

Lin said in a recent interview in Toronto.

Even though Anastasia Lin is being silenced in China, on this special night, her voice was heard.

Anastasia Lin and Butch Carter

Anastasia Lin, Jason Loftus, Leon Lee