Canaries in a Cold War (2022)

At the beginning of 2021, singer-songwriter and human rights activist James H. White sets out for Washington, DC to write a song in protest of the Beijing Winter Olympics. After hearing the gut-wrenching story of three sisters who were tortured in China, he flies across the Atlantic to talk with several experts, hoping to shed light on the stories he heard from the three sisters.

The more he explores the topic, however, the more he discovers that what happened to the three sisters, and millions more like them, goes way beyond the human rights of one group, and way beyond the borders of China. The deeper he digs, the broader, and more sinister, of a spectre is revealed to him, and one that seems to underlie everything, from COVID to media censorship, from politics to entertainment.

Featuring insights from some of the world’s leading human rights experts, lawyers, and heart-breaking interviews with those who faced, and survived, the unimaginable, James’ year-long journey circles back to where it all started, Washington DC, where James faces a stark realization.