NAAAP & CBC Asian Heritage Month Film Screenings

CBC in partnership with Toronto Reel Asian International Film Festival, NAAAP Toronto, Toronto Sikh Professional Association, MyBindi.com

CBC Building
25 John Street, 3C-304
Toronto ON
(Between Front Street and Wellington)

Admission: FREE
Reserve your seat(s) by email: rsvp@naaaptoronto.org or www.naaaptoronto.org

Friday, May 30, 2008
6:00 - 7:00pm: Registration and Reception
7:00 - 7:10pm: Intro from Host
7:10 - 8:37pm: Continuous Journey (Ali Kazimi, 2004 - 87 minutes)
8:37 - 9:10pm: Q & A with Director Ali Kazimi

Continuous Journey - In 1914, the Komagata Maru, a ship carrying 376 immigrants from British India, was turned away by Canada. The consequences were felt throughout the British Empire. Continuous Journey is a compelling and eye-opening investigation into the past and present ramifications of this incident. More than history film,
Continuous Journey is a provocative, moving, and multilayered essay that interweaves photographs, newsreels, home movies and official documents to unravel a complex and little-known story

Saturday, May 31, 2008
1:00 - 2:00pm: Registration and Reception
2:00 - 2:10pm: Intro from Host
2:10 - 2:53pm: Shadow of Gold Mountain (Karen Cho, 2004 - 43 minutes)
2:53 - 3:10m: Intermission (15 minutes)
3:10 - 4:00pm: Sleeping Tigers (Jari Osborne, 2003 - 50 minutes)
4:00 - 4:30pm: Q & A with Silva Basmajian (Executive Producer - NFB) & CBC Senior Executive Andrew Johnson

Sleeping Tigers: The Asahi Baseball Story - In pre-World War II Vancouver the Asahi baseball team was unbeatable, outplaying the taller Caucasian teams and winning the prestigious Pacific Northwest Championship for five straight years. When Japan bombed Pearl Harbor, the Canadian government sent every person of Japanese descent, whether born in Canada or not, to internment camps. Faced with hardship and isolation, the former Asahi members survived by playing baseball. Their passion for this quintessential North American game soon attracted other players, including RCMP and local townspeople, and the baseball games helped to break down racial and cultural barriers. In Sleeping Tigers, award-winning director Jari Osborne skillfully weaves archival film and dramatic re-creations, along with candid
interviews with the last of the Asahi, to tell this remarkable story.

In the Shadow of Gold Mountain - Karen Cho, a fifth-generation Canadian of mixed heritage, discovered that half her family wasn't welcome in the country they called home. While Canada encouraged and rewarded immigration from Europe, it imposed laws that singled out the Chinese as unwanted and unwelcome. Cho's film, In the Shadow of Gold Mountain, takes her from Montreal to Vancouver to uncover stories from the last living survivors of the Chinese Head Tax and Exclusion Act. This dark chapter in our history, from 1885 until 1947, plunged the Chinese community in Canada into
decades of debt and family separation. At the centre of the film are personal accounts of extraordinary Chinese Canadians who survived an era that threatened to eradicate their entire community. Through a rich melding of history, poetry and raw emotion, this documentary sheds light on an era that shaped the identity of generations, with deeply moving testimonials, it reveals the profound ways this history still casts its shadow.

Visit, www.cbc.ca/asianheritage for more details on the films and each event.

Reserve your seat(s) by email: rsvp@naaaptoronto.org or www.naaaptoronto.org