Canadian Women Film Directors Database
home search browse about contact français

Quick search by surname

In the Shadow of Gold Mountain

Directed by Karen Cho
Canada, 2004 (documentary, 43 minutes, colour / black and white, Cantonese / English)
In the Shadow of Gold Mountain
Image: © National Film Board of Canada
Video (National Film Board of Canada)

Film Description:
"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. In the Shadow of Gold Mountain was produced as part of the Reel Diversity Competition for emerging filmmakers of colour. Reel Diversity is a National Film Board of Canada initiative in partnership with CBC Newsworld."
-- National Film Board of Canada (source)

Film Credits (partial):
Written by: Karen Cho
Produced by: Tamara Lynch, Sally Bochner
Narrator: Karen Cho
Cinematography: Michael Wees
Film Editing: Susan Shanks
Music: Janet Lumb, Dino Giancola
Production Company: National Film Board of Canada / Office national du film du Canada
(sources)

Web Sites about In the Shadow of Gold Mountain


home search browse about contact français