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In the Shadow of Gold Mountain :

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In The Shadow of Gold Mountain 43min | documentary | DVC Pro
Year of Production: 2004
Writer/Director: Karen Cho
Producer:  National Film Board of Canada
Broadcaster: CBC NewsWorld (Roughcuts & The Lens)


Synopsis:
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.

AWARDS:
WINNER: 2003 REEL DIVERSITY COMPETITION (NFB)
WINNER: 2005 GOLDEN SHEAF AWARD FOR BEST MULTI-CULTURAL FILM (2005 Yorkton Film Festival, Saskatchewan)
2005 HONOURABLE MENTION- HUMANITIES CATEGORY (Columbus International Film and Video Festival, Worthington US)
WINNER: 2006 Golden Ribbon Award for Diversity in News and Information Programming.