PUNJABI | URDU

TUE MAY 24 | 7:30 PM | THE VOGUE THEATRE

Opening Night
Continuous Journey
Canada, 2004, Video, 87 min
Director/Producer: Ali Kazimi (director in attendance)

“I realized my interest in what happened to the people on the Komagata Maru has become an obsession; the more I dig through the records, the more fascinated I become. Maybe because here the history of India and Canada violently collide. Maybe because few know that people like me were shut out for decades. Maybe because I see this harbour as a crime scene, haunted by its ghosts. Maybe because I’m trying to understand how I fit in.”
– Ali Kazimi

On May 23rd, 1914, the Komagata Maru, a Japanese ship carrying three hundred and seventy-six Sikhs, Muslims and Hindus arrived in the port of Vancouver. As subjects of the Crown, they believed they had the legal right to settle in one of the Empire’s territories. Instead, the passengers lived like prisoners for two months, threatened by famine and disease as the ship was refused permission to land.

Ali Kazimi’s latest work illustrates one of Canada’s worst incidents of racial profiling and anti-immigrant sentiment. The title Continuous Journey refers to the Canadian legislation stating that ships could not enter Canada if they had to refuel from their original departure point. Gurdit Singh, from whose eyes the story is mainly told, worked around this law to bring Indians to Canada by chartering a ship from Hong Kong. His efforts were not enough, however, to prevent the tragedy that was about to occur.

“Brilliant…rarely has a documentary been so beautifully directed and rendered, shot for shot, image by image, pan by pan, zoom by zoom.” – Peter Wintonick, POV Magazine

“Continuous Journey is the work of an experienced storyteller and image-maker. Kazimi’s own journey from India…has been a fortuitous event for Canada.” – Leah McLaren, The Globe & Mail

Special guest: Ian E. Wilson, Librarian and Archivist of Canada

Reception to follow.