– An epic documentary about 150 years of Chinese diaspora in Canada
Lost Years, an epic documentary and recent winner of the Guangzhou International Documentary Film Festival, last December, premieres in Vancouver and Richmond as a special contribution to the celebration of the Year of the Dragon.
The film stands apart from others by placing Canadian events in a global context by incorporating Chinese experiences in the U.S., Australia and New Zealand.
* Screenings are FREE to the public.
* Filmmaker Kenda Gee & other representatives from the film are expected to attend both screenings.
 | VANCOUVER SCREENING: (Tuesday, January 24, 2012, 7:00 – 9:30 pm) Djavad Mowafaghian Cinema Room 3200, Goldcorp Centre for the Arts, SFU Woodward’s 149 West Hastings Street, Vancouver, BC *RSVP online at www.sfu.ca/reserve
RICHMOND SCREENING: Website of the Lost Years |
About the Film
Based on 12 years of research and two years in the making, Lost Years has garnered international attention and promises to offer viewers a unique perspective on Chinese Canadian history.
The work of directors/producers Kenda Gee and Tom Radford, Lost Years: A People’s Struggle for Justice is an epic film touching upon 150 years of the Chinese diaspora in Canada, covering four generations of racism as revealed through the journey and family history of Kenda himself.
According to Kenda, before 2012 is out, Lost Years is currently on pace to becoming the most viewed or distributed Canadian production in the television broadcasting history following the response from international broadcasters, including those in China abroad.
About the Directors/Producers
Kenda Gee is a filmmaker whose family origins in Canada go back to the turn of the century. He has been the Chair of Edmonton’s Chinese Head Tax & Exclusion Act (Redress) Committee since 1998, and had the distinction of delivering the keynote address at the Going Global Conference of New Zealand’s Chinese community in Auckland, 2007. In 2004, he was senior consultant for the National Film Board documentary, “In the Shadow of Gold Mountain”. A graduate of the Documentary Production Workshop at Ryerson University, he was also selected as a finalist of the 2005 National Producer Apprenticeship Programme by the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television and as an entrant for the Alberta Motion Picture Industry Association Producers Programme in its inaugural year from which he graduated among the top three. Kenda is a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School, Toronto and the recipient of a United Nations Secretariat graduate internship in New York with the Offices of Political and Legal Affairs.
Four time Gemini award winner, Tom Radford‘s career spans forty years in the Canadian television and film industries as a writer, director and producer. Born to a Pulitzer Prize-winning newspaper family that came to Alberta in 1905, Tom has carried on the tradition of portraying the distinctive character of the West and North to Canada and the world. Radford and his films have received awards from Banff to Florence, leading to the Alberta Award of Excellence. He is the author of three books, including the best-selling “Alberta, A Celebration”. He founded the Northwest Studio of the National Film Board of Canada in Edmonton and was a founder of the National Screen Institute. Tom recently received the University of Alberta’s Distinguished Alumni Award recognizing graduates whose outstanding achievements have earned them national and/or international prominence.
Presenters of the Event
Cinevolution Media Arts Society
David Lam Centre of SFU
City of Richmond
Community Partners
Ming Sun Benevolent Society
Media Lab of Richmond
Community Services of Richmond
