- Canadian filmmaker Jeanette Kong weaves together the strands of her Chinese-Jamaican identity as she recounts her father's immigration journey-from China to Jamaica-and then eventually to Toronto, Canada.
- Buried deep in a closet in an old suitcase, Jeanette Kong discovered an artifact that would unlock a portal to her past-a burgundy notebook filled with handwritten Chinese characters. When she asked her father about it, he told her it was none of her business. It wasn't until after his death when she had the book translated that she discovered it was his private journal from when he traveled from Guangdong, China to Kingston, Jamaica in 1949. Why would he travel so far to start a new life? Documentarian Jeanette Kong not only tells the personal story of her family's migration experience, which eventually takes them to Canada but also spotlights the history and culture of the Hakka people. Told using archival footage and pictures, as well as footage captured from more recent family visits, A Brief History of My Father's Time At Sea is a rumination on Jeanette's own identity, while "typically Canadian" is also rooted in her Jamaican-Chinese heritage. By using her father's own words to tell part of that story, we come to understand that who we are as individuals and Canadians runs generations deep.—Marina Hanna, Programmer, Reelworld Film Festival
- A Brief Record of My Father's Time at Sea is about Keith Kong's journey from the land of his heritage, China, back to his birth place, Jamaica, where he spent 25 years and then finally settling in his adopted country, Canada. Like so many men before him, Kong sought a better life for himself and his family. His journal is a rare, first-person narrative of immigrant history during the mid-century. His experience was reflective of many other workers from China to the Americas, whose experiences have largely gone undocumented. Kong, like many Chinese from the Caribbean to North America had immigrated twice. For many people, the thought of immigrating to one country seems daunting enough, but to start over twice in a lifetime in two different countries seems unfathomable.
Central to the film's artistry are its journal sections: first-person accounts written by Kong during his immigration journey. Narrated in the Hakka language, these chapters reveal a richly crafted collage of vintage footage, photos and graphics set to music. Inspired by her father's words, filmmaker Jeanette Kong travels to several far-flung places to reconnect with extended family and the legacy of her father's choices is revealed.
In 1854, Chinese men first arrived in Jamaica as indentured laborers to work on sugar cane plantations. They were from the Chinese cultural group known as Hakka. Kong, like so many of his relatives before him, with the promise of work and his ticket paid for by prosperous relatives already in business in Jamaica. He left his wife Chin Yook Moy who was pregnant with his child to begin a new chapter alone. Once there, he worked in his uncle's store for five years to repay the money for his passage expenses. Kong then opened up his own small grocery business and saved for two years to bring his wife from China to join him. It took them another two years to have enough funds to have his daughter Cherry Kong join the family. Kong didn't meet his daughter until she was nine years old. Three sons and a daughter were all born in Jamaica.
The documentary explores the immigration of the Jamaican diaspora to Canada in the early 1970s. Kong decided the family should leave because of the political instability and violence in Jamaica at the time. They moved to Toronto in 1974, largely in part to Canada's open door immigration policy. Like many others who experienced a "two-stop" immigrant experience, Kong and his wife struggled to reinvent themselves in a new country.
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By what name was A Brief Record of My Father's Time at Sea (2021) officially released in India in English?
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