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Untold Stories: Chinese-Canadian Veterans (Double Film Screening)
2025-06-01 / 15:00 – 18:00
Join us at Chinatown House for a special double bill highlighting the untold histories of Chinese-Canadians’ participation in the war effort. Through a deeply personal approach, these two films uphold the courage of these men in a period entrenched in anti-Chinese racism, and bring to light details that few have acknowledged in the annals of the Allied victory story.
Followed by a special Q&A in presence of both directors!
Sunday, June 1st 2025
Chinatown House – 116, rue de la Gauchetière West
Free Admission
3pm – 6pm
One of Ours : The Story of Private Fred Lee (Documentary, 2023)
Director: Jack Gin
Length: 40 minutes
English with subtitles in Chinese
Synopsis
One of Ours follows the life of Private Fred Lee, a young man from Kamloops, BC, who joined the Rocky Mountain Rangers in 1916 and disappeared at the Western Front. Presumed killed at the Battle of Hill 70 in France, Fred’s body was never recovered; his life was forgotten for 100 years. The deep research, travel, and countless interviews that shaped this film have brought Fred Lee’s story to life, making sure he is forgotten no more.
Jack Gin is a Corporate Director, independent filmmaker, and philanthropist. After selling his TSX-listed company and retiring shortly afterwards, he became a philanthropist and award-winning filmmaker. His short documentary “Finding Fred Lee 1.0” gained national recognition, moving viewers emotionally. Jack continues to work on sequels, aiming to create thought-provoking educational films. He also helped establish The Frederick Lee Walkway and the Hill 70 Memorial in France. He donates significantly across the community through the Jack and Sylvia Gin Foundation.
Relics of Love and War (Documentary, 2023)
Director: Keith Lock
Length: 45 minutes
English with no subtitles
Synopsis
The venerated Chinese Canadian filmmaker Keith Lock narrates the story of how his mother married his father in Australia, who was training with other Chinese Canadian veteran volunteers for the top secret suicide mission, Operation Oblivion. This incredible story is set against the backdrop of the Second World War, a time when Chinese Canadians could not vote, swim in pools, or hire white women for their businesses. Though familiar with his family history, Lock wasn’t sure how to tell their story, since many of the participants had long passed. Motivated by the desire to tell it right, Lock’s documentary essay uses archival imagery (much previously unseen) to bring the history to light.
Keith Lock, Canada’s first Chinese Canadian filmmaker, works in experimental as well as dramatic and documentary films. Keith was the cinematographer for Michael Snow’s Two Sides to Every Story (1974), voted one of TIFF’s 150 Essential Works of Canadian cinema in 2017. His film, Everything Everywhere Again Alive, was selected as one of Jim Shedden’s 100 best Canadian films of all time and released on Blu-ray by Black Zero in 2021. In 2022, he was the inaugural recipient of the Reel Asian Film Festival’s trailblazing Fire Horse Award.