Ali Kazimi in Person

An audience-award winner at the San Francisco International Asian American Film Festival, Continuous Journey travels back in time to one of modern North America's first “immigration crises,” one whose panic and fears of “the Other” are echoed today. In 1914 Canada was welcoming to all immigrants, as long as all immigrants were European; Kazimi even uncovers a popular song from the period bluntly titled “White Canada Forever.” Into this climate sailed the ship Komagata Maru, chartered by a Sikh entrepreneur to carry 376 Indian immigrants (some veterans of the British Indian Army) to their fellow British colony, Canada. They were met not with open arms, but with fear (“Hindu Invaders!” squealed one newspaper headline), and were eventually refused entry. A complex tale of hope, despair, and intrigue, Continuous Journey showcases how that one ship, and the plight of those 376 individuals, affected the history of modern India, the end of the British Empire, and the face of North American immigration.