Washington, D.C. Film Festival
- Golden Venture
- Director: Peter Cohn
Documentary. 2006. USA. 70 min. Chinese and English, Subtitled.
Screened at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival.
A Q&A with director Peter Cohn will follow the screening.
The film chronicles the ongoing struggles of passengers who were aboard the Golden Venture, an immigrant smuggling ship that ran aground near New York City in 1993. Passengers had paid at least $30,000 to be brought to the U.S. from China's Fujian Province, expecting to arrive indebted but unnoticed. But a seemingly golden opportunity quickly evolved into a hellish descent through the cruel whims of U.S. immigration policy. The boat's crash fed a media circus and became a symbol of a growing national concern over illegal immigration. Many passengers were deported over a two-year period, while others were detained for up to four years. Golden Venture is a global epic, a story of stoic perseverance and unexpected grace, played out in the shadow of national politics and the continuing failure of ever-harsher US immigration policies. At a time when the immigration issue has led to furious debate and high-stakes political maneuvering, the fate of these passengers is more relevant than ever.
[Image copyright Peter Cohn]
Official Website
- Showings
Saturday, September 16 at 3:00pm – National Geographic Society Headquarters
Washington, D.C. Premiere. Followed by a Q&A with Peter Cohn, Director and Craig Trebilcock, lead attorney in the Golden Venture case. Moderated by Daryl Grisgraber, Casework Coordinator of the Refugee Program for AIUSA.