A Brief Record of My Father’s Time at Sea

Jeanette Kong

Jeanette Kong is a Jamaican-born, Chinese-Canadian documentary producer and director based in Toronto. Her most recent feature A Brief Record of My Father’s Time at Sea details her dad’s intimate account of his immigrant journey from China to Jamaica in 1949 and then Canada. It had its broadcast premiere in Canada on TVO. Recently, it was nominated for Research at the Golden Sheaf Awards at the Yorkton Film Festival. This is the fourth film by Kong about the Chinese-Jamaican diaspora and the fourth to screen at ttff. Her feature debut Finding Samuel Lowe: From Harlem to China screened at ttff/14. The documentary aired on PBS, The Africa Channel and FLOW. It won the ReelChoice Award at the 2015 ReelWorld Film Festival. Her short films, Half: The Story of a Chinese-Jamaican Son and The Chiney Shop premiered in the Caribbean at ttff/13 and ttff/12, respectively. In 2014, they were chosen to commemorate the 160th Anniversary of the Arrival of the Chinese to Jamaica at the Institute of Jamaica. In 2022, she was selected to participate in the inaugural EAVE (European Audiovisual Entrepreneurs) On Demand Program run by the NSI (National Screen Institute). Currently, she has a slate of projects in development.