Pier 21: The Memory Cannot Die

GENRE: Documentary
LENGTH: 90 min
LANGUAGE: English
AVAILABLE TERRITORIES:  Worldwide
AVAILABLE RIGHTS: All Media Rights
YEAR: 2000

SYNOPSIS: “They came in search of a better life, a new beginning, a mother country for future generations.”  Between 1945 and 1965, an estimated 250,000 Italians immigrated to Canada, many of them arriving at Pier 21 in Halifax. Pier 21:  The Memory Cannot Die (Una Vita Strappata in Due) recounts the stories of these journeys and gives an in-depth account of the Italian immigrant experience to Canada.

 

First-hand testimonials from those that crossed the Atlantic and their children, document one of the largest migrations in Canadian history, capturing the sadness and the joy they found in their new lives.  Pier 21 examines the plight of these immigrants from emotional goodbyes to a fortnight at sea and arrival on the shores of an unfamiliar land.  Pier 21 is also an important historical record of the social conditions and attitudes that confronted these new immigrants.