East Side Showdown

East Side Showdown

| 46 min
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streaming

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This feature documentary is a portrait of the downtown Toronto neighbourhood of Dundas and Sherbourne, where the gap between rich and poor is growing wide. There, middle-class homeowners, angry radicals, desperate drug addicts and people simply looking for a place to lay their head are embattled in a bitter struggle for space. Angel, a prostitute and drug addict, dodges the law. Bed-and-breakfast owner Renée rails against the sex and drug trade. Community organizer John Clarke advocates direct action in defence of the poor. And at the eye of this storm is Reverend Jeannie Loughrey, whose drop-in centre provides much-needed help for the poor, yet homeowners accuse the centre of harbouring criminals and are lobbying to shut it down. Contains coarse language and scenes of drug use.

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East Side Showdown, Robin Benger, provided by the National Film Board of Canada

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Credits
  • director
    Robin Benger
  • script
    Robin Benger
  • producer
    Peter Starr
  • executive producer
    Louise Lore
  • associate producer
    Christopher Sumpton
  • editing
    Christopher Sumpton
  • photography
    John Westheuser
  • sound
    Alister Bell
    Steve McNamee
    Mike MacClymont
    Mark Obradovich
  • online editing
    Steve McDonald
  • narrator
    Nicholas Campbell
  • music
    Allen Booth
 See also
Social Issues
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  • hudgeliberal

    Wow, the judgemental people out there! The answer to the drug problem is not always jail, banishment etc. First, we need to treat the disease itself, second, we need to determine the reasons so many turn to drugs. Lack of good jobs, opportunity and willingness of others to stick out a hand and say "yes, I can help you my brother/sister" instead so many simply want to treat them with disgust and repel any chance of fixing the greater problem. So many so-called Christians seem to have forgotten that Jesus stopped the prostitute from being stoned...wonder how the lady in this story feels about the story in the bible?? The hypocrisy of our world is insane these days. Peace to all, help your fellow man.

    hudgeliberal, 2 Aug 2016

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