There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace

THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE THIS PLACE, ANYPLACE looks at the transformation of a much-loved Toronto landmark, the Honest Ed’s block, through the stories of its community members who are forced to relocate when it is sold to a developer.

Honest Ed’s, a discount store that opened in 1948 and served the neighbourhood’s working class families, closed its doors in 2016. Since 2013, the lot has been owned by Vancouver-based Westbank Corp. and has since been redeveloped into condos known as Mirvish Village. Director Lulu Wei chronicles the evolution of community members’ lives as they reconcile their history with the future, all while facing the biggest housing crisis the country has ever seen.

This heartfelt film is especially potent at a moment when all major Canadian cities struggle with skyrocketing rents, and an accompanying frozen minimum wage that doesn’t reflect the reality of inflation. Despite the immense corporate power behind gentrification and redevelopment, THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE THIS PLACE, ANYPLACE offers reckoning and hope for community resilience.