The Honest Ed's Experience
ONLINE SCREENING SERIES
Presented in partnership with:
TJFF and OJA present a special screening series celebrating the life and legacy of Jewish impresario Ed Mirvish and his beloved discount store, Honest Ed’s, a landmark for generations of immigrants upon their arrival in Toronto. Using the new, celebrated documentary, There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace by Toronto filmmaker Lulu Wei as its starting off point, this collection of four films and one panel discussion explores the store’s impact on the city, the history of the diverse cultural community that emerged around the Honest Ed’s block, and the future of these residents in the wake of the store’s closing in 2016 and Toronto’s current condo boom.
Series Highlights
August 25 to 27: There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace (+ bonus films: Honest Frank and A Day in the Life of Honest Eds)
August 27 at 8:00pm: Panel Discussion
August 27 to September 2: Honest Ed Mirvish: The World’s Most Unusual Shopkeeper
PANEL DISCUSSION: HONEST EDS AND BEYOND
Thursday August 27 at 8PM
with Lulu Wei (Director of There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace), Itah Sadu (owner of A Different Booklist), Franca Longobardi (Advertising Manager at Honest Ed’s), Ken Greenberg (urban designer and author of Walking Home and Toronto Reborn), Gene Mascardelli (Producer of Honest Ed Mirvish: The World’s Most Unusual Shopkeeper)
THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE THIS PLACE, ANYPLACE
Canada 2020, 78 min
Director: Lulu Wei
This critically-acclaimed documentary tells the story of one of the most recognized corners of Toronto, the much-loved Honest Ed’s block, through the eyes of its community members who are forced to relocate when the property is sold to a developer. The film chronicles the evolution of their lives as they reconcile their history with the future.
A DAY IN THE LIFE OF HONEST ED'S
Canada 1978, 8 min
A film by: Larry Weinstein, Marc Landry, George Gooderham, Doug Munro, Dale Rechner, Clint Young,
Honest Ed’s in 1978, captured by York film students including Larry Weinstein, who would later become the celebrated filmmaker of Inside Hana’s Suitcase and Dreaming of a Jewish Christmas.
HONEST FRANK
Canada 2017, 6 min
Director: Danielle Heifa
Filmmaker Danielle Heifa tells the story of her uncle, Frank Salerno, who started working at Honest Ed’s department store as a newly landed immigrant in 1959 and retired when the store closed its doors in 2017. A lovely tribute to the Toronto institution as well as this Italian immigrant’s devotion to his work.
HONEST ED MIRVISH: THE WORLD’S MOST UNUSUAL SHOPKEEPER
Canada 1998, 54 min
Director: John Martin
Available for FREE on J-Flix
from Thursday August 27 to Wednesday September 2nd
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An in-depth portrait of the larger-than-life Ed Mirvish, from his humble beginnings as the child of Russian immigrants who ran a small family grocery store on Dundas Street, to his being made a Commander of the British Empire by her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The film travels with Mirvish to his birthplace of Colonial Beach, Virginia. Ed shares stories about opening Canada’s first bargain store, Honest Ed’s, in staid postwar Toronto, his 35 years in show business, and his creation of Mirvish Village as an artists’ village for his wife Anne. Produced by Gene Mascardelli and Jamie Mandelkau.
This series produced with support from:
Co-presented with:
