East Side Showdown

Length: 1 hour

Producer: National Film Borad of Canada - Peter Starr
Director: Robin Benger
Associate Producer/Editor: Christopher Sumpton
First Aired: 1999 on CBC

Synopsis:
There's a priest and a hooker. Gentrifying middle-classes and angry radicals. Frustrated home-owners, desperate drug addicts, and people simply looking for a place to lay their head. All are players in a bitter struggle which is consuming the downtown Toronto district of Dundas and Sherbourne.

The story is told in East Side Showdown. The neighbourhood has become contested territory, as property-owners, seeking to purge the streets of crime, are pitched in battle against anti-poverty activists and growing numbers of homeless people.

Filmmaker Robin Benger documents a turbulent year in the life of the community, tracing the complex tensions within the district through a remarkable cast of real-life characters. Providing a sharp focus on one Toronto neighbourhood, East Side Showdown reflects on issues affecting cities across the country. As our social safety net is eroded and the gap between rich and poor grows deeper, East Side Showdown is a thought-provoking portrait of one community locked in conflict.