TIFF 2024: Your Tomorrow (by Ali Weinstein) | Review
In Your Tomorrow, Ali Weinstein critiques the profit-driven approach that leads to the destruction of aging public spaces, jeopardizing the delicate balance of local biodiversity—human, animal, and plant.
Built in the early 1970s in Toronto, Ontario Place was intended to be “a mirror to show you yourself. Your heritage. Your land. Your work. Your creativity. And your tomorrow.” The park, located along the shores of Lake Ontario, was a vibrant meeting spot for city dwellers in its early years. Both children and adults marveled at its modern attractions: inflatable playgrounds, thrilling rides, and suspended terraces. Fifty years later, it’s evident that the park’s appearance and visitor demographics have changed. Abandoned installations are now overrun by vegetation, and families have given way to a few retirees, artists, and birdwatchers. Citing decreased profitability, the city has decided to lease part of Ontario Place to private developers tasked with revitalizing it. In Your Tomorrow, which premiered at the 2024 Toronto International Film Festival, Ali Weinstein delivers a delicate and aesthetic portrait of this iconic Toronto location’s evolution.
Through her camera, the director captured a year’s worth of scenes from the park. There’s a group of retirees gathering at the small beach for their various water sports. A passionate observer who comes to study the park’s diverse birdlife. Three young tourists who, while wandering a trail, spot a fox for the first time. A young man recalling fond childhood memories of the place. Although the park’s visitor profile has markedly shifted from its early days—contrasted on screen with some archival footage—Ontario Place is far from moribund. It remains a thriving hub of human and animal biodiversity. This is the point the collective, formed in response to the park’s partial privatization, aims to defend, regularly meeting in the park to protest against the city’s plans.
Despite some pacing issues and the challenge of grasping the park’s layout for those unfamiliar with it, Your Tomorrow presents a powerful and universally relevant message. In an era of increasing privatization of public spaces driven by ever-higher profitability goals and excessive urbanization of natural areas, especially coastlines, what kind of public spaces do we want to pass on to the future generations? And what role should public policy play in preserving these spaces?
As a locally grounded documentary addressing urban evolution issues, Your Tomorrow reminds us of the excellent There’s No Place Like This Place, Anyplace by Lulu Wei, also set in Toronto and celebrated as the opening film of Hot Docs in 2020. And produced by… Ali Weinstein herself!
Your Tomorrow is featured in the TIFF Docs section, alongside titles such as Tata and Living Together (Cohabiter).
