Toronto filmmaker Jesse McCracken grew up in rural Ontario with two very different images of masculinity: one embodied by his father, a brash, hardworking and hard-living member of the motorcycle crew Redneck Riders; the other, his soft-spoken, community-oriented maternal grandfather. When his parents divorce and his mother leaves, Jesse returns to investigate his feelings of nostalgia for both his family and his hometown. The small town of Markdale has changed, no longer a thriving place but now a sleepy bedroom community for Toronto commuters. Jesse's own family, too, is undergoing a transition, one that Jesse's voice-over tries to make sense of. The question he poses—"What makes a good man?"—is answered very differently by both father and grandfather. Beautifully shot in black and white, this sensitive film debates what's lost and gained in this dual portrait of a changing family and town.

- Hot Docs Programmer Aisha Jamal 


Official Selection Hot Docs 2021

Winner Best Documentary Feature Capital City Film Festival 2022

Official Selection Wales International Film Festival 2021

Official Selection Forest City Film Festival 2021

Screening on TVO in 2022

Directed, Shot & Edited by: Jesse McCracken

Executive Producers: Ann Shin & Hannah Donegan

Associate Producer: Aaron Ries
Music Composers: Dafydd Myddleton & Alun Williams
Sound Designer: Troy Slocum
Colourist: Clinton Homuth
Sound Mixer: Rob Denton
Additional Cinematography: Jerome Riel
Additional Field Producer: Simone Zucker
Motorcycle and Car Rigging Grip: Dillon Freel

Made with support from: Canada Council for the Arts | Conseil des arts du Canada and Toronto Arts Council


Press:


POV Magazine- Elegiac doc deconstructs masculinity in a striking portrait of small town life


CBC Fresh Air Interview


"WestDoc Online" Interview


"That Shelf" Review

Official Trailer 

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