Broke
Rosie Dransfield
Sun Nov 9, 4 pm
77 minutes
eBar

www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlNb5ztMY40

From his post behind the counter at A1 Trading, a pawnshop in Edmonton's inner city, David Woolfson takes part in the economy of last resort -- junkies desperate for pocket change, and lost souls who pawn their electronics and treasures to put food on the table. With the demeanour of an old grump, Woolfson ran the shop relatively peacefully for 16 years. Along came Chris Hoard, a self-confessed ex-con and psychopath who started helping out around the store, for free. An excellent cinéma-vérité style documentary that captures the relationships that this world of bargaining, insults, and desperation can create.

Host: Jenny Mitchell            

Jenny Mitchell grew up surrounded by thrift. Her father ran "The Family Thrift Store" in downtown Guelph for 16 years, which bought and sold antiques, electronics, household items, clothing, and just about everything else. She worked there for 12 years, from age 11 onward, and has sold everything from balloon molds to elephants feet - to everyone from the famous and well-to-do, to the eccentric and down-and-out. She has even seen her father trade a bumper car for a thousand comic books. Now he runs "Dis-a-ray", an antique and collectables store, and she travels the country with her one-year old son Otis, playing music as "Jenny Omnichord".

    She has been a musician for nine and a half years, starting her first band after a woman came into the store and sold her dad an omnichord. She is compiling a book of stories she has collected while traveling the country as a self-taught barber, publishes tiny comic books, and is currently a member of the steering committee for "The Platform" - a Guelph Organization dedicated to founding a performing and visual arts space that will be accessible to all ages and varieties of Guelph artists. This is the first time she has ever hosted something like this, but having spent years dealing with customers in varying states of desperation, she was very drawn to this film, and felt a strong connection to its subject.