For three decades, Ernie Coombs (aka Mr. Dressup) was a fixture in Canadian living rooms. Over the course of some 4,000 episodes, he imparted simple-but-essential advice (“Always put the caps on your markers.”) and quietly went about leading by example when it came to teaching generations of children how to be better people.
Assembling a veritable choir of famous Dressup true believers (including Michael J. Fox, Bif Naked, and Paul Sun-Hyung Lee) to sing the praises of this unassuming television personality, director Robert McCallum also discloses some legitimately fun facts regarding the friendship between Mrs. Dressup and Rogers that are sure to delight. Even more enlightening are the insights into how CBC operated North America’s first dedicated children’s programming department. Equally pioneering was Mr. Dressup’s use of the non-binary Casey puppet and Coombs’ insistence that Judith Lawrence, his lead puppeteer and key collaborator, enjoy pay equity.
Re-assembling many of the beloved sets from the show and restoking countless warm memories, McCallum honours Coombs’ legacy of kindness and creativity.
Michael J. Fox, The Barenaked Ladies, Peter Mansbridge
Canada
2023
Special Presentations
English
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Credits
Executive Producer
Mark J.W. Bishop, Matthew Hornburg, Aeschylus Poulos, Robert McCallum, Sonya Di Rienzo, Matthew Wexler, Justin Schoenrock, Greg Floyd, Donna Luke
Producer
Mark Bishop, Aeschylus Poulos, Robert McCallum, Matt Hornburg
Screenwriter
Robet McCallum, Jordan C. Morris
Cinematography
John M. Tran
Editor
Nathan Shields, David New
Production Design
Rudin Causi
Original Music
Jonathan Goldsmith
Director
Robert McCallum
Armed with infectious positive energy and a deep love of pop culture, Rob McCallum has spent the last 20 years making documentaries on the coolest subjects imaginable: cartoons, action figures, video games and music. He’s garnered three Emmy-nominations for his writing and directing skills, won numerous awards for his films and raised over $500K via crowdfunding initiatives. A Canadian-American dual citizen, Rob has helmed a slew of projects including the fan-favourite, Power of Grayskull, Missing Mom, and Nintendo Quest.
Filmography: Nintendo Quest (2015); Missing Mom (2016); Power of Grayskull: The Definitive History of He-Man and the Masters of the Universe (2017); Kittie: Origins/Evolutions (2017)
Missing VIFF? Check out what's playing at the VIFF Centre
Two Strangers Trying Not to Kill Each Other
This intimate and candid film by a younger husband and wife artist team is a delicate and immensely moving dual portrait of two artists, husband and wife, together and apart, at that point in life when the end casts a shadow over even the sunniest day.
Image: © Manon et Jacob and Final Cut For Real
Do You Love Me
Lana Daher's bravura and defiant non-fiction film is a cultural-historical self-portrait of Beirut, comprised entirely of film clips (many of them from dramatic features, but also from news reports, TV and home video) culled from the last 70 years.
Blue Heron
In the late 1990s, eight-year-old Sasha and her Hungarian immigrant family relocate to a new home on Vancouver Island. Their fresh start is interrupted by increasingly dangerous behaviour from Jeremy, the family’s oldest child.
How Deep Is Your Love
Filmmaker Eleanor Mortimer tags along with a team of oceanographers and marine biologists as they survey the Clarion-Clipperton fracture, one of the most remote spots on Earth, home to a dazzling array of unknown creatures.
Omaha
Cole Webley's road movie about a single dad taking off with his two young kids is really just a fragment of a story, yet it unfolds with such authentic lyricism it lands with a heartbreaking emotional wallop.