A FILM BY TALLY ABECASSIS. Produced by Tally Abecassis / Catherine Drolet / Nathalie Barton

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1 presents A FILM BY TALLY ABECASSIS These stores are in all of our neighbourhoods; they seem to last forever until one day they are gone. PRESS KIT 460, rue Ste-Catherine ouest, bureau 927 Montréal (Québec) Canada H3B 1A7 Téléphone : (514) Télécopieur : (514) info@informactionfilms.com

2 SHORT SUMMARY Small Wonders is an intimate film about the people who run the small businesses in our neighbourhoods. Following three small store-owners over the course of ten years, the film is also about the resilience of human nature and how we bounce back despite the obstacles life puts in our path. LONG SUMMARY Small Wonders is an intimate film about the people who run the small businesses in our neighbourhoods. Following three small store-owners over the course of ten years, the film is also about the resilience of human nature and how we bounce back despite the obstacles life puts in our path. You will meet Peter, the watchmaker who doesn t want to grow old, Norman, the professional photographer who has never touched a digital camera and Jae-Gil, the hardware store owner surrounded by 12 big box stores. Their stores all defy categorization and follow no business model that you ve ever seen. You pass places like these every day on your way to work and think they will always be there, until one day they aren t. Three beautiful portraits on growing older, making a living and sometimes not, but mostly, about how we learn to move forward and press on.

3 DIRECTOR S STATEMENT Small Wonders is a project that was inspired by my father, a man with big dreams. He ran a home-renovation business, not unlike Jae-Gil s, who appears in the film. A few years ago, the first Reno-Depot in Quebec opened up shop exactly across the street from my father s store. On opening day, it was so busy that the police had to direct traffic. Customers parked in my father s parking lot to walk across the road to the home renovation giant. When he finally set foot inside, he found them selling doors and windows cheaper than he himself was buying them from his supplier. I started Small Wonders with him in mind, following three small businesses for a then-undetermined period of time. You could say that I have small stores in my blood. In addition to my father, my mother s whole family worked in a small vegetable store in England in the 30 s and 40 s. I suspect that this led to my fascination with Montreal s own Warshaw, the subject of my first documentary, Warshaw on the Main. I have always loved these special microcosms created by commerce; in today s cities they are more than just places of business, they are a part of our culture. Small Wonders is an ode to a disappearing place and an authenticity that is hard to find in our world of franchise restaurants and chain boutiques.

4 Peter As a boy growing up in Greece, Peter s mother made him apprentice with a jeweler, setting his watch-repair career on its course. I had eyes like a hawk and she was smart to put me on this path, he says. In his own words, he was always good-looking and had his choice of women. Today Peter runs an urban anomaly; a tiny watch-repair counter tucked into the corner of a barbershop. Next to the whir of hairdryers and scissors Peter sits hunched over repairing watches. But business is slow rather than repairing an old watch, customers would often prefer to buy new. And Peter s eyes are giving him trouble, a sure problem for a profession so dependent on razor-sharp eyesight. As the camera rolls, Peter is going through a lot and often uses the camera as a confessional. Yes despite the setbacks, he often surprises with his dreamy optimism.

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