New film set in Toronto neighbourhood explores change, community and the staggering impact of gun violence

A young girl with incredible raw talent hoping to become a singer-songwriter. A young man preparing to become a cop. A loving (and worried) mom doing her best. Two friends struggling (and sometimes failing) to be better people. A young and serious woman dealing with an unserious boyfriend and a less certain future. 

Painting an oft-maligned Toronto suburb as a vibrant and hopeful place can be a particularly challenging task when the story ends with an unthinkable tragedy, but the journey to that gut punch of a conclusion is, indeed, a hopeful one. 

Morningside, an ensemble film that explores the lives of a group of Scarborough residents who are chasing their dreams, fumbling with relationships, and, as one cast member aptly puts it, getting in their own way, will make its theatrical debut on Feb. 21. 

Directed by Ron Dias (Bite of a Mango, Friends with Benefits), the film, mostly shot on location, is set in the east-end Toronto suburb of Scarborough and follows several characters connected to the fictional Morningside Community Centre, a neighbourhood hub slated to be torn down for development. 

Joanne Jansen (left) and Madeira (right)

While the film touches on the challenges of gentrification, it’s more about the people trudging through life in the lead-up to the holiday season. 

Lovell Adams-Gray and Kiana Madeira, a married couple who are executive producers and part of the all-Canadian cast (Adams-Gray is originally from Etobicoke and Madeira grew up in Mississauga), said the film–which also stars singer-songwriter and Juno Award-winning artist Fefe Dobson–was a labour of love that came together over several years. 

“We’re friends with Ron [Dias] and Joanne [Jansen], who co-wrote and co-produced the movie together,” Madeira (Fear Street, After We Fell) tells YourCityWithIN.com, referring to the two filmmakers who make up the Ron & Aussie motion picture company that produced the film. 

“We’ve been collaborating with them for years and they were working really hard to get this movie made,” Madeira, who plays Nicki, says.  

Adams-Gray (Power Book II: Ghost, 21 Black Futures), who plays troubled underachiever Jay, says that while the film was shot over two weeks, the long lead-up allowed the cast and crew to execute their vision and ensure everything was right. 

Adams-Gray

“You just want to make sure it’s right. It’s a beautiful depiction of Scarborough and you want to make sure it’s right and you don’t want to rush it. You want to make sure all your ducks are in a row before you take on a story of this magnitude.” 

Adams-Gray also says the film highlighted real and well-known locations in the suburb, filming scenes in the Real McCoy hamburger restaurant and Mona’s Roti. 

“You use the space. You use the things for what they are. You know, we shot at Mona’s, we shot at the community center in Scarborough. We shot at Kennedy Station. Getting to show off Toronto and all of its beauty and especially Scarborough…I just love [Dias’s and Jansen’s] approach to filmmaking,” he says.  

For Madeira, the Crash-inspired storytelling–the story follows seven main characters–and the realness of their experiences elevates the film. 

“I really love the heart of the whole story. I love that it’s such an ensemble cast. There were so many different characters that are all so full of life and different from each other,” she says. 

“It made me emotional reading it. It made me emotional watching it. I could really sense the heart and care and just the pulse of the city in the script.” 

When it came to preparing to play their characters (who don’t interact much in the film), Madeira says that other than the fact that her character has a child, they aren’t so different. For Adams-Gray, the role allowed him to speak more naturally while still inviting him to “step into shoes that aren’t his” and portray a man who is “the problem” in his romantic relationship.  

“[Jay] just could easily have been me,” he says. 

“Someone that’s so relatable who wants to do right by people and by himself but just can’t get out of his own way, how many of us have been there?” 

“We all know a Jay,” Madeira jokes. 

Fefe Dobson (left) and Alex Mallari Jr. (right)

The pair say the undeniable chemistry between the castmates, who move together effortlessly from scene to scene in a series of tense, funny, suspenseful, and dramatic moments, comes from not only dedication to the project but also familiarity. 

“Everyone really gave it their all and poured their all into making this project and it was really nice to be able to work with people who, you know, understand the way we work and speak our language in many ways,” Adams-Gray says. 

 “You could take risks. It felt safe to play and challenge each other.” 

Madeira says that Dias even encouraged the cast to improvise on occasion. 

“Ron was so great as a director; he really gave us the space to, like Lovell said, play and improvise. [During] improvisation, a lot of the chemistry can come out.” 

While the film makes its theatrical debut today, it’s been on the festival circuit for several months, having screened at the Cinéfest Sudbury International Film Festival, the ReelWorld Film Festival and the St. Louis International Film Festival.

When asked how audiences have responded so far, Adams-Gray said the most memorable feedback has come from his mom. 

“My mom was like, ‘I hated hearing you guys talk like that,’ which is really spoke to me because I’m like, ‘we did it. We did it.’ We actually were able to nail what it was like because she heard it growing up. So for me, when I’m able to affect my family and my parents that way, that’s a big win for me,” he says. 

Madeira says the all-Canadian production, helmed by a Canadian crew, helps show people that great projects can be created at home.  

“Telling a story about Toronto on this big of a scale and having, you know, this amazing press push and having it showing at Cineplex, that is so inspiring to a lot of people, and [Dias and Jansen] are really paving the way for a lot of artists,” she says.  

“A lot of the feedback we’ve been getting from the artistic community is ‘if you guys can do it, you make us feel like we could do it too.’ So aside from the film, I think the creation of the film has been really inspiring.” 

Ultimately, the film, sad though it may be, is intended to be a compassionate look at a community too often defined by outsiders.

“Morningside is a love letter to Scarborough. This film is deeply personal to me—not just because I grew up here, but because I’ve seen firsthand the beauty, resilience, and struggles of this community,” Dias said in a statement.

“Too often, stories from places like Scarborough are told by outsiders, focusing only on hardship. With Morningside, I wanted to capture the full picture—the challenges, yes, but also the culture, the people, and the strength that make this place special.”

The film, starring  Fefe Dobson, Oluniké Adeliyi, Alex Mallari Jr., Adams-Gray, Madeira, Joanne Jansen, Orville Cummings and Kiki Hammill, is showing in major theatres today.