Activate: Restore
Location: Toronto, Ontario
Director / Editor : Maja Zonjic
Director of Photography / Co-editor : Dominik Engel
Music and Sound desgn by: Emilio Guim
Underwater footage courtesy of: Alec Lister
Lead actor: Jonathan Groeneweg
Special thanks to: Fergus Lowrey
The short film Restore explores the life of a commuting, urban public through the eyes of the lead character. As a major intersection and event space in Toronto, the Dundas Square is traversed by thousands of people daily. Copious multi-billion dollar companies pay thousands of dollars to aggressively push their products in urban centers – such as the Dundas Square – further perpetuating the hegemonic consumerist model, and exacerbating society’s reliance on brands as a means of socioeconomic stratification. The ensuing commodification of natural resources and undervaluing of agricultural land to facilitate the related development places increasing pressures on many fragile ecosystems; many of which we depend upon for our survival. Restore is a call to action to ACTIVATE, reclaim our environment, and in doing so, to reestablish our true values.