Director Ed Gass-Donnelly?s first feature, This Beautiful City, teeters on the edge between hope and hopelessness, in the blurred lines between crack-houses and condos in Toronto?s Parkdale neighbourhood. The gritty realism Gass-Donnelly?s shooting style and the raw, honest performances give the film a documentary feel.

Gass-Donnelly answered the audience?s questions after the film, talking about the gentrification he experiences in his own Toronto neighbourhood (very close to the film?s location) and when asked about whether there is a silver lining to the tale, replied ?for me there was a bittersweet fate for the characters. One of the ideas is that you have to hit rock bottom in order to re-emerge. There was a certain phoenix rising from the ashes aspect to the characters... it's a cautionary tale.?

Another audience member commented that the actors seemed to all like the characters they were playing, in spite of their dark edge. 

Noam Jenkings, who plays Harry, said "For me it was really identifying with my character's ability for compartmentalization and avoiding certain truths about yourself."

Kristin Booth, who plays Pretty, answered "I found it interesting to play, as a performer whose job it is to express oneself, someone who is completely impotent when it comes to expression. But she does seem to find a voice, she does seem to find an ability to act that moves her inexorably forward to another direction, an out."

Aaron Poole, who plays Johnny, joked "I liked what a hard worker Johnny was".