90, still doing perms, and has zero time for your retirement plans.
Feisty, fiercely independent and firmly rooted in place, 90 year-old Mabel Robinson broke barriers back in the 40s when she became the first woman in Hubbards, Nova Scotia, to launch her own business—a hairdressing salon where she still provides shampoo-n-sets over 70 years later. Weaving animation and archival imagery with intimate and laugh out loud moments in the salon, the film celebrates the power of friendship, doing what you love and staying active. With no desire to retire anytime soon, Mabel gives voice to a generation who are not front and center of cinema or the pop hairstyles of the day, and subtly shifts the lens on our perception of beauty and the elderly.
Direction
Animation blends seamlessly with archival stills and present-day salon banter
Writing
Mabel's one-liners hit harder than most scripted dialogue
Director
Teresa MacInnes
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
Hubbards, Nova Scotia had a population under 1,000 when Mabel opened shop in 1946—her salon became an accidental town square for women across generations.
Director Teresa MacInnes spent three years filming; many of Mabel's original clients had passed by release, making the documentary itself an act of preservation.
CA
US
