# The Last Repair Shop

The Last Repair Shop is a 2023 Canadian-American short documentary film directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers. Produced by Breakwater Studios, the film had its premiere on September 1, 2023 at the 50th Telluride Film Festival. On March 10, 2024, it won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film at the 96th Academy Awards.

## Summary

Since 1959, Los Angeles has been one of the few United States cities to offer and fix musical instruments for its public school students at no cost. Those instruments, numbering around 80,000, are maintained at a Los Angeles downtown warehouse by a handful of craftspeople. The film profiles four of them, each specializing in an orchestra section, as well as students whose lives have been enriched by the repair shop's work. The film concludes with a performance by district alumni.

## Cast

* Dana Atkinson
* Paty Moreno
* Duane Michaels
* Steve Bagmanyan

## Production

Proudfoot and Bowers previously co-directed A Concerto Is a Conversation, a 2021 Oscar nominee in the short documentary category. The film's producer, Jeremy Lambert, passed along an article on the Los Angeles Unified School District's 64-year-old instrument repair workshop.
The workshop, much smaller than Bowers had imagined when he was an LAUSD student, became the subject of the film, including profiles of four of the workshop's craftspeople. Bowers, whose first instrument was a school-provided saxophone, felt they should also profile students. Among the staff interviewed was Steve Bagmanyan, a piano technician and an Armenian refugee from Azerbaijan, who had tuned the pianos Bowers had used in elementary and middle school. A number of the students interviewed in the film are from the Colburn School, a music and arts school in Los Angeles which Bowers also attended. One of those featured students was violinist Porché Brinker; she shared the stage with Proudfoot and Bowers when they were awarded the Oscar.

## Release

The film had its world premiere on September 1, 2023 at the 50th Telluride Film Festival in the 'Main Slate: Episodic Form and Short Form' section. On September 24, it won Best Documentary Short Film at the 2023 Calgary International Film Festival.
It was screened at the Middleburg Film Festival in October 2023. In that same month, Searchlight Pictures and L.A. Times Studios acquired the film, making it available for free on the Los Angeles Times YouTube channel and website on November 8, 2023 and on Disney+ and related platforms worldwide on January 23, 2024.
On February 16, 2024, the film was screened on more than 700 screens in the U.S. and Canada as part of ShortsTV’s 19th Annual Oscar Nominated Short Films theatrical release.
The film aired on American Broadcasting Company owned television stations and select affiliates on February 17, 2024. It is the first Oscar-nominated short documentary to air on television.

## Impact of the film on social milieu

LAUSD Education Foundation is embarking on a $15 million campaign to benefit the musical instrument repair operation documented in The Last Repair Shop. The fund will support the workshop and its talented staff, and also sponsor a training program for students who will become future instrument technicians. The Oscar-winning documentary short The Last Repair Shop prompted a flow of donations to the program.

## Accolades

| Award | Date of ceremony | Category | Recipient(s) | Result |
| Calgary International Film Festival | October 1, 2023 | Best Documentary Short Film | The Last Repair Shop | Won |
| Middleburg Film Festival | October 22, 2023 | Sheila Johnson Vanguard Award | Kris Bowers | Won |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 12, 2023 | Best Short Documentary | The Last Repair Shop | Won |
| Critics' Choice Documentary Awards | November 12, 2023 | Best Score | Katya Richardson & Kris Bowers | Nominated |
| Hollywood Music in Media Awards | November 15, 2023 | Best Original Score – Short Film (Documentary) | The Last Repair Shop | Nominated |
| Astra Film and Creative Awards | January 6, 2024 | Best Short Film | The Last Repair Shop | Nominated |
| Black Reel Awards | January 16, 2024 | Outstanding Independent Short Film | The Last Repair Shop | Nominated |
| Academy Awards | March 10, 2024 | Best Documentary Short Film | Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers | Won |

### Critics' lists

| Publisher | Year | Listicle | Placement | Ref. |
| Variety | 2023 | Shorts showcase of 15 titles at Doc NYC | Included | |
| 17th Cinema Eye Honors | 2023 | Shorts List (Cinema Eye's Annual List of the Year's Top Short Documentaries) | Included | |