The Last Repair Shop is a 2023 Canadian-American short documentary film directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers. Produced by Breakwater Studios, won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film at the 96th Academy Awards. It had its premiere on September 1, 2023 at the 50th Telluride Film Festival.[1] On March 10, 2024 and is currently streaming on Disney Plus.
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 tells stories of 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 is not just about repairing the instruments, but also repairing lives of the people who work there and also students who’s lives are healed by using and playing these instruments. The film concludes with a performance by district alumni and is certainly worthy of an academy award.