The acclaimed short documentary film “The Last Repair Shop” will make its national television debut this Saturday, Feb. 17 across ABC-owned television stations and select affiliate stations.
The Oscar-nominated film, directed by Kris Bowers and Ben Proudfoot, focuses on the Los Angeles Unified School District’s one-of-a-kind musical instrument repair shop that has been providing free repairs to instruments for public school students since 1959. It has helped launch the careers of countless musicians, including John Williams and Kendrick Lamar.
The 39-minute film recently won the Critics Choice Documentary Award for Best Short Documentary and is now streaming globally on Disney+ and Hulu in addition to its national TV debut. It features four of the repair shop’s technicians – Dana Atkinson, Paty Moreno, Duane Michaels and general manager Steve Bagmanyan – as well as emotional testimonials from young student musicians about how vital the repair shop has been for them.
Co-director Kris Bowers has a personal connection to the shop, having grown up playing pianos tuned by Bagmanyan. “I had no idea this shop existed until I started making the film with Ben, but ‘The Last Repair Shop’ became a passionate love letter paying a delayed debt of gratitude to those unsung heroes who gave me and countless others the gift of music,” Bowers said in a statement to The Wrap.
“The Last Repair Shop” will air at various times late night on Saturday in major markets across the country, including 9PM PST in Los Angeles and San Francisco, 12AM EST in New York and Chicago, and 12:20AM CST in Houston.
You can watch the full 39 minute short film here.
