The Last Repair Shop

The Last Repair Shop is a short documentary about a workshop in Los Angeles where a small team of craftspeople keeps tens of thousands of student musical instruments in playing condition. It is described as the largest remaining facility of its kind in the United States. The film follows four of the people who work there, tracing how music and repair have shaped their own lives while they help schoolchildren across the city.

The documentary is directed by Ben Proudfoot and Kris Bowers and produced by Josh Rosenberg, Proudfoot and Bowers. Proudfoot's directorial credits, in order, are this film, followed by The Eyes of Ghana and The Baddest Speechwriter of All. The four featured workers appear as themselves: Dana Atkinson, Duane Michaels, Paty Moreno and Steve Bagmanyan. Ken Burget, a piano tuner, and Vincent Womack, a school district music teacher, also appear. The film runs about 40 minutes and was made by Breakwater Studios and LA Times Studios.

Since its release in February 2024, the documentary has drawn a modest but favourable response. On IMDb it holds a rating of 7.4 from roughly 3,200 votes, while on TMDB it sits at 7.5 from a much smaller number of votes. Both point to a generally positive audience reception for this short music documentary.