Everyone knows the common expression when someone is done with a certain object that has outlived its usefulness; they just throw it on top of the scrap heap. However, there are those people who see that piece of scrap from the top of the heap and see something that still has its sense of usefulness in another way, shape or form; or, as the saying goes, one person’s trash is another person’s treasure.
Montreal filmmaker Stacey Tenenbaum has seen and appreciated the latter aspect of items that were destined for the scrap heap, but were given a new lease on life for artistic or environmental purposes. This is all chronicled in her new documentary “Scrap”, which had its world premiere on May 1 at the prestigious Hot Docs Festival in Toronto, as well as streams across Canada until May 7, screens in theatres across the country this August and will broadcast on the Documentary Channel.
“I was always interested in the aesthetics of metal graveyards, where things go to die and I realized that by looking at them, these things can have an environmental impact,” said Ms. Tenenbaum during a recent phone interview. “So the question that popped into my mind was what happens to big items at the end of their lives, and that was the idea behind the documentary. Scrap metal is not biodegradable, and there are people who care about it, especially when someone needs a piece of metal for another purpose.”
“Scrap” traces Stacey’s worldwide odyssey to find people whose mission was to have a special attachment to scrap, and how they have repurposed about to be discarded metal objects and give them a new life. In order to get their stories, she has travelled to the U.S., Thailand, South Korea, Spain and India, spoke to them in person and via Zoom, and found out their unique way of how they built and maintained a special relationship to our discarded past.
“One of the most interesting places I visited was Old Car City USA in White, Georgia, in which owner Dean Lewis has over 4500 vintage cars that were reclaimed by nature, and turned them into a living art piece,” she said. “Then there’s Ed Melka, who collects streetcars, including 30 electric streetcars, and refuses to let them get lost to the course of time. In fact, he sold five of his repurposed vintage streetcars – which previously belonged to the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC) — to the city of Kenosha, Wisconsin. Streetcars are like little pieces of history, and when electricity was originally used instead of gasoline to have them run made them ahead of their time when it came to public transportation.”
“Scrap” marks the third consecutive occasion that Stacey’s documentaries were showcased at the Hot Docs Festival. “I am thrilled that one of my documentaries is once again being showcased at Hot Docs,” she said. “It’s a very popular festival. The audiences are great and it’s also very exciting to be in the theatre and see the people watching my films and enjoying them; it’s a great feeling.”
And keeping in tune with the repurposing theme of “Scrap”, Stacey announced that during the documentary’s theatrical run in August, donations of old cell phones will be accepted at each screening, as part of the Canadian Institute for the Blind’s (CNIB) “Phone It Forward” campaign. The donated phones will be refurbished and loaded with a number of apps. “That way, people with sight impairments can get connected to the world,” she added.
For more information about Stacey Tenenbaum’s documentary “Scrap”, check it out on Instagram (@Scrapdocumentary), Twitter (@Scrapdoc) and Facebook (Scrap Documentary).
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