Repurposing gets lead role in ‘Scrap’ documentary

A Canadian documentary filmmaker has been screening her third project in Canada this year, and its focus is on metal and electronic scrap recycling. The aptly titled “Scrap” was made by Stacey Tenenbaum and was given a screening in Montreal this week.

A review from the Montreal Gazette says the documentary also will air on CBC television stations in early November.

The Gazette writeup by Bill Brownstein refers to scenes set in an electronics recycling facility in India; a classic car auto salvage facility and museum in the state of Georgia; a ship dismantling site in Spain, where parts are being harvested for a church in South Korea; a scrap-to-art ranch in South Dakota; and a family home in Thailand that has been set up inside an abandoned cargo plane.

A quote from the filmmaker Tenenbaum indicates why she may have chosen these locales rather than the mills and foundries where hundreds of millions of tons of scrap metal are melted annually. “I sort of wanted the scrap metal to be a character in the film,” Tenenbaum says. “I think that there are a lot of subtle parallels. This is really a film about life cycles and about how things can get also better with age, despite going through rust and peeling and scratches. Through life, we also get our share of wrinkles, scratches and scars, but we can still remain very functional.”

According to the article by Brownstein, Tenenbaum’s previous documentary films focused on pipe organists and shoe shiners, while her next project will examine professional wrestling.