Source: United Nations (video statements)
On Sunday, 21 June 2026, on World Music Day, the UN Movie Society of the United Nations Staff Recreation Council is honoured to present a special conversation with filmmaker Ben Proudfoot, director of the Oscar Award-winning film THE LAST REPAIR SHOP.
THE LAST REPAIR SHOP is a powerful and deeply moving film that tells the story of the Los Angeles Unified School District’s Musical Instrument Repair Shop — the last of its kind in the United States. In a country where most cities have long abandoned free instrument repair for public school students, Los Angeles has kept this extraordinary service alive, and the craftspeople who run it have quietly changed thousands of young lives. Through intimate portraits of four master technicians — including Steve, an Armenian refugee whose own life was transformed by the kindness of a piano tuner after his father was murdered and he fled his homeland — and the children whose love of music they help sustain, the film reveals the profound healing power of music and the human will to repair what is broken. Co-directed with composer Chris Bowers, himself a product of the LAUSD public school system, THE LAST REPAIR SHOP is a film that restores faith in humanity — and in each other.
World Music Day reminds us that music is not a luxury but a human right — a universal language that transcends borders, cultures, and conflict. As enshrined in the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, every child has the right to express themselves through music, to create, to dream, and to grow. When a child picks up a violin, a clarinet, or sits down at a piano, they are not only learning an instrument — they are learning to listen, to collaborate, to harmonize, and to become more fully human. These are the very qualities the United Nations was founded to nurture in the world.
Through THE LAST REPAIR SHOP, the UN Movie Society celebrates a film that champions the core values of the United Nations: the belief that broken things — instruments, communities, relationships, and even nations — can be repaired where there is the will to do so. As director Ben Proudfoot reflects, if a violin can be repaired, what else can be repaired? In the spirit of the United Nations, the film reminds us that peace is not an inevitability of war, but a choice — made one act of repair at a time. Since its Oscar win, the film has already inspired over $5 million in funding to preserve the Repair Shop and expand its team of technicians, nearly doubling the number of craftspeople serving the children of Los Angeles.
Founded at the United Nations Headquarters by Brenda Vongova, the UN Movie Society is committed to championing the goals and values of the United Nations through the universal language of motion pictures.