Scrappers
Dir. Brian Ashby, Ben Kolak & Courtney Prokopas
2010
94min
Set in Chicago's labyrinth of alleys, Scrappers is a portrait of Oscar and Otis, two metal scavengers searching for a living with brains, brawn and battered pickup trucks. The film shows how the 2008 financial collapse affects these men and their families.
One of Roger Ebert’s Best Documentaries of 2010
& 👍👍 Two thumbs up 👍👍
Winner: Audience Award & Best Documentary Feature, Chicago Underground Film Festival
Festivals:
Southern Circuit / Maryland / Revelation Perth / Citizen Jane / Landlocked
“Superior vérité doc... painlessly imparts a whole lot of insight into the travails of undocumented immigrants, the persistence of segregation, and the workings of the globalized economy. Miraculously, the whole thing plays more like a gritty valentine to the City in a Garden than an earnest left-wing guilt trip.” — Chicago Reader
“Scrappers goes beyond the novelty of the profession to tackle tough questions of race, work, public and private housing, and immigration. The film is a moving portrait of the precariousness of life and work at the bottom of the American economy in one of the country’s wealthiest cities.” — In These Times
“Patient, humane, committed” — SF Weekly
“A sometimes moving, sometimes funny, and always unflinching look deep into a world many of us never knew existed." — Maryland Film Festival
“Takes up resonating issues like the economic downturn, fatherhood and failed relationships and sees them play out in the men’s homes, the cabs of their trucks and on the grid of Chicago’s alleyways.” — NewCity
“Offers a modest but unexpectedly beautiful view of the city” — Chicago Tribune
“A beautifully shot and tenderly rendered documentary... Avoiding folksy caricature as well as polemic, Scrappers feels more like a poem you have to let settle in your own time.” — ArtThreat
If you are interested in viewing Scrappers, please ︎︎︎contact me.
Dir. Brian Ashby, Ben Kolak & Courtney Prokopas
2010
94min
Set in Chicago's labyrinth of alleys, Scrappers is a portrait of Oscar and Otis, two metal scavengers searching for a living with brains, brawn and battered pickup trucks. The film shows how the 2008 financial collapse affects these men and their families.
One of Roger Ebert’s Best Documentaries of 2010
& 👍👍 Two thumbs up 👍👍
Winner: Audience Award & Best Documentary Feature, Chicago Underground Film Festival
Festivals:
Southern Circuit / Maryland / Revelation Perth / Citizen Jane / Landlocked
“Superior vérité doc... painlessly imparts a whole lot of insight into the travails of undocumented immigrants, the persistence of segregation, and the workings of the globalized economy. Miraculously, the whole thing plays more like a gritty valentine to the City in a Garden than an earnest left-wing guilt trip.” — Chicago Reader
“Scrappers goes beyond the novelty of the profession to tackle tough questions of race, work, public and private housing, and immigration. The film is a moving portrait of the precariousness of life and work at the bottom of the American economy in one of the country’s wealthiest cities.” — In These Times
“Patient, humane, committed” — SF Weekly
“A sometimes moving, sometimes funny, and always unflinching look deep into a world many of us never knew existed." — Maryland Film Festival
“Takes up resonating issues like the economic downturn, fatherhood and failed relationships and sees them play out in the men’s homes, the cabs of their trucks and on the grid of Chicago’s alleyways.” — NewCity
“Offers a modest but unexpectedly beautiful view of the city” — Chicago Tribune
“A beautifully shot and tenderly rendered documentary... Avoiding folksy caricature as well as polemic, Scrappers feels more like a poem you have to let settle in your own time.” — ArtThreat
If you are interested in viewing Scrappers, please ︎︎︎contact me.
