Documentary ‘Scrappers’ looks at the economy of scrapping for metal
By Produced by Eight Forty-Eight
Documentary ‘Scrappers’ looks at the economy of scrapping for metal
By Produced by Eight Forty-Eight
WBEZ brings you fact-based news and information.
Sign up for our newsletters
to stay up to date on the stories that matter.
Roger Ebert named “Scrappers” one of the best documentaries of 2010. The film follows two men who make their living dumpster diving for scrap metal. A few years back, at the height of the scrap metal economy, copper iron or aluminum commanded hundreds of dollars per ton: Not any more. Like the rest of the American economy, the scrap metal industry took a nose dive in 2008. And that’s just some of the drama driving “Scrappers.”
Last year, “Eight Forty-Eight” spoke with two of the film’s producers and directors, Ben Kolak and Brian Ashby; Kolak said that gaining the trust of those in the scrapper community wasn’t easy.
The film “Scrappers” screens Friday at the University of Chicago Doc Films on E. 59th St.