This short documentary profiles an imaginative inventor and craftsman who makes whimsical stringed instruments out of unlikely items. In his hands, shovels, rakes, baseball bats, and stop signs become beautiful and functional guitars, violins, banjos, and fiddles. After a near-death experience, retired machinist Lorne Collie embarked on his creative journey, and this heartening film offers a folksy, one-of-a-kind portrait of Collie's spirit and talent. Through weathered doc footage and hand-crafted animation, the film shows that Collie is having more fun than he’s had in a long time and feeling more than alive.
Ideal for classes and projects on music, creativity and aging. What do you think is inspirational about Lorne Collie? Draw diagrams of fantastical musical instruments and explain how they work. Create musical instruments out of junk or useless objects. Form small musical groups, compose music for your instruments and put on a concert. What can we learn about music and human ingenuity from this film? Search online and find other examples of machines that have been built out of junk.