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Arts & Culture

INDEPENDENT LENS: The Art Of The Shine

Kevin Tuohy of A Shine & Co, of New York.
Courtesy of Stacey Tenenbaum
Kevin Tuohy of A Shine & Co, of New York.

Airs Monday, April 9, 2018 at 11 p.m. on KPBS TV

A Delightful, Eye-Opening Look at the World of Professional Shoe Shiners

You might pass them on the sidewalk, at the mall or at the airport. They’re the shoe shiners, purveying an old school trade that seems like something out of the "Mad Men" era, out of step with our fast-paced, disposable consumer culture.

Yet, to many of the shoe shiners in Stacey Tenenbaum’s joyous and quirky film, shining shoes is a calling and a passion, a way to be one’s own boss and connect with other people.

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“The Art Of The Shine” premieres on INDEPENDENT LENS Monday, April 9, 2018 on PBS.

“The Art Of The Shine” travels from Toronto to Paris to New York to La Paz and beyond, introducing viewers to shiners who share their feelings about their work.

In Bolivia, where shining is looked down upon, shiners wear masks so their classmates and neighbors won’t know what they do for a living.

In Sarajevo, we meet Ramiz, the last shoe shiner in the city.

Ramiz inherited his job from his father, who was beloved — during the Bosnian war, the simple act of getting one’s shoes shined was seen as an act of resistance and a statement of hope.

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With a renewed interest in all things ‘retro,’ shining is slowly becoming hip again.

Customers get a shine and a haircut at the Nite Owl Barber Shop in Toronto, Canada.
Courtesy of Stacey Tenenbaum
Customers get a shine and a haircut at the Nite Owl Barber Shop in Toronto, Canada.

In cities like New York, Toronto, and Tokyo, the job is attracting younger people who are working to elevate the profession and give it a newfound cachet.

Some are turning the trade into an art form, hand-painting luxury shoes to create custom patinas and designs.

In Tokyo, the dapper Yuya purveys a seriously high-end shine that takes an hour and is accompanied by a flute of champagne.

Yuya Hasegawa of Tokyo’s upscale Brift H. Shoe Lounge.
Courtesy of Van Royko
Yuya Hasegawa of Tokyo’s upscale Brift H. Shoe Lounge.

Others, like Vincent in Toronto, find shoe shining an effective form of therapy.

In New York, we meet Kevin and his crew, all recovering alcoholics, who he calls his “sober shoe shine gang.”

Together they’ve found not only sobriety but a way of life that’s artistically and socially fulfilling.

Says Kevin: “I feel like I have the secret to life.”

Don, who works from a cart on Fifth Avenue, would probably agree.

A former accountant and baker, he gave up the stressful 9-to-5 routine for shoe shining and has never looked back.

New York shoe shiner Don Ward jokes with passersby while shining a customer’s shoes.
Courtesy of Stacey Tenenbaum
New York shoe shiner Don Ward jokes with passersby while shining a customer’s shoes.

Joking with people on the street and chatting with his harried customers, Don wouldn’t trade his life for theirs. “This is freedom. It pays the bills and I’m free. I think I live a happier life – I stopped chasing my tail.”

“We live in a disposable culture: use, discard, buy again. What happened to ‘waste not, want not’?” says Lois Vossen, INDEPENDENT LENS executive producer. “Stacey’s film is about manual labor and what we value — the objects we do or don’t take care of and the people behind that work. It reminds us that professions like shoe shining help create and maintain social bridges, a way for people of different social classes to interconnect. And it makes shoe shining cool again.”

RELATED: In conjunction with "The Arts Of The Shine," take a look at the whole subculture spinning around sneakers: an obsession with caring for your kicks.

A pair of boots before and after a shine by Pierre-Paul Hofflin of Talon Rouge in Paris.
Courtesy of Stacey Tenenbaum
A pair of boots before and after a shine by Pierre-Paul Hofflin of Talon Rouge in Paris.

WATCH ON YOUR SCHEDULE:

This film will be available to stream on demand for a limited time after broadcast.

JOIN THE CONVERSATION:

INDEPENDENT LENS is on Facebook, Instagram, and you can follow @IndependentLens on Twitter. #IndieLensPBS

"Shiners: The Art of the Shoe Shine" is on Facebook, Instagram, and you can follow @shinersdoc on Twitter. #TheArtoftheShine

"The Art Of The Shine" director Stacey Tenenbaum (center) with Kevin Tuohy and Jes Middendorf from A Shine & Co, NYC.
Courtesy of Stacey Tenenbaum
"The Art Of The Shine" director Stacey Tenenbaum (center) with Kevin Tuohy and Jes Middendorf from A Shine & Co, NYC.

CREDITS:

A H2L Productions and Documentary Channel production. Director and Writer: Stacey Tenenbaum. Producers: Stacey Tenenbaum and Sergeo Kirby. Director of Photography: Van Royko, CSC. Editor: Howard Goldberg. Original Music: Tim Rideout. Sound Design: Daniel Lagacé. Lois Vossen is executive producer for INDEPENDENT LENS.