Nana Frimpong never intended to study film, but as she told a packed house of students and alumni at the University of Toronto Scarborough earlier this spring: "You don't know how it all adds up."
Frimpong was back at her alma mater for a screening of The Last Repair Shop, an Oscar-winning documentary produced by Breakwater Studios, with Frimpong as an associate producer.
Originally a business major at U of T Scarborough, Frimpong transferred to the English program and graduated in 2018 with minors in media studies and women and gender studies. She went on to earn a master's degree in film and TV production at the University of Southern California (USC), where she earned the prestigious George Lucas Scholarship.
Frimpong candidly discussed the challenges she faced moving into the world of film.
"I got into film school and I was just overwhelmed. It was the best time of my life and the hardest," said Frimpong, who went on to work with Breakwater following her graduate studies.
"I knew I was supposed to be there, but I had never made a film before and I had never seen a screenplay before - but I worked really hard and I asked a lot of questions and I was really serious, and it served me well."
The Last Repair Shop tells the story of the Los Angeles Unified School District's (LAUSD) Musical Instrument Repair Shop and the people behind it. Located in a downtown warehouse, LAUSD has been providing free repairs for students' musical instruments since 1959. Eleven technicians currently service some 6,000 instruments for more than 1,300 schools across the city. It's one of the last publicly funded services of its kind in the United States.
The film struck a chord with audiences, critics and award juries alike, winning the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Film in 2024 - thanks in no small part to Frimpong's efforts at the helm of the film's Oscars campaign.
While accolades poured in, Breakwater Studios also launched a campaign to raise $15 million for the repair shop. Progress has been steady, highlighted by an event with renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma - held at the repair shop - where a $1-million donation was announced by the Chuck Lorre Foundation.
Frimpong is now focusing on Breakwater Studios' first feature documentary about a renowned Ghanaian cinematographer who captured the political rise of Ghana's first president. She offered an exclusive sneak peak of the film at the U of T Scarborough gathering.
Asked what advice she would give to undergraduates, Frimpong said: "I think it's so easy when you're in the depths of feeling low to think that you're the only one to have ever felt these things before, and that if you articulate them out loud nobody will understand you.
"Time and time again, that has not been my experience. There were so many days when I didn't think I had the thing within me to show up. And that's when I'd speak to my parents, I'd phone my sister, send a voice note to my friends."
Frimpong, who received a Gordon Cressy Leadership Award and served as vice-president equity of the Scarborough Campus Students' Union as an undergraduate, also encouraged students to pursue their passion in the face of obstacles.
"Keep going, ask for help, call your mom, and take it easy. It's going to be okay. It's OK if it doesn't add up right now - it will."
