the hardest working man

short film (post production)

the story

Having a good shoe repairman in New York City is like having a good mechanic in LA. You just can't negotiate life on the streets without one. 

Lorenzo Powell first learned his trade working in his father's shoe repair shop in Harlem in the late 70's and 80's. Back then, Harlem was acutely economically depressed. People wore their shoes until their feet touched the sidewalk—and they brought them right to Lorenzo's family shop. In hearing that history, it connected so many dots for me as a client of 15 years and now as co-director of this film. 

Lorenzo has been a longtime fixture in the midtown Manhattan community for almost 20 years. People who have moved to other neighborhoods travel far and wide to have him fix their beloved soles. He services many of the major theaters on Broadway. He is a true artisan and master of his craft—not to mention a small business owner, surviving in a time when the mom-and-pop shops are dropping like flies in a rapidly changing metropolis

writer/producer/director/cinematographer/editor: Aaron Cassara

writer/producer/director: Duane Harper Grant