The Piano Tuner
2026

The Piano Tuner

From his cool climate home in Hobart, down to underground churches in Coober Pedy and up to the patience-testing humidity of Darwin, Martin Tucker crosses the country plying his remarkable ear for tuning pianos old and new, making fast friends along the way as he champions a dying art.

Director

Natalia Laska

Runtime

88 Minutes

Country

Australia

Classification

All Ages

Gifted with an affably larrikin spirit, piano tuner and childhood ten-pound-pom Martin Tucker is the sort of amiable wandering soul who’ll make you want to chuck it all in and follow along. Fond of shaking off his shoes and feeling the thrum of nature, Tucker has dedicated his life to the care of pianos and the people who love them. A number rapidly dwindling across the country, with the cost of properly caring for one prohibitive for some. Which makes the kooky characters he encounters all the more remarkable. From Amish farmers to pensioner artists who lost everything in bushfires, from self-taught schoolboys to the Chinese mum who’s building her new home around the dream of owning a baby grand, you’ll fall in love with them all. As you will with the beautiful pianos. Some live in air-conditioned recital centre chambers, others in elaborate, buried churches, or teeming with ticks on a cattle station. Natalia Laska’s delightful Documentary Australia Award nominee pays tribute to them all, and Tucker’s life well-lived.

“Martin’s passion and enthusiasm for acoustics is evident from the very beginning … and you can almost feel through the screen the community that he carries with him.”

On the House

Sydney

CinefestOz

Film Credits

Director

Natalia Laska

Year

2025

Country

Australia

Language

English

Type

Feature Documentary

Program Strand

Australian Independents

Producer

Julia Overton & Tom Zubrycki

Writer

Natalia Laska & Fiona Strain

Cinematographer

Natalia Laska

Music

Martin Tucker

Film Source

Antidote Films

Genre

BiographicalDocumentary & Music

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