How do you create the ‘perfect’ singular image for a documentary about an unusual artist/photographer whose 20 year archive is bursting with stunning and surreal images of  perfect family portraits? What does it take to invite an audience into our take on Heintz’s world, and her use of ‘mannequin’ props to explore suffocating gender roles and the nature of image and reality  itself?

The heart of our film is built around our observation of Heintz’s experiments in extreme self portraiture, which began well before the ‘selfie’ was really invented. From day one, we were intrigued by Heintz’s groundbreaking work, resilience and yes, audacity.  We turned to the distinguished portrait photographer, Jim Herrington, to add his artistic eye and photographic interpretation to our documentary about Heintz and her iconic images.  His concept for the poster was centered on choosing from a number of photographs taken by Heintz of herself, at our request. The photo of Heintz he selected definitely has a different feel from the images of self-projection in Heintz’s body of work and more in sync with our film’s exploration of Heintz as our subject, and the social impact of her photography. The power of this poster is really in how Herrington placed the audacious image of Heintz in juxtaposition to a smartly dressed Chauncey mannequin he had already photographed especially for this purpose. (Chauncey & suit were shipped to his studio from Heintz’s mannequin storage room – which you see plenty of in the film!). We think the result is another fascinating layer in our visual storytelling process with Heintz. – and we are excited to share it here:

Official Film Poster by Jim Herrington