In Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere, director Maura Smith delivers an incredible and loving tribute to one of the most important photographers of the mid-20th century.
Shot shortly before his passing, the film captures Schapiro in his own words, weaving together his photographs, stories, and singular lens on American life. Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere is both an intimate final conversation with a man who was the quintessential “fly on the wall” and a dazzling reminder of the power of photography to bear witness, inspire change, and preserve legacy.
Schapiro’s work is a time capsule full of culture, art, and politics. For over six decades, he was everywhere. He photographing all kinds of notable figures such as Andy Warhol, Muhammed Ali, David Bowie, James Baldwin, Martin Luther King Jr., John Lewis, Rosa Parks, Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Bill Evans, and Samuel Beckett among countless others. He documented Robert F. Kennedy’s last Christmas with his family and captured key images of the Civil Rights Movement. He also produced advertising materials, publicity stills, and posters for films like The Godfather, Taxi Driver, and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off among others.
Schapiro not only chronicled history, he helped define how history is remembered.
Check out our interview with Maura:
Director’s statement:
My goal in making this film about Steve Schapiro was to capture his charm and creativity and, equally important, to show how we can’t always tell how our lives are being shaped—those moments in life that are influencing us but we don’t realize it.
It was important to me that Steve’s story was told in his own words.
Early on in Steve’s career, a minister at Riverside Church suggested that Steve photograph addiction in Harlem. That same minister was Steve’s connection to the migrants in Arkansas. During the 60s, Steve went on to photograph James Baldwin, the civil rights movement, and Robert F. Kennedy’s political campaigns.
Later in life, after working in Hollywood, Steve returned to his social justice roots, befriending social activists Shane Claiborne and Fr. Pfleger and spending time with Sr. Rosemary at Misericordia, an applauded home for the developmentally disabled in Chicago.
Although Steve’s images of celebrities are quite famous, he never lost his passion for justice and equality for all.
For more information, visit the film’s website.