Bert Stern: Original Madman

Bert Stern, the original "mad man" photographer, rose from the mailroom of Look magazine (where he befriended a young photographer named Stanley Kubrick) to become one of the most sought-after photographers on Madison Avenue, in Hollywood and for the international fashion scene. In a career spanning sixty-plus years, Stern has created some of the world's most recognizable and lasting images, from his revolutionary photos for Smirnoff vodka, to the poster image for Kubrick's Lolita and the famous "last sitting" session with Marilyn Monroe in 1962, a collaboration that continues to fascinate the public. Along the way, Stern led a turbulent personal life, defined most memorably by his complex relationships with women. Filmmaker Shannah Laumeister, who has had a long-term personal and working relationship with Stern, emboldens him to tell his story for the first time on film, and provides a unique perspective of her own. Filled with Stern's work, behind-the-scenes archival material, and revealing interviews, the film is an intimate and magnetic portrait of a man, as creative as he is complex.