Film: Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere

Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere documents the firsthand stories of photographer Steve Schapiro along with his vast archive of iconic images. Over six decades, Schapiro bore witness to some of the most significant social and cultural moments in modern American history.

Schapiro began his photojournalism career by documenting addiction in East Harlem and then traveling on his own to Arkansas to photograph migrant workers in 1961. His photo series on migrants was published in the Catholic magazine Jubilee. The New York Times saw the article and used one of Schapiro’s photos for the cover of their magazine. Schapiro then went on to work for Life, Look, Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, People, and Paris Match.

Throughout his career, Schapiro photographed such notable people 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.

In the 1970s, as picture magazines like Look folded, Schapiro shifted his attention to film. With major motion picture companies as his clients, Schapiro produced advertising materials, publicity stills, and posters for such notable films as The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, Chinatown, and even Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Schapiro later returned to his primary interests: photojournalism and social justice.

Shot shortly before his passing in 2022, Steve Schapiro: Being Everywhere is a loving tribute to a man who was the quintessential fly on the wall, waiting for moments to unfold and capturing them with a naturalism and skill that's nothing short of dazzling.




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.
Maura Smith, 2025


ABOUT THE FILM TEAM
Director
Maura Smith – As a graduate of the USC Cinema Department, Maura Smith went on to direct Towing with Sue Lyon and Joe Mantegna. While being an honors student in the MFA Screenwriting Program at Columbia University, Smith received first prize for the Zaki Gordon Memorial Award for Excellence in Screenwriting. Smith has directed for such companies as Sony Music, BBC TV, and Paramount.

Executive Producers
Michael Rosenberg
Michael Rosenberg was Senior Advisor for Imagine Entertainment, overseeing all strategies for brand growth and expansion, as well as marketing and publicity strategies for the company and all content. Michael has guided the release of many critically acclaimed films including Best Picture Oscar winner A Beautiful Mind, Parenthood, Apollo 13, 8 Mile, The Da Vinci Code, American Gangster, and television programs including “Genius,” “Empire,” “24,” and “Arrested Development,” just to name a few, and has produced the Emmy-nominated documentary Lucy and Desi, and the critically acclaimed documentaries The Beatles: Eight Days a Week, Pavarotti, Dads, and Rebuilding Paradise.

Sid Ganis
Sid Ganis co-founded Out Of The Blue Entertainment with his wife, Nancy Hult Ganis, following a distinguished career as an executive at major studios including Sony Pictures, Lucasfilm, Warner Bros., and Paramount Pictures. He has advised leading U.S. entertainment and technology companies including Dolby Laboratories. Ganis was the president of the Academy of Motion picture Arts and Sciences, a position which he held for four consecutive terms, and is now a trustee. He is currently is a trustee of S.F. Jazz in San Francisco. He also was on the Board of Directors of Marvel Entertainment, FIND (Film Independent) and University of California, Berkeley Art Museum/Pacific Film Archive and San Francisco’s SF FILM.

Rob Friedman
Rob Friedman is one of the leading executives and entrepreneurs in the entertainment industry. He is currently Chairman and CEO of Ascendant Entertainment. Rob served as Co-Chairman of Lionsgate MPG following their acquisition of Summit Entertainment, a company he founded and built into a leading motion picture production and distribution company. During his tenure, Lionsgate became the first studio outside the majors to generate over $1 billion at the US box office, a feat it repeated two years in a row. Rob began his career at Warner Bros, where he worked his way up from the mailroom to the President of Worldwide Advertising and Publicity. In 1997, he moved to Paramount Pictures as Vice Chairman of Paramount MPG, adding the role of COO, and ultimately overseeing seven divisions. Rob is currently a member of the Executive Branch of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is a longtime leader in the Special Olympics movement, serving on the Special Olympics’ Southern California Board for the past 30 years. He currently serves on the boards of United Friends of the Children, UCLA School of Theater, Film & Television, International Medical Corps, Saban Community Clinic, and Curtis School.

Producers
Theophilus Donoghue
Theophilus Donoghue is a documentary photographer who was inspired and mentored by his late father, renowned photojournalist Steve Schapiro. Like his dad who documented the civil rights movement, Donoghue has a concern for social justice and worked on projects in tandem with Schapiro about ending gun violence, abolishing the death penalty, and addressing poverty and inequality among other significant issues. Donoghue’s work was featured in Artsy’s 2021 Artists in Support of Human Rights Watch benefit auction. Alongside photography, Donoghue is currently pursuing a Master of Divinity at the University of Chicago in order to become a chaplain.
theophilusdonoghue.com
Exclusive Interview with Theophilus Donoghue

Dick Hansen
Dick Hansen has produced several projects including the award-winning music video “No Easy Walk to Freedom” and the film WiseGirls starring Mira Sorvino and Mariah Carey. Hansen has an active career as a production sound mixer, most recently working on Paramount’s Tulsa King and Marvel’s Agatha All Along. Hansen began his film career in 1986 on the film Light of Day starring Michael J. Fox and Joan Jett. His production work spans over hundreds of films and episodic television including the Oscar-winning film Dallas Buyers Club, Netflix’s worldwide number-one film Rebel Moon, and Emmywinning Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog. Hansen’s sound mixing career began in 1974 while working for IES, a London-based concert sound company. He toured internationally with major recording artists including Aerosmith, Roberta Flack, and the Scorpions. He was awarded a platinum album for his work with Aerosmith and contributed to Joe Perry’s New York Times bestselling memoir Rocks. Currently, Hansen from Academy Award nominee Bill Plympton. In his spare time, Hansen enjoys mentoring the next generation of filmmakers.


ABOUT STEVE SCHAPIRO
Steve Schapiro began his photojournalism career by documenting addiction in East Harlem and then traveling on his own to Arkansas to photograph migrant workers in 1961. His photo series on migrants was published in the Catholic magazine Jubilee. The New York Times saw the article and used one of Schapiro’s photos for the cover of their magazine. Schapiro then went on to work for Life, Look, Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Vanity Fair, Sports Illustrated, People, and Paris Match.

Throughout his career, Schapiro photographed such notable people 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.

In the 1970s, as picture magazines like Look folded, Schapiro shifted his attention to film. With major motion picture companies as his clients, Schapiro produced advertising materials, publicity stills, and posters for such notable films as The Godfather, Taxi Driver, Midnight Cowboy, Chinatown, and even Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Schapiro later returned to his primary interests: photojournalism and social justice
www.steveschapiro.com
Exclusive Interview with Steve Schapiro


ABOUT ABRAMORAMA
Abramorama is a leading innovator in worldwide event cinema, theatrical distribution, marketing, and rights management for nonfiction, narrative and music centric films. For more than 25 years Abramorama has provided best-in-class strategic services to Intellectual Property stakeholders including acclaimed filmmakers, major networks, premier record labels, digital platforms and high-profile artists including AARP, Amazon, Laurie Anderson, Apple, Atlantic Records, The Beatles, Concord Music Group, Green Day, Steven Gyllenhaal, HBO, Hulu, Melanie Martinez, MSNBC, National Geographic, Netflix, PBS, Pearl Jam, Dawn Porter, Showtime, SONY, Oliver Stone, Universal Music Group, Warner Bros. Discovery, Warner Music, and many more. Through a powerful global network of cinema exhibition partners, digital media channels, cross platform facilitators, and affinity marketing partners, Abramorama strategically implements a unified distribution and audience activation plan for each title.

Abramorama has successfully distributed and marketed hundreds of films, including Cathy Garcia-Sampana’s record breaking Hello, Love, Again; Sam Green’s 32 Sounds, Vanessa & Ted Hope’s Invisible Nation; Ron Howard’s Grammy Award®-winning The Beatles: Eight Days A Week – The Touring Years; Stanley Nelson’s Miles Davis: Birth of The Cool; Roberta Grossman and Nancy Spielberg’s Who Will Write Our History; John McDermott’s Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church; Amir Bar-Lev's Long Strange Trip – The Untold Story of the Grateful Dead; Danny Clinch and Pearl Jam’s Let’s Play Two; Corbett Redford and Green Day’s Turn It Around: The Story of East Bay Punk; John Scheinfeld’s Chasing Trane – The John Coltrane Documentary; Brett Bern's BANG! The Bert Berns Story; Brett Morgen and National Geographic’s seminal Jane; Asif Kapadia’s Senna; Neil Young’s vast catalog of Bernard Shakey Productions; Cameron Crowe’s Pearl Jam Twenty; Sacha Gervasi’s Spirit Award-winning Anvil! The Story of Anvil; Banksy’s Academy Award® nominated & Spirit Award-winning Exit Through the Gift Shop; Showtime’s National Board of Review Winner Listen to Me Marlon; IDA Best Documentary Winner The Look of Silence; and the episodic multi-platform series Deconstructing The Beatles.
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