Mugshot Trailer (2014)

Trailer for Mugshot.

Brutal, charismatic, rebellious, stunned and ashamed describe some of the looks captured in the powerful photographs taken at the moment people are charged with a crime. Originally intended for keeping track of criminals, mug shots started with the invention of the daguerreotype in the 19th century. Director Dennis Mohr’s smart and fascinating film begins there and through changing technologies, traces how they’ve since become a powerful presence as art and entertainment. Drawing together a collection of artists, writers, curators and gallery owners from Canada and the US, the film raises critical issues about privacy in the Internet age, where a mug shot can last forever. Beautifully paced and seamlessly edited, with a sophisticated visual style, the film situates mug shots as a subset of portrait photography, evidence of a social history of marginalized lives, and fodder for art that began with Andy Warhol’s banned Thirteen Most Wanted Men installation at the 1964 World’s Fair.