Documenting political subject matter and crossing the class barrier in unexpected ways, American photographer Larry Fink approached the complex dynamics of U.S. society with empathy and sensitivity. Over 60 years as a professional photographer, this sense of humanity came to define his storytelling – lensing seminal moments from the Civil Rights movement, the Beat generation and Greenwich Village’s countercultural heartbeat, and the polished excess of Manhattan high society.

Capturing some of the last footage of the late photographer before his passing in November 2023, director Lisa Schiller takes a cinematic voyage into his life and work for short documentary FINK. In an exclusive excerpt from the Fellowship film, Schiller shares an intimate portrait of the self-proclaimed Marxist who put America’s class system in the frame – turning the world as he envisioned it into an artform.

Communicating his art through metaphor, Fink invites Schiller into his personal universe, reflecting on his artistic intentions and the cultural landscape that guided his personal experience. A prolific expert who cast an unfaltering eye on events that unfolded over his lifetime, FINK reveals the emotions and extremes evident through the photographer’s lens, and the intimate energy locked in the scenes he made his subject.