Naked Ambition Documentary Cements the Legacy of Pinup Photographer Bunny Yeager

Sex and Miami are practically synonymous, but few have elevated that connection to art quite like Bunny Yeager. An iconoclast photographer, Yeager is the subject of the forthcoming Naked Ambition, by documentarians Dennis Scholl and Kareem Tabsch. The film, which has already screened around the festival circuit, including at Doc NYC and the Miami Film Festival, just got a new distribution deal with Music Box Films and a new trailer. With this news, Naked Ambition and Yeager’s legacy will reach well beyond South Florida when the film is released in select theaters nationwide in September.

"While this is through and through a Miami story, it’s one that resonates with audiences everywhere as Bunny’s influence can be seen throughout our culture today, whether we realize it or not,” says Tabsch. "That’s why we’re especially happy that audiences around the country will be able to see it on the big screen and celebrate one of Miami’s own artistic giants."

Yeager may not be a household name today, but she is a preeminent pioneer whose work as a pinup photographer has permeated American cultural imagery. Best known for her collaborations with model Bettie Page during the early years of Playboy and for popularizing the bikini, Yeager challenged the conservatism of 1950s America and helped usher in the sexual revolution. In tribute to Yeager at her death in 2014, former New Times culture editor Ciara LaVelle heralded her as "a post-feminist artist in a pre-feminist world."
Yeager moved to South Florida in her teens and graduated from Miami Edison High School. Before she revolutionized photography, she cultivated an understanding of aesthetics through modeling, even going on to win the Queen of Miami and Florida Orchid Queen pageants, among many others. In her later years, Yeager earned greater artistic recognition with exhibitions and books dedicated to her work, fortifying her significance as a South Florida artist.

Similarly, the directors of Naked Ambition are pillars of the South Florida art scene. Scholl’s work with nonprofits like the John S. and James L. Foundation and Oolite Arts has supported countless artists in the area, and Tabsch cofounded O Cinema with CEO Vivian Marthell in 2011. Their previous documentary, The Last Resort (2018), chronicled the transformation of South Beach from the 1960s through the 1980s through the photographs of Andy Sweet and Gary Monroe.

Since then, the duo has pursued individual projects. Scholl explored the legacy of abstract expressionist artist Clyfford Still in Lifeline: Clyfford Still, and Tabsch profiled beloved astrologer and psychic Walter Mercado in Mucho Mucho Amor (codirected by Cristina Costantini).

Naked Ambition combines the duo’s interests in art, history, pop culture, and South Florida. It took a tremendous amount of time and dedication to complete the film, which was nearly derailed first by Yeager’s death, which came just before the team could film her contributions, and then by the COVID pandemic.

The film's journey to the big screen is supported by Music Box Films. It’s encouraging that the distributor continues to spotlight South Florida filmmaking. Last year, it worked to release Monica Sorelle’s directorial debut, Mountains (2023), which earned her the Someone to Watch award at the Independent Spirit Awards. Naked Ambition opens September 12 in select New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago theaters. It will screen at O Cinema Miami Beach starting September 26.