The "Recomposer of the Decomposed: Forensic Artist Frank Bender" is another Sandokai production currently in progress. For more information visit the website:  http://frankbender.squarespace.com/

The "Recomposer of the Decomposed: Forensic Artist Frank Bender"

Forensic sculptor Frank Bender brings dead people to life. Part-detective, part-artist, total genius and a complete maverick, he himself has recently been given less than a year to live.

This film, which follows Frank as he sculpts his final bust, is a glimpse into an extraordinary character whose unique ability to interpret faces gives victims one last chance to name their killer and exact justice. Now Frank has one more opportunity to discover what really happened, to bring a family closure and perhaps find out who did it.

Frank is one of best forensic sculptors in the world. Sought after by - among others - the FBI and Scotland Yard to solve some of their most difficult cases, his creations have led to discoveries that have stumped the world’s cleverest detectives. 

For decades severed heads and broken skulls have arrived in boxes on his doorstep. His ability to re-create a face from the barest of remains is uncanny. With each layer of clay, he rebuilds their faces to create a human identity. Frank also specializes in age progression; his work famously led to the arrest and conviction of Colombian crime lord Alphonse Pertico and Warlocks motorcycle gang leader Robert Nauss - both of whom had eluded the FBI for years. 

According the Bender, "It's a balance of art and science. You cannot get an accurate rendition if you just follow science. You cannot get an accurate rendition if you simply follow art."

We meet Frank shortly after he has received the devastating news that he will not survive cancer. But showing the positive spirit that has defined his life, he remains unbeaten, mystifying doctors with his energy levels, and his determination to complete his last case.

"It's interesting that I have cancer, because I have always said through the years that catching figitives and identifying people takes a piece of cancer out of our society," said Bender

As he works to discover the identity of one more missing person, he reflects on his own sense of identity and how it feels to bring the missing into consciousness again. How have the dead affected his life? How has his work shaped his views about human nature and the struggle between good and evil? Why does he think he has a gift?

We’ll learn his views about relationships and the fragility of human existence through his life and work experiences. While he is harshly exposed to “people’s disregard for human life", he now sees the dead as his protectors, “when I have a nightmare the corpses aren’t hurting me; they’re helping me and scaring away the bad guys.”

In this intimate, yet universally resonant journey, we watch as an unknown face emerges into a  human form again and we will discover how Frank’s moving philosophy of life informs his trajectory into the unavoidable next phase – confronting his own mortality.

The Vidocq Society

Frank is also a founding member of the Vidocq Society – a real-life crime solving organization that works pro-bono with law enforcement agencies to crack cold cases.  Formed in 1990, the group is named after Francois Vidocq, the nineteenth-century French criminologist who was one of the inspirations for Sherlock Holmes. Frank’s founding colleagues are renowned forensic psychologist and profiler Richard Walter and former U.S. Customs and FBI agent Bill Fleisher. Vidocq membership includes experts in polygraph testing, body language, poison, terrorism as well as Mob busters, psychological profilers, coroners, prosecutors, homicide investigators and forensic scientists. They come from 19 states, 12 different countries and include agents from the FBI, CIA, Scotland Yard and INTERPOL. Once a month they meet for lunch at a posh Victorian club in downtown Philadelphia to review cold cases brought to them by detectives who have come to a dead end.

A recently published novel about the Vidocq Society called “The Murder Room” introduces the three founders and catalogues the group’s many triumphs, including those where a killer is finally brought to justice.  Hitting the New York Times bestseller list within weeks of its release in August, “The Murder Room” by Michael Capuzzo is a tribute to the Vidocq Society’s shared commitment to speak for the dead and exact justice when all hope is gone.