It was early 2020, and for some time Sinteque, a renowned figure on the Berlin and international fetish scene, had been feeling that she wanted to try something new as a model.

Her repertoire already spanned fetish fashion, pin-up, burlesque, domination and BDSM, along with complimentary talents such as styling, make-up, photography and more.

But, she explains, she was anxious to try something “more complex and meaningful than a photo, and with more emotional depth”. Something that told a story.

The answer, she decided, would be to make some short films.

Since her intention was to be in front of the camera rather than behind it, she would need to find a collaborator to shoot the project.

“I immediately thought of Mark Esper,” she says. “He’s a photographer and filmmaker friend of mine. I really appreciate his work, as he’s as professional and detail-oriented as I am.

“Fortunately, when I approached him, he was also immediately into the concept.”

MARK ESPER: the international photojournalist/ filmmaker shot and edited the Sinteque videos

Mark (above) is happy to explain just what the appeal of Sinteque’s idea was to him:

“Shooting a video together would be something new for Sinteque’s team, and would also pose an interesting challenge for us in bringing latex’s highly reflective aesthetic onto film.”

Fleshing out the video characters

The project the pair agreed on was to create three short films. In them, the viewer would meet three fictional fetish personalities who couldn’t be more different from one another, while still reflecting facets of Sinteque.

“In order to bring these characters to life, we set about developing a separate resumé for each character, by working out their individual traits first,” she reveals.

MARIE OVERGAARD: shared filming duties with Mark Esper on the Sinteque videos 

“Styling and make-up were then designed to emphasise each character’s style and personality.

“With this in mind, I contacted several outstanding latex designers and invited them onboard, and the project slowly took shape from there.”

Recalling Sinteque’s wardrobe choices, Mark says: “First, there was a red dress from Dutch designer Brigitte More, followed by a wild, tyre-based ensemble from Japanese label Kurage and a cheeky leopard print catsuit from HW-Design in Vienna.”

This was all great, except for one thing: covid-19 was on the way to becoming a global pandemic and the project’s outfits were coming from as far away as virtually the other side of the planet.

Pandemic brings things to a standstill

Sinteque explains that the pair had been “working like crazy on the details of the script, accessories and a thousand other little things” until the pandemic brought everything to a halt.

“The outfit from Kurage in Tokyo was stuck in customs. And the one from HW-Design in Vienna, which would normally take only two or three days to get to Berlin, was lost in transit for two whole weeks!

“And then when all the outfits finally did arrive, we couldn’t shoot at first because of the coronavirus. It was truly exasperating.”

Fortunately, due to a summer relaxation of restrictions on meetings, Sinteque and Mark finally had the chance to realise the project.