LOVE AND NIPPLES. Justin "Justinsuperstar" Johnson will be releasing his Eau Claire-set documentary about his parent's secret nipple business. (Submitted Photos)

“I say your parents are a non-renewable resource. And if you don’t ask questions, if you don’t have those conversations with them and then they’re not with you anymore, you may never find out.”

That is what Justin Johnson, also known as Justinsuperstar, said when explaining his motivation to make his newest documentary, all about his parent’s secret prosthetic nipple business.

Justin found out that his father, Brian Johnson, secretly started producing prosthetic nipples after Justin’s mother, Randi, had been diagnosed with breast cancer in 2007 and had to get a unilateral mastectomy. Always knowing his parents as a rather conservative Midwestern couple, this news prompted him to tell their story.

“I'd say the documentary has a central theme of becoming whole again,” Justin said. “So whether it’s my mom becoming whole again with the nipple reconstruction or kind of the end of it where the family becomes whole again with me returning to the Midwest.”

Randi and Brian Johnson.

Justin started filming in 2015, though he got stuck figuring out the direction he wanted to take the film. He then realized that the movie isn’t about his father’s business, but about his parent’s amazing love story. After realizing the true direction of the film, Justin started getting serious about it in 2018. At first, he was nervous that his parents and siblings wouldn’t agree to tell the story, since both of his parents had kept the business a secret for so long.

“My dad says I’m the only person he would allow to tell this story because he’s a very private guy,” Justin explained. “But I thought of him working on this film as the ultimate gift that he could give to me. He was generous enough to come out of his shell and talk about this kind of stuff.”

The documentary is set in Eau Claire, as the city is where Justin and his siblings grew up and where the nipple business started. Justin says there are a ton of Eau Claire “easter eggs” in the movie that locals should be on the lookout for.

“I hoping to be able to have some of the Eau Claire creative community come out and be able to check it out,” Justin said. “I think it's pretty rare for there to be a film a documentary about some people in Eau Claire. I always wanted this film to be like a love letter to Eau Claire, and in a lot of ways, to the Midwest.”

The documentary will be premiering at the Milwaukee Film Festival on April 20, with a special showing taking place a few days after at the Minneapolis St. Paul International Film Festival on April 23 – and all of his family, friends, and documentary participants will be able to view it there, some for the first time.

“There’s the dentist, there’s the pastor, there’s the guy who works at the hardware store; They haven’t seen a single frame of this film before and they’re characters that also have a bit of a journey as well. So, that’s one thing that I’m really nervous and excited about, because they’re gonna have the opportunity to see this whole thing that I’ve been working on for eight years now.”

Justin is hopeful the movie will be available to be viewed online at some point this year, but his first focus is to get it into theaters and in front of people at film festivals.

The Johnson family.

You can learn more and keep up with updates about the movie at justinsuperstar.com/nipple-factory.