Woodstock VT Film Series: A Photographic Memory

A Photographic Memory

2024. Rachel Elizabeth Seed. 87 minutes. Not rated.

Q&A with filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed to follow Saturday screening.

Showings take place at 3:00PM in the Billings Farm & Museum Visitor Center Theater. Tickets are $15 person/$12 Billings Farm member.

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Thirty years after her mother’s death, photographer Rachel Elizabeth Seed discovers her mother’s work—more than 50 hours of interviews with the greatest photographers of the 20th century, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lisette Model, Gordon Parks, W. Eugene Smith, Roman Vishniac, Cornell Capa, and Bruce Davidson.

Sheila Turner-Seed, a daring, world-traveling journalist ahead of her time, died suddenly when Rachel was just 18 months old. When Rachel threads in the audio reels and presses play, she hears her mother’s voice for the first time since she was a baby.

Moved to uncover more of what she left behind, Rachel sets out to revisit her mom’s subjects, family, and friends, revisiting the photographers she interviewed decades before. As new truths emerge, Rachel builds an unlikely relationship with her mother through the audio recordings, photographs, and films her mother made during her brief life, crafting a powerful,  imagined conversation through the cinematic medium.

Along this path, Rachel explores the question of whether it is possible to get to know someone through the things they leave behind.

…an intimate film, replete with memories of a woman who was an intrepid journalist, capable documentary photographer and fine essayist.” – POV Magazine