A Photographic Memory
Filmmaker Rachel Seed in Madison on Monday, June 23
Hey friends, I hope you can join us.
Just a quick update about an event we’re hosting in Madison, Wisconsin, where I live, tonight. Filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed will be in town to screen her documentary, A Photographic Memory, at the Arts + Literature Laboratory on Monday, June 23, at 7 p.m. After the film, Rachel will hold a short Q&A session. Admission is free, and I hope some of you will join us.
Rachel and I have been corresponding about this film since 2013. She’s in the Midwest from Los Angeles to premiere A Photographic Memory at the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago this week. Rachel knows I live in Madison — a short drive from Chicago — so she asked if we could show the movie here.
This event is extra special because it’s one-night only. A rare treat!
Rachel gave a lovely interview to reporter
at The Capital Times this week. Here’s what she had to say about the film, which is a love letter to her mother, who was a photographer and documentarian:I want people to see part of their own life in it and make new connections or new associations. A pitfall of some of these kinds of films is that they are so personal that they become like a family movie. I was conscious of that, and I wanted it to be a universal story that could ripple out into more universal layers for people.
I also think it’s worth noting for people who are into photography that the interviews in the film were sitting in the archives at the International Center of Photography for four decades. If I hadn’t dug them up and digitized them and put some of them in the film, they would probably never see the light of day. These are (tapes) of some of the greatest photographers ever.
The way they’re used in the film is to speak to the other themes of the film. For anyone interested in photography, these are amazing little Easter eggs of photo history. If I were a photographer watching the film, I’d be like, ‘Oh, this is so cool.’
If you’re into photography, this is a film you want to see. Still, it’s about much more than imagemaking. Critic
reviewed A Photographic Life the other day:It seems like the more of her mother Rachel encounters through second-hand sources, the more she feels the invisible membrane of time that separates them. A photograph is seen as an objective record. But of course, in looking at it, we imprint it with our own memories and emotions. What was behind that smile? What was she thinking about?
This recognition makes “A Photographic Memory” a more elusive documentary than you might expect, as it plays with the notion of memory and time. Rachel may understand her mother better when she sees echoes of her mother in her own life, particularly in the challenge of balancing an artistic life and a personal life. When Rachel and her husband go on their honeymoon in Cuba, both of them spend most of their time taking pictures, looking through their camera lenses rather than each other. She’s her mother’s daughter.
Rob knows his stuff and loved the movie. I can’t wait to see it.
I know many of you can’t join us in Madison tonight—you’re too far away! However, I hope you will see Rachel’s film at some point. It’s not streaming yet, but it will eventually be available online. You may be able to see it on the big screen where you live: Zeitgeist Films has a schedule of summer screenings on its website.
If you’re in Chicago and can’t make it to Madison, Rachel is hosting two final screenings at the Siskel Center this week:
Tuesday, June 24, 5:45 p.m. Q&A moderated by journalist Anthony Kaufman, with special guest to be announced.
Tuesday, June 24, 8:30 p.m. Q&A with Denise Keim. Co-presented by the Chicago Center for Photojournalism.
I’ll leave you with this trailer so you can get a taste of the film and add this to your watchlist. Please join us if you’re in the Madison area tonight. I’d love to see you!
Thanks for the recommendation. Just bought tickets to see it next month.
I am really looking forward to seeing this film. In reading the descriptor and then viewing the preview, I think that this will speak to many of our own life’s experience. It has already spoken to me.