A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY, A Film by Rachel Elizabeth Seed
A PHOTOGRAPHIC MEMORY
An intimate, genre-bending portrait of a daughter’s attempt to piece together a picture of her mother, an avant-garde journalist she never knew
Includes lost interviews with iconic photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks, Cecil Beaton, Bruce Davidson, Lisette Mode and others
Limited theatrical release via Zeitgeist Films in association with Kino Lorber:
June 14-16: Culture Vulture Series at Laemmle Theatres throughout the Los Angeles area
June 20-26: Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago
June 27-29: New Plaza Cinema in New York City
June 30: DOC NYC Selects at IFC Center in New York City
National rollout continues throughout the summer
Winner of the Truer Than Fiction Award at the 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards and a New York Times Critic’s Pick, A Photographic Memory is an intimate, genre-bending portrait of filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed’s attempt to get to know her trailblazing mother, Sheila Turner Seed – a vibrant and pioneering journalist, photographer and filmmaker, who died suddenly and tragically when Rachel was just 18 months old. A Photographic Memory will have a limited theatrical release via Zeitgeist Films in association with Kino Lorber at the Culture Vulture Series at Laemmle Theatres throughout the Los Angeles area June 14-16, the Gene Siskel Film Center in Chicago June 20-26 and in New York City at New Plaza Cinema June 27-29 and DOC NYC Selects at IFC Center on June 30. Rachel Elizabeth Seed will be in attendance for Q&As at select screenings moderated by special guests to be announced. A national rollout of the film continues throughout the summer.
Thirty years after her mother’s death, photographer Rachel Elizabeth Seed discovers her mother Sheila Turner Seed’s work — more than 50 hours of interviews with the greatest photographers of the 20th Century, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lisette Model, Gordon Parks, Cecil Beaton, William Albert Allard, Brian Lanker, Cornell Capa, Bruce Davidson and Eliot Porter. 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. Sheila, a daring, world-traveling journalist ahead of her time, died suddenly of a brain aneurysm when Rachel was just 18 months old. 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 an imagined conversation through the cinematic medium. The film draws from footage of Rachel’s visits to the photographers her mother interviewed, Sheila’s award-winning audio-visual work, Super 8 family films, still photography, audio letters and journals, weaving together personal and photo-historical media to tell a universal story — about facing mortality and loss, the construction of memory and the restoration of a legacy. Along this path, Rachel questions whether it is possible to get to know someone through the things they leave behind.
“In my photography and creative work, I am driven by the desire for connection. Perhaps this is because my mother died when I was a baby; I’m always seeking to reconcile this loss in my life. It's this drive that inspired me to make A Photographic Memory,” said Rachel Elizabeth Seed. “From 2004-2011, I created an audio-visual series about motherless women, interviewing and photographing 40 women and girls around the world, but it wasn’t until I turned the camera on my life for this film that I began to make sense of my own loss. I hope for the result to be cathartic for myself and for those who relate to losing someone close to them, or being estranged from a parent. At the same time, I aim to memorialize my mother’s legacy as a woman ahead of her time who made a significant contribution to the fields of journalism and photo history.”
About the Filmmaker:
Originally from London, Rachel Elizabeth Seed is an LA-based nonfiction storyteller working in film, photography, and writing. Her debut feature film, A Photographic Memory, is a New York Times Critic’s Pick and was called “one of the best docs of the year” by RogerEbert.com. It was awarded a 2025 Truer Than Fiction Spirit Award and was nominated for a 2025 Cinema Eye Honors Award. Rachel’s work has been supported by the Sundance Institute, Chicken + Egg Films, NYFA, Field of Vision, the Jerome Foundation, NYSCA, the Jewish Film Institute, Jewish Story Partners and the IFP/Gotham Labs, among others. Formerly a photo editor at New York Magazine, her photography has been exhibited at the International Center of Photography, and she was a cameraperson on several award-winning feature documentaries. Rachel is co-founder and executive director of the Brooklyn Documentary Club, a NYC film collective with more than 300 members.
CREDITS:
DIRECTOR/WRITER/PRODUCER: Rachel Elizabeth Seed
PRODUCERS: Sigrid Dyekjær, Michael Sherman, Beth Levison, Matt Perniciaro, Danielle Varga, Grace Remington
EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Kirsten Johnson, Maida Lynn, Hinda Gilbert, Robina Riccitiello, Corie Adjmi, Jonathan Logan, Dan Logan, Shizuka Asakawa, Betsy Sherman, Charlie Taberle, Elle Williams
CO-WRITER/EDITOR: Christopher Stoudt
ORIGINAL SCORE: Mary Lattimore
DIRECTORS OF PHOTOGRAPHY: Joseph Michael Lopez, Rachel Elizabeth Seed, Drew Gardner
FILM EDITORS: Eileen Meyer, Tyler Hubby, Will Garafolo, Chris White
SOUND DESIGN: Rune Klausen, Peter Albrechtsen
SUPERVISING EDITOR: Maya Daisy Hawke
CONSULTING PRODUCERS: Judith Helfand, Brian Wallis, Stavroula Toska
USA | 2024 | 85 min | HD | 16:9 | Stereo 5.1 | English
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