Should I simply refer to the American documentary “A Photographic Memory” as rich, eerie, extensive, thorough, melancholic, uplifting and intriguing? Or might I say it is going to be remembered as one of the best Hot Docs 2024 documentaries?
Considering the enormous sums I am paid to review films, the mind-boggling swag bags that flow my way, the lavish meals fostered on me by distributors and the trips on private jets for interview purposes (of course) I suppose a few more words are warranted.
Director Rachel Elizabeth Seed’s mother, Shiela Turner-Seed an award-winning photographer, writer and journalist died suddenly of a brain aneurism at age 42 leaving behind 18-month-old Rachel. Rachel sets out on a journey to discover her mother she remembers, consciously, nothing of. Through audio tapes of her mother’s interviews of prominent photographers, photographs, home movies and discussions with colleagues, friends, family members and her mother’s journal Rachel finally has a picture of who her mother was. The discoveries paint a picture of her mother and her relationships with people and her work that enable her to state at the end of her journey that she now has a picture of her mother and no longer feels that she must look back.
There are countless photographs taken by her mother and famous photographers, interviews with these photographers by her mother but the film is not so much about photography as it is about a voyage of self discovery replete with curiosity, joy and finally a brief but powerful outpouring of grief.
You may see the trailer here https://hotdocs.ca/whats-on/hot-docs-festival/films/2024/photographic-memory
Hot Docs premiere on 3/5May2024.
RKS 2024 Film Rating: 96/100.
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