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Exclusive: Zeitgeist Films in association with Kino Lorber have acquired North American rights to the award-winning documentary A Photographic Memory, the directorial debut of Rachel Elizabeth Seed. Zeitgeist plans an early summer theatrical release for the film, winner of the Truer Than Fiction Award at last month’s Film Independent Spirit Awards.

A Photographic Memory tells the moving and evocative story of the filmmaker’s attempt to get to know her late mother, Sheila Turner Seed, a pioneering journalist, photographer, and filmmaker who died suddenly when her daughter Rachel was just 18 months old.

‘A Photographic Memory’

“Uncovering the vast archive Turner Seed produced, including lost interviews with iconic photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson, Bruce Davidson, Cecil Beaton, Lisette Model, and Gordon Parks, among others, Rachel attempts to build a posthumous relationship with her mother through her interviews, photographs, journals, films, and the stories of those who remember her,” notes a synopsis. “The...

On Saturday, the Spirit Awards returned to the beach. Casa Del Mar Hotel Santa Monica hosted our annual Spirit Awards Nominees Brunch to celebrate all the 2025 nominees and their films. The ultimate power brunch. Yes, there was fashion, yes there was shmoozing, yes there was eggs benedict, but more importantly there were the FilmIndependent Spirit Award Emerging Filmmaker Awards. These three awards celebrate emerging filmmakers with a total of $75,000 in unrestricted grants, as well as some see-through oblong hardware.

The awards were hosted by the great Karen Pittman of The Morning Show and the upcoming Netflix series, Forever, that can be seen later this year. This year’s prizes included the Producers Award, the Someone to Watch Award and the Truer Than Fiction Award. Watch the winners’ full acceptance speeches and learn more below:

The Producers Award

The Producers Award, in its 28th iteration, went to Sarah Winshall for her...

Sean Baker’s Anora and Jane Schoenbrun’s I Saw The TV Glow lead the 2025 Independent Spirit Award nominations with six each.

Both films were nominated in best feature, best director, best lead performance, best supporting performance and the producers award while I Saw The TV Glow also picked up best screenplay.

Sean Wang’s Didilanded four nominations including best first feature and best first screenplay. The Apprentice is up for three awards – best directing, best editing and best lead performance for Sebastian Stan.

The winners will be announced at a ceremony in Santa Monica on February 22, 2025.

Earlier this week...

Filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed’s photographer mother Sheila Turner Seed died when she was just 18 months old, before specific memories could take hold — an absence that structures doc producer-turned-director Seed’s True/False, Hot Docs and Doc NYC-playing A Photographic Memory, which I caught at the Woodstock Film Festival. From the outset, the documentary is an archive-based biographical detective movie of sorts, following Seed over the years in which she learns about her mother by reconstructing the biography of her professional life. This work includes not only her own photography but a 1970s interview series, Images of Man, she produced with […]

The post “I Became Obsessed with the Idea that All Great Art Contains the Life Force of the Artist…”: Director Rachel Elizabeth Seed on A Photographic Memory first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Filmmaker Rachel Elizabeth Seed’s photographer mother Sheila Turner Seed died when she was just 18 months old, before specific memories could take hold — an absence that structures doc producer-turned-director Seed’s True/False, Hot Docs and Doc NYC-playing A Photographic Memory, which I caught at the Woodstock Film Festival. From the outset, the documentary is an archive-based biographical detective movie of sorts, following Seed over the years in which she learns about her mother by reconstructing the biography of her professional life. This work includes not only her own photography but a 1970s interview series, Images of Man, she produced with […]

The post “I Became Obsessed with the Idea that All Great Art Contains the Life Force of the Artist…”: Director Rachel Elizabeth Seed on A Photographic Memory first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.

Filmmaker and photographer Rachel Elizabeth Seed doesn’t have any memories of her mother, the renowned journalist Sheila Turner Seed, who died of a brain hemorrhage at the age of 42 when Rachel was only 18 months old. What she does have — in tantalizing yet torturous amounts — is hard evidence of the woman her mother was. The array of archival materials that Sheila left behind might pale in comparison to the thoughtless gigabytes of pictures and videos that today’s parents will bequeath to their kids, but her ghost is all the more haunting for how warmly elusive it feels.

Sheila’s voice survives in the scripted audio programs she recorded for Scholastic, and in the candid diaries she kept throughout her adult life. Her visage endures in the black-and-white panel shows on which she appeared to discuss her work. Most of all, her vision can still be seen — clear as day...

The year-long fellowship is designed to nurture first-time documentary feature directors.

The Independent Filmmaker Project (Ifp) has announced the 10 documentaries selected for the 2017 Ifp Filmmaker Labs.

Ifp Filmmaker Labs support first-time feature directors with projects in post-production as they complete, market and distribute their films.

The selected projects and their attending Lab Fellows for the 2017 Ifp Documentary Lab are:

The Area David Schalliol (director, producer, Dp), Brian Ashby (producer, editor), Peter Galassi (editor)

Baato Lucas Millard (director, writer, producer, Dp), Kate Stryker (director, writer, 2nd camera)

¡Las Sandinistas! Jenny Murray (director, writer), Sarah Winshall (producer)

Leave the Bus Through the Broken Window Andrew Hevia (director, writer, producer, Dp), Carlos Rivera (editor)

Personal Statement Juliane Dressner (director, producer, dp), Edwin Martinez (co-director, Dp, editor), Beth Levison (co-producer)

A Photographic Memory Rachel Elizabeth Seed (director, producer, Dp), Danielle Varga (producer)

Shadow of His Wings Lucas Habte (director, producer, Dp), Isidore Bethel (writer, producer, editor...