''Photographic Memory'' is a 2011 documentary film by independent filmmaker
Ross McElwee
Ross McElwee is an American documentary filmmaker known for his autobiographical films about his family and personal life, usually interwoven with an episodic journey that intersects with larger political or philosophical issues. His humorous an ...
about a voyage back to the roots of his involvement with the camera.
''Photographic Memory'' premiered at the 2011
Venice Film Festival
The Venice Film Festival or Venice International Film Festival ( it, Mostra Internazionale d'Arte Cinematografica della Biennale di Venezia, "International Exhibition of Cinematographic Art of the Venice Biennale") is an annual film festival h ...
and won the Sheffield Youth Jury Award at
Sheffield Doc/Fest in June 2012.
Synopsis
The filmmaker finds himself in frequent conflict with his son, who is no longer the delightful child the father loved, but an argumentative young adult who inhabits virtual worlds available through the internet. To the father, the son seems to be addicted to and permanently distracted by those worlds. The filmmaker undertakes a journey to
St. Quay-Portrieux in Brittany where he worked for a spring as a wedding photographer's assistant at age 24 –slightly older than his son is now. He has not been back to St. Quay since that visit, and hopes to gain some perspective on what his own life was like when he was his son's age. He also hopes to track down his former employer, a fascinating Frenchman named Maurice, and Maud, a woman with whom he was romantically involved during that spring 38 years ago. Photographic Memory is a meditation on the passing of time, the praxis of photography and film, digital versus analog, and the fractured love of a father for his son.
References
External links
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Venice Horizons selections include Jonathan Demme, Ross McElwee docsat ScreenDaily.com
Review of Photographic Memoryat ScreenDaily.com
2011 films
French documentary films
American documentary films
Films directed by Ross McElwee
2011 documentary films
Autobiographical documentary films
Documentary films about photographers
2010s English-language films
2010s American films
2010s French films
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