A Small Voice: Conversations with photographers and filmmakers (exclusive member content)
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A Small Voice: Conversations with photographers and filmmakers (exclusive member content)

Ben Smith

  • 200 Episodes
  • English
  • Last updated Jan 20, 2026
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271 - Rachel Elizabeth Seed

Dec 17, 2025 • E271 • 01:05:00

Rachel Elizabeth Seed is a Brooklyn and Los Angeles-based nonfiction storyteller working in film, photography, and writing.

In 2025, she won the Truer Than Fiction Spirit Award for her debut feature film, A Photographic Memory, which is also a New York Times Critics Pick.

Rachel’s work has received support from the Sundance Institute, Chicken + Egg Films, the Jewish Film Institute, the California Film Institute, Jewish Story Partners, NYFA, Field of Vision, the Jerome Foundation, NYSCA, the Maine Media Workshops, the Roy W. Dean grant, the National Arts Club, IFP, and many others. 

Formerly a photo editor at New York Magazine, her photography has been exhibited worldwide, including at the International Center of Photography, and she was a cameraperson on several award-winning feature documentaries. Rachel’s writing has been published by No Film School, the Sundance Institute, and Talkhouse and she is Executive Director / Co-founder of the Brooklyn Documentary Club, a NYC-based filmmaker collective with 250+ members.

In episode 271, Rachel discusses, among other things:

  • A summary of her mum’s character
  • nature vs. nurture
  • Her mum’s Images of Man interviews for ICP/Scholastic
  • What inspired her to make a film
  • How her own story became interwined with her mum’s
  • Discovering a family archive of super 8 footage
  • How she recreated the interviews using actors
  • The importance of working with good editors
  • The challenge of funding and financing
  • Key advice for anyone wanting to make a personal documentary
  • The fine balance between collaboration and having the courage of your convitions as director
  • Writing for narration as opposed to for reading
  • Sharing her personal stories as the film evolved over a ten year period - How to balance life and art
  • ‘Selling the film’ and what that means in practice
  • The Brooklyn Documentary Club
  • Moving to L.A.
  • Projects she has in development

Website | Instagram

 

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