Memories is a love letter to filmmaker Ben Strang’s family, to creativity and to the creative technology that has inspired him to tell stories since he was a teenager. Decades ago, Ben’s grandfather and great grandparents designed and built their house, hosting countless family gatherings that would form lasting memories for Strang. 

“About ten years ago,” says Strang, “I started filming videos of these gatherings, knowing how precious they were, and, that my grandparents weren’t going to be around forever and the amazing home they built probably would be either.” 

Looking at the videos, to Ben’s surprise, one silly story emerged as a through-line in all of the videos: Clips of the family dancing and singing to show tunes. “I thought to myself, that singing and dancing is perhaps the thing that bonds my family together the most—something my grandfather would want us all to take with us when he was gone.”

Continuing to film each and every family gathering, Ben started to secretly plan for the day he would edit all of the clips into a short film. When Ben’s grandfather passed and the house was set to be sold, the time seemed right to finally make the film and finish the story.

Driving down from another shoot in NYC with cinematographer David Bolen, the pair spent three days listening to nostalgic movie music and filming every angle of the house, inside and out. The footage they used in the film was shot to match-cut with the videos Ben had captured over nearly a decade. 

The poignant result endures. “Something I hope to show to my grandchildren one day,” smiles Strang. “So they can see just how their great-grandfather got down.”