In a time dominated by instant gratification, automated apps and artificial intelligence, local filmmaker Sean Daigle is running a business that is completely countercultural. Through his video production company, Memoria Films, Daigle captures high-quality video biographies of elderly clients, but the process requires far more emotional intelligence than technical skill.
He frequently finds himself “holding space” for trauma, uncovering hidden family histories, and providing deep emotional healing; one recent 90-year-old client even asked Daigle during an interview if he should have been a therapist instead.
“…later in the interview, I asked him (a client) another question that he was taken aback by, in a good way. He loved the conversation so much that he said, ‘Do you think you might be able to make more money as a psych than as a filmmaker?’ That was just the greatest compliment to me, that in some way, he felt like this conversation was therapeutic for him.”
For Daigle, this approach isn’t just his business model; it is a mission to give families the one thing he never had with his own grandmother: a permanent, living connection to the people they love.
In 2020, Daigle was completing his third year of teaching high school. At that point, he started to realize that teaching was not his passion. The idea for Memoria Films came to him when he was sitting with a friend.
“I was actually sitting with a buddy; we were both lamenting our career choices up to that point. He mentioned that he saw somebody do this (video biography) with their own grandmother. He filmed his grandma on his phone, asking her questions about her life. I was so taken aback by that idea, by the simplicity of that idea. I was like, ‘I’m going to do that,’ I can do that… So I immediately started putting meat on the idea and gave it a name, Memoria Films.”
Photo Courtesy/Sean Daigle
Memoria Films is a company that specializes in high-quality video biographies and digitizing old VHS tapes that may have been previously considered lost. It is for those who want to preserve their story forever. They produce a film that is meant to stand the test of time and inform future generations of their family history. The business is built on Daigle’s passion for storytelling and his own regret about childhood loss.
Daigle lost his grandmother at the age of 16. She battled with ovarian cancer and was only 59 when she passed. Daigle also suffered a house fire, which destroyed most of what he had left to remember his grandmother by. He talks about the regret he feels for not getting to know her story and being able to preserve it longer.
“What I lament now, looking back, is that I didn’t take advantage of the time that I had with her. Before she passed, she was living with us for the last couple years of her life. I never took the time to ask questions about her upbringing, what it was like raising my mom, what she did for a living…”
Now, it is exactly that ‘missing piece’ that Daigle aims to provide for others. Through Memoria Films, he aims to make sure that future generations won’t have to wonder about the upbringings, struggles, or family history of their ancestors.
Daigle’s work shows that while technology can automate almost anything, it can’t replicate the emotional intelligence required to truly sit down and have a conversation with someone whose story deserves to be heard. In saving these stories, he isn’t just running a business; he’s making sure that a lifetime of memory is captured on film, and it stays around forever.
To find more information about Memoria Films and to see examples of their work, you can visit their website www.memoriafilms.com or contact [email protected]. You can also visit their social media page @Memoria.Films
