Your story is your legacy.
Beautifully filmed stories as legacy heirlooms, that preserve the voices, personalities, memories, and wisdom of the people who matter most.
Some stories are too important to leave to memory.
A photograph can show you what someone looked like.
A film lets you hear their voice. See their expressions. Hear them laugh. Watch the way they tell a story.
Going West Films creates cinematic heirlooms for families — films you'll return to for years and generations to come.
INTERVIEW FILMS
For the people who are still here.
Thoughtful, professionally filmed interviews that capture someone's story in their own words — from childhood memories and family history to the things they've learned along the way.
MEMORIAL FILMS
For the people we've lost.
A beautiful way to tell the story of a life.
Using photographs, home movies, archival footage, interviews with family and friends, and other meaningful materials, Going West Films creates a film that brings a person's story to life.
Why Going West?
I'm an Emmy-winning filmmaker and legacy film specialist with more than 20 years of experience telling real people's stories.
I'm also trained in contemplative care and end-of-life support, which means I know how to create space for the conversations that can be meaningful, emotional, funny, complicated, and sometimes difficult. For me, the interview space is a sacred space where my subjects feel seen, heard, and validated.
And then there's the name.
As humans on this earth, we are all “going west,” towards the horizon line of our lives. But going west isn't only about an ending. It's about the journey getting there; the people we meet, the stories we collect, the things we learn, the love and laughter along the way.
Going West Films is about making time to look back, to tell the stories that matter, to capture the voices of the people we love while they're still here to tell them, and to honor their stories when they’re no longer with us.
“We had a very positive experience before, during and after filming - Elyse and team were compassionate and respectful and total professionals. And it is an unimaginable gift to have the videos now that my husband is gone. We also edited clips and showed them at his celebration of life.”
— Margot B.“Elyse interviewed my mother in her 90’s about her life. The result was so much more than we expected — a video of my mother speaking, truly capturing her essence, integrated with family photos. It’s a beautiful heirloom for her grandchildren and great grandchildren, and generations to come.”
— Marsha G.