Residual Images

Roused from exile in Aotearoa, 27-year-old photographer Etzel Baumann returns home to the American Midwest only to be re-immersed in a toxic family dynamic.  

She finds solace—and secrets—in a hidden, rusting trunk of family photographs. Etz’s parents are revealed as she never knew them: relaxed, gorgeous, happy and in love. But who is this other handsome man her mother clearly adored?

Driven by a need to understand the past, Etz’s illicit excavation of her family’s history lights a dangerous fuse. Around her, old resentments bubble up and violence brews, exploding in a final, brutal act of humiliation.