The Family History Film team is preparing to film an interview with a client in a bright minimalist living room.

Family History Films researcher carefully cataloguing a family’s photographic archive — preserving treasured visual histories with meticulous care

Family History Films crew filming a military expert speaking on camera — bringing historical depth and authority to illustrate a family’s story

Scenic view of a large body of water with mountains in the background on a clear, sunny day.

Family History Films crew are setting up filming equipment in a client's garden with grass, plants, and a brick fence. One man is standing and adjusting the camera, while the other is kneeling on the ground working on a piece of equipment.

People on a sandy beach, some taking photos and others wading in the shallow water, with a distant tree-lined shoreline and a blue sky with a few clouds.

Indoor scene with a camera setup pointing towards a large window showing a city skyline with tall buildings, some with modern architecture. The room has two blue chairs in front of the window.

A man operating a professional video camera in a bookstore, with another man browsing books in the background.

A man filming on a city sidewalk with a professional camera, a woman in floral clothing standing beside a rocky hill, cars on a curved road, and people walking with a stroller.

Family History Films is the world’s first and leading private legacy documentary company.

Since 2017 we have delivered a fully-managed service producing beautiful, bespoke, feature-length documentaries for private clients.

In addition to our films, we offer exquisitely produced hardback books and comprehensive archiving services. These ensure that your family's history is meticulously documented, preserved and beautifully presented - creating a treasured heirloom for future generations.

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Happy Birthday to the Man in Black, Johnny Cash. As a junior in high school, one of our clients’ ancestors was the editor of the school newspaper and landed the chance to interview Johnny Cash during his visit to Edmonton. In true rock and roll fashion, when interview time arrived, Cash was in no condition to speak, so his close friend and fellow musician, Johnny Horton, stepped in and conducted the interview instead, pretending to be him. A great example of the surprising stories families often have waiting to be found.

Long before the outbreak of the Civil War, one of our client’s ancestors was a committed abolitionist, attending and even chairing meetings alongside leading voices of the movement. When war came, his convictions became actions. His iron foundry was called upon to support the nearby Union arsenal, producing munitions and equipment at scale. The business expanded rapidly, both through commercial opportunity, and as an extension of beliefs already held. He later returned to family life, building a home that still stands in Watertown, Massachusetts today. With peace restored, the foundry continued to make the stoves it had previously become known for.

At Family History Films, we work closely and collaboratively with our clients to preserve, explore and celebrate their family histories. With a fully managed service, our in-house team, supported by an international network of genealogists, researchers and leading historians, brings each story to life with care, rigour and creativity. Take a look at our offerings below: Films - Entirely bespoke documentary films interweaving ancestry, historical context, personal archives and in-depth on-location filming around the world, resulting in a beautifully produced and intelligently written record of who your family is and how they got there. Books - Exquisitely produced hardback coffee-table books, bringing together extensive research, interviews and reproduced historical documents into one cohesive narrative. Archives - Fully managed digitisation and curation of photographs, film, slides and documents, preserved and organised within a bespoke, private online portal, ensuring every item is protected and easy to access. Research Reports - Meticulously researched, clearly presented PDF reports offering a deep dive into your ancestry, available as a standalone project or creditable toward a wider film or book. Pricing available on request. Get in touch via our website or email jonb@myfamilyhistoryfilm.com

Happy Lunar New Year! 🐉🧧 Here’s a throwback to last years' client filming in Hong Kong. Wishing everyone a joyful and prosperous year ahead.

In 1913, our client’s great-grandfather emigrated to New Jersey after antisemitism in Ukraine reached an all-time high following the infamous Beilis Trial. After a 13-year-old boy disappeared on his way to school and was found dead eight days later in a cave, Menahem Mendel Beilis, a Jewish factory worker in Kyiv, was falsely accused of the murder. The trial was widely publicised, and stoked the fire of an already inflamed hostility toward Jewish communities across the region. Beilis was imprisoned for over a year before being freed. This photograph shows an antisemitic flier distributed in Kyiv before the trial, which reads: “Christians, guard your children!!! On March 17, the Passover of the Zhids begins.”

When we visited Hong Kong last year, we were fascinated to hear the stories of the many ways the war affected our client's family. It is often forgotten in the West that the fighting in Asia started much earlier, with hostilities between China and Japan commencing in 1931. One of our client’s grandfathers was forced early in the conflict to flee China, eventually making it to Mexico. Another entire branch of their family was forced to flee Hong Kong, to the relative safety of Sichuan in Western China. Upon returning to Hong Kong after Japan’s surrender, their charitable work with the Salvation Army, pictured here, helped to rebuild a bruised city.

One of our client’s ancestors helped shape an early chapter of American football history. As a young man, he played for the Frankford Yellow Jackets, a professional team established years before the NFL, and league champions in 1926. The team folded during the Great Depression, but Philadelphia’s football legacy continued. In 1933, the NFL awarded a new franchise to the city, who became the Philadelphia Eagles.

In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, thousands of Jewish men from Eastern Europe worked as peddlers, including an ancestor of one of our clients. In the early 1900s, he spent twenty years moving back and forth between his hometown of Lazdijai, Lithuania, and the United States, placing him at the heart of Jewish migration to America. Peddling required very little start-up capital, making it accessible to new arrivals with few resources. It allowed migrants to travel, learn English, understand local markets, and build networks. For many families, it was a first step, later leading to shops, trade, or small businesses.

An ancestor of one of our clients once found himself in the middle of a real-life sea battle with a pirate ship. At just 19 he was serving aboard the HMS Shah, flagship of the British Navy’s Pacific fleet, when the ship was sent to hunt down pirates off the coast of Peru. In 1879, the Shah and HMS Amethyst engaged the Peruvian pirate vessel Huáscar in battle, even firing one of the Navy’s earliest experimental torpedoes, powered by compressed air and steered remotely by a gyroscope mechanism. The Huáscar was eventually forced to retreat. One of the officers on board, Henry Eason, kept a diary of the time, and recalled that night very clearly: “The lower deck being nice and clear the men are taking advantage of it, for they are singing and dancing and cutting all the capers imaginable. No one would think by looking on this deck that by daylight tomorrow we are expecting to fall in with and fight an enemy, but such is the case.” – Officer Henry Eason (1879)

One of our client’s ancestors was part of the 10,000 men who answered General John J. Pershing’s call in 1916, joining a U.S. military expedition into northern Mexico to pursue revolutionary leader Pancho Villa, after his raid in Columbus, New Mexico that killed 18 Americans. The mission marked one of the first large-scale U.S. operations to use motor vehicles and aircraft, in hostile territory. Despite months of pursuit across harsh desert terrain, Villa was never captured, though he was later assassinated in July, 1923.

A few more BTS shots from our recent filming in Udaipur. As we process the footage we captured, we’re also beginning to plan our next shoot with this family for later this year. Stay tuned!

Last week we revealed to a client that their great-great-grandfather had been awarded the title Rai Bahadur in January 1914 for his work as a Municipal Commissioner and Honorary Magistrate, as well as for his help raising funds during the First World War During British rule in India, respected figures in a district were appointed to help administer local communities. The title was given to recognise and reward individuals who had made significant contributions in various fields such as public service, commerce, industry, and philanthropy.

Happy New Year from Family History Films! We welcomed the new year in Udaipur, invited to film at a family wedding for one of our clients. Celebrations like these remind us, and our clients, how special it is to have the whole family together, and it was a privilege to capture everyone in one place.

📣 Our FHF Wrapped: 2025 🎁 As the year comes to a close, here's a snapshot of what 2025 has looked like at Family History Films: 🎬 20 filming locations ✍️ 132,000+ words written ⏱️ 450+ minutes of film created 📸 30,000+ assets digitised 🎵 145+ songs used To find out more about what we’ve achieved this year, and what’s still to come, click the link in our bio to read our latest blog: A Busy End to a Busy Year. Wishing everyone a happy holiday season, see you in 2026!

Mount Vesuvius overlooking the city of Naples, 2025. On this day in 1631, Mount Vesuvius had one of its most destructive eruptions since ancient times, devastating communities across the Naples region. Although it has been in a resting, or quiescent, phase since its last eruption in 1944, it remains one of the world’s most dangerous volcanoes, closely monitored due to the dense population living in its shadow. It remained thankfully dormant during our visit this summer!

Fresh from a final quality check, our latest family history books are on their way to our clients in time for Christmas! These exquisitely produced hardback volumes bring together research, interviews, and family stories that will stand the test of time. Find out more on our website through the link in our bio.

The latest addition to our office decor, courtesy of the @nationalarchivesuk gift shop

406 years ago today, in 1619, 38 English settlers marked their arrival at Berkeley Hundred in Virginia with a day of thanksgiving. Their London Company charter even required that “the day of our ship’s arrival… shall be kept holy as a day of thanksgiving to Almighty God.” The well-known scene often associated with this moment, painted much later, between 1912 and 1915 by Jean Leon Gerome Ferris, is highly romanticized and filled with inaccuracies. The settlers didn’t wear the iconic “Pilgrim” outfits or sit down to a formal meal on their first day ashore. And the Wampanoag are frequently shown in this style of clothing and feathered war bonnets, items they never actually wore.

During a recent project, we discovered that one of our clients has a connection to the first-ever Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley. In 1781, our client’s three-times-great-grandfather left his home in London to join the East India Company. Twenty years later, he had become a veteran captain, and in 1803 he was assigned to one Colonel Arthur Wellesley as his cartographer, a vital role in an era where war was about maneuvers and knowledge of the landscape. He continued to serve with Wellesley for a year of sieges and battles, and remained in India for 13 more years after Wellesley’s departure.

Meet the Mother of Thanksgiving. For 17 years, Sarah Josepha Hale, author of “Mary Had a Little Lamb,” campaigned to make Thanksgiving a national holiday, writing to five U.S. presidents until Abraham Lincoln finally said yes in 1863. Before then, Thanksgiving was mostly a New England tradition, celebrated on different dates and barely known throughout the rest of the country. Hale also helped shape the feast itself, championing the turkey-and-stuffing menu we know today.

📣 Our FHF Wrapped: 2025 🎁

As the year comes to a close, here's a snapshot of what 2025 has looked like at Family History Films:

🎬 20 filming locations
✍️ 132,000+ words written
⏱️ 450+ minutes of film created
📸 30,000+ assets digitised
🎵 1

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