Vanish: Disappearing Icons of a Rural America

Acclaimed Vermont photographer/filmmaker, Jim Westphalen and the Preservation Trust of Vermont are excited to announce several screenings of Vanish: Disappearing Icons of a Rural America. 

A remarkable story of past and present, Vanish is a feature length documentary film that chronicles the “visual preservation” adventures of fine art photographer, Jim Westphalen, as he travels Vermont and across the country seeking out and creating stunning imagery of America’s disappearing rural structures. The film also features deep dive interviews with preservation experts as well as the passionate people who strive and struggle to save these fading treasures, sharing their intimate stories of dreams, loss and triumphs. 

Equal parts art, history, preservation and storm chasing, road-trip with Westphalen as he races against time and the unrelenting elements to capture the extraordinary beauty of aging barns, one room schoolhouses, grain elevators, prairie churches and all the classic structures that our country’s rural heritage was built upon.

Written, directed and produced by Jim Westphalen with Academy Award winning story consultant, Doug Blush, Vanish is a call to action; a film designed to make us sit up and notice not only the visual beauty of these structures as they stand today, but, for those who have the passion and resources, an encouragement to at least maintain, if not restore these fading treasures. We are living in a period of profound historical loss all across rural America. For when these structures disappear, along with the generation that knows their stories, another piece of our heritage will be lost forever.

“Jim Westphalen’s visually stunning film, Vanish, is a eulogy for a rural way of life that is disappearing, but it also serves as a clarion call for all of us to preserve what’s left and what matters.” — Ben Doyle, President of the Preservation Trust of Vermont.

Vanish will be screened at the Capitol Theater in Montpelier on June 15, the Bennington Museum on June 22, the Highland Arts Center in Greensboro on August 1, and at the Latchis Theater in Brattleboro on September 21. The screenings are sponsored by the Preservation Trust of Vermont.

For more information, visit: https://www.vanishfilm.com/upcoming-screenings

Or contact:

Jim Westphalen
jim@jimwestphalen.com
(802) 660-0460