David Wayne Reed

Xylem is a short experimental film by David Wayne Reed exploring legacy and identity positioning the tree as record-keeper and living time machine.

In science, xylem is the vascular system of a plant which moves nutrients and water through the plant and forms the woody stem in the center of a plant. In a tree this is known as the heartwood. Over time, xylem dies leaving rings around the center - the integral marker of the passage of time.

The film considers trees as writers, as intergenerational bridges; as a familial network between the roots of origin and offshoot uprising to the sky; as the accumulating girth of xylem; and as living historical monuments where the past, present, and future coexist.