Tribute Reels from MyHeritage

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Mother’s Day was Sunday, and my family was close in heart, but not actually here that day. After I had a nice visit with them, I settled in for a quiet day of writing and quilting. The evening before, I had published, Mom’s Quilt, an article honoring my mother.

Of course, I checked my email and social media from time to time during the day, so imagine my surprise when I saw a video of my mother, MY MOTHER, in someone else’s social media feed on Mother’s Day.

Huh???

Wait!

What?

There’s no mistaking her.

You know there’s a great backstory, right?!.

RootsTech 2026

Every year I’m always front row, center at Gilad Japhet’s keynote session at Rootstech – except when RootsTech schedules our two sessions at the same time. That’s exactly what happened in 2026.

I love to hear first-hand what’s being announced and coming next from MyHeritage. Gilad founded MyHeritage in 2003 as a small startup focused on genealogy research. MyHeritage grew by leaps and bounds, and in 2016 they added DNA testing as a resource. The rest, as they say, is history.

I missed his keynote this year, so imagine my surprise when my friend, Peggy, walked up to me a little later and said, “Oh my gosh, Roberta, I was crying in the session…your mother.”

I paused for a moment, because I had not mentioned my mother in my presentation earlier – which is what I assumed she must be talking about.

I must have looked very confused because Peggy continued, “Half the room was in tears.”

“What?”

“In Gilad’s presentation – you and your mother.”

Suddenly, everything fell into place and made sense. I had given Gilad permission to include pilot videos at RootsTech of something he had been working on if he thought it was appropriate, and if MyHeritage decided to go forward with the project.

Something else suddenly made sense, too. The look of disappointment when I was asked by a MyHeritage team member if I was going to be in Gilad’s session, and I explained that my session had been moved to a slot at the same exact time. “That’s too bad – we saved you a seat right up front.” At the time, I thought, “Well, that’s very nice,” but later, I understood.

Obviously, Gilad had made the decision to show the videos – but which version? There were two – equally as compelling in different ways.

The Backstory

A few weeks earlier, I had received an email from Gilad, asking what I thought about a potential new feature. He included a “demo” version – not even an alpha version because MyHeritage was only considering the possibility of implementing something like this for their customers.

Gilad asked for feedback. Did I like it? How did I think other people would feel if something like this was built for their own family?

Let’s just say that I was not at all prepared for what I saw when I clicked on the attachment. He should have given me a “do not watch in the presence of other people” warning.

I sobbed. I ugly cried so hard I got the hiccups.

My poor husband asked what was wrong.

“Who died?”

Imagine his shock when I slobbered out, “My mother.”

He clearly knew that my mother had died 20 years ago – but I wasn’t answering the question he actually asked. I was trying to explain why I was crying.

I couldn’t talk, so I took him into my office and just played the video – at which point, I wasn’t the only one crying. He claimed he had something in his eye😊- both eyes apparently.

I’m not going to try to explain, because there truly are no words.

At that point, what is now named “Tribute Reels” was being called “Life Tribute,” as you can see in the original video in Gilad’s RootsTech talk, here. There was also a surprise for me that I didn’t know about until I watched the video after RootsTech. This part of the video begins at the 30.25-minute mark and the rest is interspersed over the next 12 minutes.

When I was talking to Peggy at RootsTech, I had not attended Gilad’s session, and the video wasn’t available yet, so I didn’t know exactly what was there, and what might have changed.

I’ll show you how to create your own Tribute Reel in a minute, but first, I’d like to share my experience.

Tribute Reels

Tribute Reels is a series of photos sorted in your preferred order, then combined into a reel using AI animation. When AI photo animation first became available, I was not a fan because it was a technology in its infancy and the results were so unnatural that they were almost frightening. However, the technology has matured very quickly, allowing viewers to focus on the subject and not the underpinnings, and MyHeritage is using cutting-edge technology for Tribute Reels.

This is truly a special gift. Seeing Mom in motion long before I was born reminds me of viewing a decades-old home movie that might have been found in an old trunk discovered in the attic.

Gilad selected these photos at random from those I had uploaded to Mom’s profile at MyHeritage, so there was no “special prep” or me selecting especially relevant photos for the proof-of-concept video.

Here’s my reply to Gilad after viewing the Tribute Reel for my mother contained in his email.

Wow Gilad!

First, before I share my techy evaluation and commentary, let me share my experience.

My habit, when I wake up, is to review my e-mail and social media. Social media to see what has happened overnight, and my e-mail to delete spam and such, and to see if there is anything interesting.

Your email was obviously interesting, so I read it and watched the attached video.

Suffice it to say that I started my day with a good cry. I sat outside with my coffee and thought fondly of Mom. I still miss her incredibly.

Now my thoughts about this new video in a less emotional vein.

One of the things I really like is that each of the brought-to-life photos includes the person smiling. They are happy, even if their life wasn’t entirely happy. That’s the human condition, I guess.

In any case, the photos with the children also include touches of affection.

I think the one that touched me the most in my video was the photo of Mom and me together in our matching dresses that we made. I’m sure I was a lot of “help,” but then again, it introduced the love of sewing which I still do today, albeit mixed with art. I very vaguely remember the day that picture was taken. I was maybe 4 or 5, and my father took the photo. I remember how much fun we had making and wearing those dresses. In the picture, we were holding hands, and in the video, that portion was animated in such a touching way. Until the age of digital recording, we would never have been able to see ourselves in videos or “moving pictures” from this timeframe, so it’s like revisiting the past in such a pleasant manner

I noticed this same aspect in other portions of the video as well. The affection and closeness.

Towards the end, there’s a photo of Mom and my stepfather, whom I called Dad. In that animation, he reaches up and touches his tie, but to me, it seemed like a “touch my heart” message. Yes, I know it’s an animation, and that’s not actually possible, but that’s how it made me feel. A silent but well-understood message from the other side.

In the picture on the farm with Dad, Mom, and her aunt, with Spot, the family dog on Dad’s lap – that was just so quintessentially “home.” Of course, we can’t go back in time to a place that no longer exists, with people and fur-family members who have all passed on – but this image served to do that for me. Time travel in the best of ways.

The original photo is blurry – and I while I know it could be digitally “sharpened,” I actually like that it’s blurry because it suggests a misty memory.

And the laughs. Laughing while crying, actually. That picture with Mom holding the huge chocolate bar. She was so happy, and it was her last holiday season with us. She passed on five months later. I’m so incredibly glad I found that mega-sized Hershey’s bar for her. It was supposed to be a joke. Jim gave her a chisel and a hammer to use on it. She ate every bite!

So, speaking of Jim, I asked him to come into my office, and I just played the video for him with no up-front discussion. I turned around and looked at him, standing behind me, having a sudden allergy attack making his eyes water😊 He said, “How could one NOT cry? She’s not even my mother, but I sure miss her. She was such a card.” Then, for a few minutes, we talked about our shared memories of Mom. Jim only knew her for about a decade before she passed on, but they got along very well.

Mom died just before Mother’s Day in 2006. I cleaned out her apartment that Mother’s Day Sunday. So, given that this Mother’s Day marked the 20th anniversary of Mom’s departure from this plane, it was difficult, to say the least, and I so appreciated this very unexpected gift from MyHeritage.

Kind of like a wink and a nod from Mom. I still feel her with me.

Making Your Own Tribute Reel

The MyHeritage blog article explains more about Tribute Reels and provides additional information, here. You’ll also notice a shortened, color-enhanced version of Mom’s Tribute Reel.

To create your own Tribute Reel, sign in to your MyHeritage account, and select Photos, then Tribute Reel.

Click on “Create Tribute Reel”.

MyHeritage suggests people in your tree for whom there are photos available, showing you how many photos you can choose from for each person. Or you can enter someone’s name.

I’m selecting my father this time.

Click on the photos to select at least 5 but as many as 15 for Tribute Reels to use. I uploaded a few more from my computer.

On the next screen, just drag your selected photos to arrange in your preferred order.

I rearranged these, with his favorite hobby as the cover photo, and me visiting his grave to close. You can also add both cover and closing text.

Next, customize your Reel by selecting music, or no sound.

And last, consent to process.

MyHeritage emails you when your Tribute Reel is ready. Mine only took about 15 minutes, but I’m sure it varies widely based on the server load. If the email doesn’t arrive in a timely manner, check your spam filter.

Here’s my father’s reel, so take a look.

Well, here I am, crying again. The baby between my father’s knees is me. It’s the only photo I have of us together. Remember what I said about the looks of affection?

Create a Tribute Reel for someone you love.

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