July 21 - Ross McElwee

        

Happy 73rd Birthday. Ross McElwee! Born today in 1947 as Ross Simonton McElwee III, this American professor, producer and director of documentary films is also known for his autobiographical features. 

 
They tell about his family and personal life, usually interwoven with an episodic journey that intersects with larger political or philosophical issues. 

 
McElwee was born in Charlotte, North Carolina, in a traditional Southern family. His father was a respected surgeon, and appeared often as a figure in McElwee's early films. 

 
McElwee's film career began in his hometown of Charlotte, where he found summer employment as a studio cameraman for local evening news, housewife helper shows, and "gospel hour" programs. 

 
Later, he freelanced as second cameraman for documentarians, most notably American documentary filmmaker and one of the pioneers of direct cinema D. A. Pennebacker. 

 
McElwee later attended Brown University where he studied under postmodern American novelist John Hawkes. In 1971, McElwee graduated with a degree in creative writing. 

 
While at Brown, McElwee cross-registered in still photography courses at Rhode Island School of Design. 

 
After graduating, McElwee lived for a year in Brittany, France, where he worked for a while as a wedding photographer's assistant. 

Upon returning to the United States, he was admitted into MIT's new graduate filmmaking program, and graduated in 1977 with an M.S.  

 
While at MIT, McElwee studied under documentarians Richard Leacock and Ed Pincus, both pioneers of the cinéma vérité movement, with whom he refined his first-person narrative approach. 

 
McElwee had said of his experience: "It was a new way of making films, to eliminate the film crew. You lose some technical polish, but it's much more intimate and less intimidating to your subjects. It allows you to shoot with the autonomy and flexibility of a photojournalist." 

 
Among his credits, McElwee is best known for editing, writing, shooting, producing, directing, narrating and starring in his 1986 American documentary/independent film 'Sherman's March'. 

 
In its exhaustive title, the film is also known as 'Sherman's March: A Meditation on the Possibility of Romantic Love In the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation'. 

 
The film follows McElwee, who was originally set out to make a travelogue of sorts tracing General William T. Sherman's infamous scorched-earth march through the U.S. Confederacy in the latter stages of the Civil War.  

 
Instead, haunted by a recent breakup with a girlfriend, McElwee ends up documenting his progress -- or lack thereof -- in starting a new relationship. 

His journey then becomes one of self-reflection and self-discovery rather than a historical/sociological exploration. 

 
The film received numerous awards. It won including the Grand Jury Prize in the field of documentary at the 9h Sundance Film Festival where it premiered in January 1987.  

 
It was also cited by the National Board of Film Critics as one of the five best films of 1986. The film later went on to be broadcast nationally over PBS' Frontline. 

 
People Magazine said of the film: "If Woody Allen made Gone With The Wind, it might resemble Sherman's March!" 

Since 1986, McElwee has been teaching filmmaking at Harvard University; he is now a professor in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies. 

 
His humorous and often self-deprecating films refer to cultural aspects of his Souther upbringing. He received the Career Award at the 2007 Full Documentary Film Festival. 

 

In 2000, 'Sherman's March' was chosen for preservation by the Library of Congress National Film Registry as an "historically significant American motion picture." 

 

McElwee has taken the basic precepts of cinéma vérité and personalized them to create a unique form of documentary making that earned him much acclaim and several awards. 

 
His work is almost always autobiographical, and he often films himself at some of life's most personal and awkward moments, though usually within the bounds of decency and good taste.  

 
Though there are many who feel his documentaries are too slow-paced, detailed, or abstract to be appreciated, there are an equal number of fans who love slowly being drawn more deeply into his world. 

McElwee has been active from 1974–2011. 

 
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