Ross McElwee

Early life and education

Ross McElwee grew up in Charlotte, North Carolina, in a traditional Southern family. His father was a surgeon and appears often as a figure in McElwee's early films. McElwee later attended Brown University, where he studied under novelist John Hawkes, and graduated in 1971 with a degree in creative writing. While at Brown, he also 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 US, he was admitted into MIT's new graduate filmmaking program and graduated in 1977 with an M.S. While at MIT, he studied under documentarians Richard Leacock and Ed Pincus, both pioneers of the cinéma vérité movement, with whom he refined his first-person narrative approach. "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."

Career

McElwee's film career began in his hometown, Charlotte, North Carolina, 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 D.A. Pennebaker, and later for John Marshall in Namibia. McElwee started filming and producing his own documentaries in 1976.

McElwee began teaching filmmaking at Harvard University in 1986; he was a professor of the practice of filmmaking in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies.

McElwee has made ten feature-length documentaries and several shorter films. Most of his films were shot in his homeland, the American South, among them Sherman's March (1986), Time Indefinite, Six O'Clock News, and Bright Leaves. He collaborated with his wife, Marilyn Levine, on Something to Do with the Wall. His 2011 film, Photographic Memory, breaks new ground in its fully digital process and in its open development and production structure.

Recognition

Sherman's March won numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. It was cited by the National Board of Film Critics as one of the five best films of 1986. Time Indefinite won a best film award in several festivals and was distributed theatrically throughout the U.S. *Six O'Clock News *premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast nationally over PBS' Frontline.

McElwee's films have been included in the festivals of Cannes, Berlin, London, Venice, Vienna, Rotterdam, Florence, and Sydney. Retrospectives include the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, and the Museum of the Moving Image in New York. Retrospectives have also been held in Paris, Tehran, Moscow, Seoul, Lisbon, and Quito. McElwee has received fellowships and grants from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, and the American Film Institute. He has twice been awarded fellowships in filmmaking by the National Endowment for the Arts. Sherman's March was chosen for preservation by the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2000 as an "historically significant American motion picture".

McElwee's film Bright Leaves premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival's Directors' Fortnight, and was nominated for Best Documentary of 2004 by both the Directors Guild of America and the Writers Guild of America. .

In Paraguay premiered at the Venice Film Festival in 2008. McElwee returned to Venice in 2011 to present the premier of Photographic Memory.

In July 2025 it was announced that his newest film Remake would have its world premiere at the 82nd Venice International Film Festival.

Filmography

Director

• Space Coast (1979) - co-director Michel Negroponte
• Charleen (1980)
• Resident Exile (1981) - co-director Alex Anthony and Michel Negroponte
• Backyard (1984)
• Sherman's March (1986)
• Something to Do with the Wall (1990) - co-director Marilyn Levine
• Time Indefinite (1993)
• Six O'Clock News (1997)
• Bright Leaves (2003)
• In Paraguay (2008)
• Photographic Memory (2011)
• *Remake * (2025)

References

References

1. "Ross McElwee - Biography". ROSS MCELWEE / HOMEMADE MOVIES INC..
2. [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-11-19-9711190223-story.html FILMMAKER ROSS MCELWEE EXPLORES A HIGHER POWER: TELEVISION-Chicago Tribune]
3. [http://www.play-doc.com/web2012/rossE.html Play-Doc 2012-ROSS MCELWE-Special Program-International Documentary Festival]
4. [http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/ct-xpm-1997-11-19-9711190223-story.html FILMMAKER ROSS MCELWEE EXPLORES A HIGHER POWER: TELEVISION-Chicago Tribune]
5. Ken Gewertz. [http://www.hevcmovie.com/p/harvard-gazette-archives.html "The world according to McElwee: A documentary filmmaker's unique personal vision"] {{Webarchive. link. (2018-04-04 by Ken Gewertz, [[Harvard]] News Office, ''[[Harvard Gazette]]'', 21 Apr 2005.)
6. [http://rossmcelwee.com/biography.html Ross McElwee-Biography]
7. [http://heymancenter.org/people/ross-mcelwee/ People-Ross McElwee-The Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University]
8. "Ross McElwee".
9. [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/news/ross/filmquart.html Film Quarterly-FRONTLINE-PBS]
10. [https://www.moma.org/calendar/film/692 MoMA]
11. [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/news/ross/mmmagdec93.html Ross McElwee Interview #1-FRONTLINE-PBS]
12. [http://www.worldcat.org/identities/lccn-no2002094701/ WorldCat.org]
13. [http://nightflight.com/ross-mcelwees-shermans-march-a-meditation-on-the-possibility-of-romantic-love-in-the-south-today/ Ross McElwee’s “Sherman’s March”: “A meditation on the possibility of romantic love in the South today”-Night Flight]
14. [http://heymancenter.org/people/ross-mcelwee/ People-Ross McElwee-The Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University]
15. [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/news/etc/bio.html Ross McElwee Biography-FRONTLINE-PBS]
16. [http://heymancenter.org/people/ross-mcelwee/ People-Ross McElwee-The Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University]
17. [http://heymancenter.org/people/ross-mcelwee/ People-Ross McElwee-The Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University]
18. [http://heymancenter.org/people/ross-mcelwee/ People-Ross McElwee-The Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University]
19. [http://heymancenter.org/people/ross-mcelwee/ People-Ross McElwee-The Heyman Center for the Humanities at Columbia University]
20. [https://www.americancinemapapers.com/files/VENICE_2008_THROUGH_A_GLASS.htm VEINCE 2008-VARDA & McELWEE-BY HARLAN KENNEDY]
21. Vivarelli, Nick. (2011-07-27). "Venice Horizons hosts Demme, Franco pix". Variety.
22. Ntim, Zac. (July 22, 2025). "Venice Film Festival Lineup: Kathryn Bigelow, Guillermo Del Toro, Noah Baumbach & Benny Safdie In Competition".
23. [http://sensesofcinema.com/2008/feature-articles/backyard-ross-mcelwee/ Backyard and Ross McElwee’s Observational Comedy·Senses of Cinema]
24. [https://oddballfilms.blogspot.com/2012/10/seduced-and-abandoned-in-florida-fri.html Oddball Films:Seduced and Abandoned in Florida - Fri. Oct. 19 - 8PM]
25. [http://sensesofcinema.com/2008/feature-articles/backyard-ross-mcelwee/ Backyard and Ross McElwee’s Observational Comedy·Senses of Cinema]
26. [http://sensesofcinema.com/2008/feature-articles/backyard-ross-mcelwee/ Backyard and Ross McElwee’s Observational Comedy·Senses of Cinema]
27. [https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/news/etc/bio.html Ross McElwee Biography-FRONTLINE-PBS]
28. [https://deadline.com/2025/07/venice-film-festival-lineup-2025-1236464523/]