Artist of the Week: Ross McElwee

Ross McElwee

Biography: McElwee grew up in North Carolina. He graduated from Brown University and later from Massachusetts Institute of Technology where he received MS in filmmaking in a program headed by documentarian Richard Leacock.

His career began in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina where he was a studio cameraman for local evening news, housewife helper shows, and "gospel hour" programs broadcast by the local television station. Later, he worked freelance shooting films for documentarians D.A. Pennebaker and then John Marshall, in Namibia.

McElwee started producing and directing documentaries in 1976. His body of work includes five feature-length documentaries as well as several shorter films most of them shot in his homeland of the South. His work has played nationally in arthouse theaters and has been broadcast on Cinemax and PBS.

In three of his films, "Backyard," "Sherman's March," and "Time Indefinite," he experimented with a personal autobiographical approach to non-fiction filmmaking, filming as a one-person film crew and weaving into the final film a highly subjective narration along with on-camera experiences by the filmmaker.

McElwee has been a visiting filmmaker at Harvard University for ten years and has been awarded fellowships from the Rockefeller Foundation, the Guggenheim Foundation, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

-PBS Frontline

Interview with McElwee: http://www.newenglandfilm.com/news/archives/01december/mcelwee.htm

Artist Website: http://rossmcelwee.com/home.html

Screenshots from Time Indefinite:

A clip from Sherman's March:

Thursday Blog Assignment

• Did anyone critique your work this week? If so, what were their impressions?

You did Paul. Not so much my work as my thoughts, ideas, and motivations behind it. It was a nice kick in the teeth experience. I hope that is taken in the nicest way possible. I also had, so far Jennida and Nia critique my work for Studio. Some of the main comments that arose were exploitation of subjects (Claire) and why I was really making the work. I think I’ve been confused by this question of “why… really?” I’m not sure if my answers aren’t adequate enough or just not right. Of course, I think this is relating to a lack of authority when I speak of my reasons. This needs to be worked on and talked out. The exploitation claim is very disturbing to me. Again, it could be from a lack of knowledge of the situation or the direction of the work (less about Claire & Me, more universal), but I find it interesting that this hasn't been raised before when Claire has been the subject of my work. Only after her diagnosis and illness is her "exploitation" move up to front and center. Since I'm getting away from the subject based work it isn't something I'm going to have to confront in the immediate future, but I'm interested to hear my thoughts on the topic.

• What was the most motivational or creative moment of the past week?

Having my motives questioned for the first time in a few months.

• What do you want to achieve in next week's studio practice?

I want to begin implementing ideas for adapting my personal experience into more universal themes and work

• What did you achieve in your studio this past week?

We did a group critique of me, Jenn, and Hassan’s work. I think revisiting old work and finding the reasons for their ineffectiveness was a pretty important activity.

• What has been an artistic failure this week?

I didn’t make anything. That’s a failure in itself

• What was the most profound thought in relation to your practice this week?

I need to think about what I’m doing more and understand what I’m making before I go any further.

My video for this week: Taylor Mali