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Ross McElwee
Ross McElwee is an American documentary filmmaker known for his autobiographical films about his family and personal life, usually interwoven with an episodic journey that intersects with larger political or philosophical issues. His humorous and often self-deprecating films refer to cultural aspects of his Southern upbringing. He received the Career Award at the 2007 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. 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 retu ...
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Bright Leaves
''Bright Leaves'' is a 2003 United States/United Kingdom documentary film by independent filmmaker Ross McElwee about the association his family had with the tobacco industry. ''Bright Leaves'' had its world premiere at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival. Film Bright Leaf is the name of a strain of tobacco. It was also the name of a 1949 novel and 1950 feature film about a struggle between two tobacco barons. The struggle depicted in the feature film, according to McElwee family tradition, parallels one between McElwee's great-grandfather and the patriarch of the Duke family, for whom Duke University is named. Cast Interviewed as part of this film include Allan Gurganus, Ross McElwee, Tom McElwee, Vlada Petrić, Paula Larke, Marilyn Levine, Emily Madison, Adrian McElwee, Charleen Swansea, and Patricia Neal, the leading lady of the 1950 feature film. Reception The documentary follows McElwee's usual style, where he gives voiceovers to apparently spontaneous footage, making the st ...
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Harvard Gazette
Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of higher learning in the United States. Its influence, wealth, and rankings have made it one of the most prestigious universities in the world. Harvard was founded and authorized by the Massachusetts General Court, the governing legislature of colonial-era Massachusetts Bay Colony. While never formally affiliated with any denomination, Harvard trained Congregational clergy until its curriculum and student body were gradually secularized in the 18th century. By the 19th century, Harvard emerged as the most prominent academic and cultural institution among the Boston elite. Following the American Civil War, under Harvard president Charles William Eliot's long tenure from 1869 to 1909, Harvard developed multiple professional schools, which transforme ...
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London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a tidal estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre, the City of London, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of Government of the United Kingdom, the national government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. London grew rapidly 19th-century London, in the 19th century, becoming the world's List of largest cities throughout history, largest city at the time. Since the 19th cen ...
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Berlin
Berlin ( ; ) is the Capital of Germany, capital and largest city of Germany, by both area and List of cities in Germany by population, population. With 3.7 million inhabitants, it has the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, highest population within its city limits of any city in the European Union. The city is also one of the states of Germany, being the List of German states by area, third smallest state in the country by area. Berlin is surrounded by the state of Brandenburg, and Brandenburg's capital Potsdam is nearby. The urban area of Berlin has a population of over 4.6 million and is therefore the most populous urban area in Germany. The Berlin/Brandenburg Metropolitan Region, Berlin-Brandenburg capital region has around 6.2 million inhabitants and is Germany's second-largest metropolitan region after the Rhine-Ruhr region, as well as the List of EU metropolitan areas by GDP, fifth-biggest metropolitan region by GDP in the European Union. ...
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Cannes
Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The city is known for its association with the rich and famous, its luxury hotels and restaurants, and for several conferences. History By the 2nd century BC, the Ligurian Oxybii established a settlement here known as ''Aegitna'' (). Historians are unsure what the name means, but the connection to Greek αἴγες "waves, surf" seems evident. The second element could be compared to the Cretan and Thessalian towns of Itanos () and Iton (); also phonetically close is the Aetolian town of Aegitium (). The area was a fishing village used as a port of call between the Lérins Islands. In 154 Before Christ, BC, it became the scene of violent but quick conflict between the troops of Quintus Opimius (consul), Quintus ...
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Frontline (American TV Program)
''Frontline'' (stylized in all capital letters) is an investigative documentary program distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) in the United States. Episodes are produced at WGBH in Boston, Massachusetts. The series has covered a variety of domestic and international issues, including terrorism, elections, environmental disasters, and other sociopolitical issues. Since its debut in 1983, ''Frontline'' has aired in the U.S. for 42 seasons, and has won critical acclaim and awards in broadcast journalism. In 2024, ''Frontline'' won its first Oscar at the 96th Academy Awards for Best Documentary Feature, '' 20 Days in Mariupol'', made by a team of AP Ukrainian journalists. ''Frontline'' has produced over 800 documentaries from both in-house and independent filmmakers, 200 of which are available online. Format The program debuted in 1983, with NBC anchorwoman Jessica Savitch as the show's first host, but Savitch died later after the first-season finale. ''PBS NewsH ...
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Sundance Film Festival
The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted as a showcase for new work from American and international independent filmmakers. The festival consists of competitive sections for American and international dramatic and documentary films, both feature films and short films, and a group of out-of-competition sections, including NEXT, New Frontier, Spotlight, Midnight, Sundance Kids, From the Collection, Premieres, and Documentary Premieres. The festival was established in Salt Lake City, Utah, in 1978 as the Utah/US Film Festival. The festival moved to nearby Park City, Utah, in 1981 and was renamed the US Film and Video Festival. It was renamed the Sundance Film Festival in 1991. From its inception through 2025, the festival took place every January in Utah. In March 2025, it was ann ...
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Photographic Memory (film)
''Photographic Memory'' is a 2011 documentary film by independent filmmaker Ross McElwee about a voyage back to the roots of his involvement with the camera. ''Photographic Memory'' premiered at the 2011 Venice Film Festival and won the Sheffield Youth Jury Award at Sheffield Doc/Fest Sheffield DocFest (formerly styled Sheffield Doc/Fest; abbr.Sheffield International Documentary Festival or SIDF) is an international documentary Film festival, festival and industry marketplace held annually in Sheffield, England. The festiv ... in June 2012. Synopsis The filmmaker finds himself in frequent conflict with his son, who is no longer the delightful child the father loved, but an argumentative young adult who inhabits virtual worlds available through the internet. To the father, the son seems to be addicted to and permanently distracted by those worlds. The filmmaker undertakes a journey to St. Quay-Portrieux in Brittany where he worked for a spring as a wedding photographer's as ...
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Six O'Clock News (film)
''Six O'Clock News'' is a 1996 documentary film by Ross McElwee Ross McElwee is an American documentary filmmaker known for his autobiographical films about his family and personal life, usually interwoven with an episodic journey that intersects with larger political or philosophical issues. His humorous an ... about television news in the United States, the randomness of fate, the anxiety of parenting, and the difference between representation and reality. The film is the subject of scholarly study. References External links Ross McElwee's web page* 1996 documentary films 1996 films American documentary films Documentary films about journalism Films directed by Ross McElwee Documentary films about television 1990s English-language films 1990s American films English-language documentary films {{1990s-US-film-stub ...
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Time Indefinite
''Time Indefinite'' is an autobiographical 1993 documentary film directed by Ross McElwee. It explores themes of grief, mortality, and the convenient disconnection of watching life through a camera lens. The title comes from a passage from the Bible mentioned by a visiting Jehovah's Witness. McElwee is filming the interaction and focused on adjusting the exposure to try to catch the play of light over the man's face; distracted, he "hears" the phrase about 30 seconds after the man says it and understands it to refer to the unpredictable imminence of death. Synopsis In the film, director Ross McElwee gets married, finally putting an end to his family's worrying; his grandmother dies; his wife Marilyn has a miscarriage; and his father, a medical doctor, dies suddenly within a week of McElwee's wife's miscarriage. His mother had died of cancer ten years earlier and so McElwee returns to his father's house, where his father's housekeeper ministers to him about Christianity and f ...
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Sherman's March (1986 Film)
''Sherman's March: A Meditation on the Possibility of Romantic Love In the South During an Era of Nuclear Weapons Proliferation'' is a 1986 cinéma vérité documentary film written and directed by Ross McElwee. It was awarded a Grand Jury prize at the 1987 Sundance Film Festival, and was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry in 2000. Background McElwee initially planned to make a film about the effects of General William Tecumseh Sherman's Civil War campaign through Georgia and the Carolinas, the Georgia portion of which is commonly called his " March to the Sea". A romantic breakup that the director experienced before filming made it difficult for him to separate personal from professional concerns, however, shifting his focus to create a more personal story about the women in his life, romance, and religion. Other themes include the threat of nuclear war amidst the Cold War and the legacy and complexity of Sherman's own life. The film follows a repeti ...
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Documentaries
A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a historical record". The American author and media analyst Bill Nichols has characterized the documentary in terms of "a filmmaking practice, a cinematic tradition, and mode of audience reception hat remainsa practice without clear boundaries". Research into information gathering, as a behavior, and the sharing of knowledge, as a concept, has noted how documentary movies were preceded by the notable practice of documentary photography. This has involved the use of singular photographs to detail the complex attributes of historical events and continues to a certain degree to this day, with an example being the conflict-related photography achieved by popular figures such as Mathew Brady during the American Civil War. Documentary movies evolved from the creation of singular images in order to convey ...
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