Filmmaker Ross McElwee finds himself in frequent conflict with his son, a young adult who seems addicted to and distracted by the virtual worlds of the internet. To understand his fractured love for his son, McElwee travels back to St. Quay-Portrieux in Brittany for the first time in decades to retrace his own journey into adulthood. A meditation on the passing of time, the praxis of photography and film, and the digital versus analog divide.
- Venice Film Festival (2011)
- Sheffield International Documentary Festival - Youth Jury Award (2012)
Ross McElwee
Ross McElwee received his BA from Brown University followed by an MS from Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1977. He freelanced for a few years, shooting for documentarians D.A. Pennebaker in Washington DC, and John Marshall in Namibia before beginning to direct his own documentaries.
Ross McElwee has made eleven feature-length documentaries as well as several shorter films. Sherman's March won numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the Sundance Film Festival. Time Indefinite won Best Film Award in several festivals. Six O'Clock News won Best Documentary at the Hawaii International Film Festival. Bright Leaves premiered at the 2003 Cannes Film Festival’s Directors’ Fortnight. Photographic Memory premiered at the 2011 Venice Film Festival.
McElwee's films have been included in the major festivals of Berlin, London, Vienna, Rotterdam, Florence, Quito, Sydney, Seoul, and Wellington. Retrospectives include the Museum of Modern Art; Art Institute of Chicago; American Museum of the Moving Image, New York; and États généraux du film documentaire in Lussas, France.
Ross McElwee teaches filmmaking at Harvard University where he is a professor in the Department of Visual and Environmental Studies.