DocumentaMadrid
XV Festival Internacional de Cine Documental
Description
Catastrophe, disaster, tragedy: if it bleeds, it leads. In an attempt to go beyond the stock figures of the evening news—victims of earthquake, disease, and murder—McElwee travels from town to town filming these human interest stories over a period of several years. When terrible things happen, how do such people go on? And how can McElwee’s own newborn son be brought into such a bizarre and frightening world? (MoMA)
Awards and festivals
- Hawaii International Film Festival - Best Documentary
- Sundance Film Festival
- New England Film Festival -Independent Film Award
- San Francisco International Film Festival- Certificate of Merit
Biography of the director
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.
Image gallery
Finished
Sessions
May
Sunday 6
- 20:30 h
- Filmoteca Española. Cine Doré Sala 2
- Introduction and Q&A with Ross McElwee
Wednesday 16
- 22:30 h
- Filmoteca Española. Cine Doré Sala 1
Data sheet
Director
Ross McElwee
Language
English - Subtitled in Spanish
Screenplay
Ross McElwee
Sound
Richard Bock, Victor Buhler, Thouly Dosios, Victoria Garvin Davis, Miguel Kohan, George Reyes,
