The Ross McElwee Collection

This collector's edition box set includes six of McElwee's best films. $74.95 Titles included: Charleen 59 minutes, color, 1978 One month in the life of Charleen Swansea, North Carolina poet, mother, beloved teacher, eccentric, romantic, and complex star of McElwee's Sherman's March. "Charleen is an irresistible force caught beautifully on the run." - The New York Times Backyard 40 minutes, color, 1984 The result of McElwee turning his camera on his family and their neighbors, the film is a humorous and poignant look at odd moments in a genteel Southern town. "Backyard is equal parts Samuel Beckett, Jean-Luc Godard and Werner Herzog." - Boston Globe Sherman's March 155 minutes, color, 1986 Chosen by the Library of Congress as a "historically significant American motion picture," Sherman's March, one of the first high grossing documentaries ever, is “an autobiographic quest for true romance: filmmaker Ross McElwee, camera in hand and eros on his mind after an old girlfriend deserts him, trains his lens with phallic resolve on every accessible women he meets along the original route of General Sherman's Civil War March" (Pat Graham, Chicago Reader's Circle). "A wonderfully goofy movie!" - The New York Times Time Indefinite 117 minutes, color, 1993 McElwee, Charleen Swansea, and several other memorable characters you met in Sherman's March invite you to pick up their story in Time Indefinite, McElwee's hilariously profound sequel to his much-beloved, critically acclaimed hit. "The best film of the year! Glorious! A sequel that eclipses his cult hit Sherman's March. Profoundly stirring, bittersweet and uplifting!" - Washington Post Six O'Clock News 103 minutes, color, 1997 Made after McElwee becomes a father and finds himself at home watching a lot more TV, he becomes obsessed with the nightly tales of calamity reported on by the local news. "Another disarming, quirky cinematic journal from Ross McElwee." - The New York Times Bright Leaves 105 minutes, color, 2004 McElwee family legend has it that the Hollywood melodrama Bright Leaf starring Gary Cooper as a 19th century tobacco grower, is based on McElwee's great-grandfather who created the famous "Bull Durham” brand. Using this legacy as a jumping off point, McElwee reaches back to his roots in this wry, witty rumination on American History, the tobacco business, and the myth of cinema. "Brilliantly amusing. . . just sings along!" - Washington Post