Ross McElwee

This film describes a journey taken across the social, economic, and pyschological tobacco terrain of North Carolina by a native Carolian, whose great-grandfather created the famous tobacco known as "Bull Durham". "Bright Leaves" is a subjective, autobiographical meditation on the allure of cigarettes and their troubling legacy for the state of North Carolina. It's about loss and preservation, addiction and denial. And it's also about filmmaking - home movies, documentary, and fiction filmmaking - as the filmmaker fences with the legacy of an obscure Hollywood melodrama that is purportedly based on his great-grandfather's life. Bright Leaves explores the notion of legacy - what one generation passes down to the next - and how this can be a particularly complicated topic when the legacy under discussion is a Southern one and is tied to tobacco.

After his girlfriend leaves him, Ross McElwee takes a voyage along the original route taken by General William Sherman - but rather than cutting a swath of destruction designed for force the Confederate South into submission, as Sherman did, McElwee searches for love, camera in hand, "training his lens with phallic resolve on every accessible woman he meets" (Chicago Readers Circle). The Library of Congress National Film Registry recently chose "Sherman's March" for preservation as a "historically significant American motion picture." It has won documentary awards at numerous film festivals including Sundance, has been cited by the Centre Pompidou in Paris, and chosen as "One of the Top 20 Documentaries of All-Time" by the International Documentary Association.

As the leading producer of tobacco in America, North Carolina holds a sometimes disconcerting legacy tied to the promotion of cigarette use. This documentary goes inside the tobacco industry of the state and includes a visit to a North Carolina native whose great-grandfather created the tobacco brand Bull Durham. Take a voyage through the community that surrounds this tobacco-rich location.

Documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee turns the camera on himself in this highly personal, introspective piece that plumbs the depths of emotion as it tackles the defining experiences of life: birth, love, family and death. Shortly after McElwee announces his engagement to colleague Marilyn Levine, family tragedy strikes the couple, promptly McElwee to reflect on the human condition. But through it all, he maintains his trademark humor and keen eye.

Filmmaker Ross McElwee grew up in the South and always marveled at how the folks there were affected by Union general William Tecumseh Sherman's legacy. Aiming to delve deeper into the region's interest, McElwee revisits the path of the general's march that took down the Confederacy. But the tone of his documentary changes when he learns his girlfriend has left him, causing him to second-guess himself with each woman he meets during the shoot.

View one of history's most controversial military campaigns: Gen. William T. Sherman's infamous march through the South, which cut a swath of widespread devastation and brought an end to the Civil War. The documentary comes to life through personal accounts of soldiers, ordinary citizens and Sherman himself, thought to be one of the greatest military strategists ever. This program vividly captures his historic march to the sea.