Landscapes of the Self: The Cinema of Ross McElwee / Paisajes del yo. El cine de Ross McElwee

Abstract

A book about the films of American documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee. The book is in ENGLISH and SPANISH. The book opens with an ”Establishing Shot,” a prologue presenting an edited ver¬sion of an article published in 1994 by Stephen Rodrick, which sketches out a lively portrait of McElwee. In the second section, we sought greater depth of field. This is our “Wide angle”, with four transversal studies of McElwee’s filmography. First, Efrén Cuevas addresses the most explicitly autobiographical dimension of his films. Alberto N. García presents a study of Ross McElwee as an essayist. The voice-over forms the central topic of Dominique Bluher’s article. Josep María Catalá reflects on the role of the camera in McElwee’s ouvreu, and from this basis, goes on to work out a wider interpretation of McElwee’s intentions. The third section of the book turns to the “Close Up” in order to focus on each of the four autobiographical feature films made by McElwee. It begins with James H. Watkins’s analysis of Sherman’s March. In the next chapter, on Time Indefinite, Paloma Aten¬cia concentrates on how McElwee uses all the autobiographical elements to con-struct an identity understood in narrative terms. Gonzalo de Pedro examines the interesting reflections which Six O’Clock News offers on the relations between television and film. Finally, Gary Hawkins analyzes Bright Leaves from a very personal perspective, that of his double career as critic and documentary filmmaker. The book ends with a “mirror shot” in which Ross McElwee speaks in his own voice. First, we reproduce the only long text that he has written on his own work, “Finding a Voice,” published in 1995 by the French magazine Trafic. To finish, we include a collage of questions and answers from various interviews that he has given over the years.