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- Welcome to POV.
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I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS
Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
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A famous quote from Oscar Wilde
says,
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"Life imitates art far more
than art imitates life."
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In tonight's film titled Remake,
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it will be hard to distinguish
the two.
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You will see the director
can't help but blur the lines
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between art and life because
they are so intertwined.
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Remake is a deeply personal film
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about a storied filmmaker
who sets out with his camera
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to examine his life as a parent
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and career as an
award-winning filmmaker.
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Throughout the film,
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we'll get a look at director
Ross McElwee's prolific career
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and some of his films,
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and grieve along with him
over the loss of his son,
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who we will meet
through home movies.
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We will also see the power
of healing at work
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through the documentary
filmmaking process.
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Ross McElwee has made
ten documentaries,
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one of which, Sherman's March,
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won the Jury Prize at the
Sundance Film Festival in 1986.
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The film was selected
for preservation
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by the U.S Library of Congress
National Film Registry in 2000
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as a historically significant
motion picture.
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Remake discusses his films
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and reexamines his career
as a documentarian
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while watching him come to terms
with personal tragedy.
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McElwee introduces us
to his young son Adrian,
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who as a boy loved watching
his father work
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and eventually tried to follow
in his footsteps as a young man,
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until he succumbed to addiction
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and died from a heroin overdose
at the age of 27.
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The origins of the movie started
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when McElwee revisited
his home movies.
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It was so painful,
he paid an assistant
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to sift through them
for two years
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and pull various scenes
from each home movie.
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When he finally was able to view
the footage,
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Ross thought initially
he could make a film
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about the
father-son relationship,
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but still wasn't sure
where the film would go
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from the images alone.
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But it was enough to inspire him
to start the filmmaking journey.
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As depressing as this all
may sound,
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there are moments of humor that
make the film even more human
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and show how McElwee has gotten
through such emotional hardship.
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He says if there wasn't any
humor throughout,
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it would be hard to watch.
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From a directorial standpoint,
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McElwee was already established
as a filmmaker
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with a host of awards and
critical acclaim to his credit.
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Tonight, we'll see
how he uses his own voice
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to narrate the story,
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and it proves to be an intimate
complement over his home movies,
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where we see the course
of Adrian's life
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and the director's career.
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When asked recently what
he hopes people take away
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from his latest work,
the director says he hopes
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that those who watch the film
who have also lost children
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find companionship.
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So, let's all kick back
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and watch a true artist
blur the lines of art and life
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in this deeply personal story,
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which Ross McElwee says is a way
to hold onto Adrian
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and also a way to let him go.
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Remake starts now
on PBS Wisconsin,
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your home for independent film.