Documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee sets out to make a movie about Union General Sherman’s March to the Sea towards the end of the American Civil War, but keeps getting sidetracked by his own love life.
Director: Ross McElwee
Runtime: 157
Fest Year: 2026
In the early 1980s, filmmaker Ross McElwee planned to make a documentary tracing the route Union General William Tecumseh Sherman took when he laid siege to Confederate forces in the South during the Civil War. Just before filming begins, McElwee’s girlfriend ends their relationship, prompting his processing of the breakup and throwing the production into question. McElwee travels to his hometown of Charlotte to spend time with family (eager to help him meet eligible bachelorettes) and decides to bring his camera along, culminating in this self-aware and inventive essay film. As the filmmaker crisscrosses Sherman’s path of destruction to explore the relics, he reflects on his own wake of past romances while attempting new ones—often with partners who appear equally transitory. (MS)