This thoughtful, quirky documentarian became famous through a film which took five years to make, and went through many personality changes before emerging in 1986 as "Sherman's March". McElwee was born and raised in the deep South, then spent several years in France (as a wedding photographer's assistant), Iran and India. Returning to North Carolina, he worked as a TV cameraman for local stations. McElwee first began making his own films while at MIT in the mid-1970s; early efforts included shorts such as "68 Albany Street" (1976), about the evolution of a local lab, "Charleen" (1978), the
Made first film, short "20,000,000 Missing Persons"
1979
Made first feature, "Space Coast"
1981
Began filming "Sherman's March" a documentary about the lingering effects of General Sherman's march of destruction through the South during the Civil War (released 1986)
1982
Became teacher-in-residence at Harvard
1991
Helmed the documentry "Something to Do with the Wall" about the Berlin Wall
