16mm, 40 minutes.  

Backyard 1984

"McElwee’s sense of the absurd combined with a genuine affection for his subject make him one of the most fascinating filmmakers  working in the nonfiction form."
—Boston Globe

An autobiographical look at the filmmaker's relationship with his father, and his family's relationship with the black people who have worked for them; a study of the genteel uneasiness underlying black/white relationships in one North Carolina household.

Premiered ICA, Boston
Filmed, narrated, and edited by Ross McElwee