American documentary filmmaker Ross McElwee has released a deeply personal new film, *Remake*, that reflects on his filmmaking career alongside the profound grief following the death of his son Adrian in 2016 from a fentanyl overdose. Over more than five decades, McElwee has chronicled his own life, his Southern upbringing, travels, political anxieties, and especially his family, with Adrian’s growth featured in several of his earlier works.

*Remake* intertwines joyous childhood footage of Adrian with more somber scenes portraying his struggles with depression and addiction. The film also explores a surprising Hollywood proposal to remake McElwee’s landmark 1986 film *Sherman’s March* as a fictional feature, adding a layer of wry humor to the otherwise somber narrative. McElwee said that despite the tragedy, the film also offers a celebration of Adrian and a close friend and former teacher, Charleen Swansea, to whom the film is dedicated.

McElwee, who has documented Adrian’s life since infancy, recounts how difficult it was to return to filmmaking after his son’s death. It took him about a year before he could watch the home movies he had shot with Adrian. He found solace in examining still frames of his son from various documentaries and reflecting on them, which helped him process his grief and write the new film.

The director highlights Adrian’s youthful creativity and joie de vivre, showing moments such as Adrian proudly presenting an abstract painting he claimed depicted God—a figure evocative of a movie camera, according to McElwee. Adrian’s own artistic voice emerges through ski footage and candid confessions, presenting a complex and honest portrayal of his mental health challenges and drug use. McElwee acknowledges that his son’s depiction of his struggles was often more raw and candid than his own filmmaking.

McElwee expresses regrets about not fully comprehending the severity of his son’s difficulties, especially in the context of the wider opioid epidemic in the United States. He also reflects critically on his longstanding habit of filming his family, which at times created tensions; his first wife eventually grew weary of being filmed, and his current wife, filmmaker Hyun Kyung Kim, has consistently declined to appear on screen.

Born in Charlotte, North Carolina, McElwee was influenced by Southern literature and taught by novelist John Hawkes before turning to documentary filmmaking in the style of Frederick Wiseman, Richard Leacock, and the Maysles Brothers. Unlike these vérité filmmakers, McElwee openly includes himself in his films, cultivating a self-deprecating on-screen persona inspired by Buster Keaton.

While acknowledging that constantly filming can distance a person from fully experiencing the moment, McElwee argues that the camera has also allowed him to engage more deeply with difficult subjects. He cites his 1993 film *Time Indefinite*, which transitioned from a marriage documentary to a meditation on his father's sudden death, spurred by conversations that might not have otherwise occurred without the camera’s presence.

The new film’s title, *Remake*, refers both to McElwee’s reflections on his career and to the unexpected proposal to remake *Sherman’s March*, a film that began as a historical road movie but became an introspective essay on Southern society and the filmmaker himself. The remake offer came from Steve Carr, known for comedies like *Daddy Day Care* and *Paul Blart: Mall Cop*. McElwee recounts visiting the filming of *Paul Blart* and noting how different the production was from his minimalistic style.

Recently retired from Harvard, where he taught filmmaking, McElwee advises young filmmakers to be cautious about pursuing autobiographical work given its emotional complexity. *Remake* is currently available on PBS in the United States and began its theatrical run in the United Kingdom on September 27.