Charleen / Backyard

Aroview: Two early Ross McElwee documentaries on a single disc, showing progress towards his mature humanist style, often subtly dealing with issues of his home region in the American South.

Charleen (1980) - Dir. McElwee here charts the world of his high-school poetry teacher as she tries to impart a love of language to her students in a mainly African-American school district.

Backyard (1984) - A study of McElwee's 'backyard', his hometown of Charlotte, which starts out with the McElwee family then spreads to capture images of everyday life, made startling by the dir.'s unforced insights into race relations.