Director: Ross McElwee
Stars: Allan Gurganus, Paula Larke, Marilyn Levine
Genre: Documentary, Biography, Comedy
Country: USA | UK
North Carolina produces more tobacco than any other state in America. Bright Leaves describes a journey taken across the social, economic, and psychological tobacco terrain of North Carolina by a native Carolinian, Ross McElwee, whose great-grandfather created the famous brand of tobacco known as Bull Durham. The comedic chronicle is a subjective, autobiographical meditation on the allure of cigarettes and their troubling legacy for the state of North Carolina. It’s also a film about family history, addiction, denial, and filmmaking–as McElwee, noted director of Sherman’s March, grapples with the legacy of an obscure Hollywood melodrama that is purportedly based on this curious man that was his great-grandfather.