Filmmaker Ross McElwee released the documentary "Remake," a 2025 American film that marks his first production in 15 years. The documentary reflects on personal loss and the disruption of his filmmaking legacy following the 2016 death of his son, Adrian McElwee.

PureSource News previously reported that McElwee opened the new film at the Film Forum on Friday. The release concludes a long hiatus for the director, whose previous documentary was "Photographic Memory," which was released in 2011.

McElwee received the Career Award at the 2007 Full Frame Documentary Film Festival. His earlier work includes "Sherman’s March," which he released in 1986. Director Steve Carr approached McElwee in the 2010s about remaking "Sherman’s March" into a narrative film.

McElwee signed the rights to "Sherman’s March" to Carr on the condition that he could produce a making-of documentary. This agreement formed the initial basis for the new project. "Photographic Memory" featured Adrian McElwee as a young adult.

Adrian McElwee died in 2016. He died of an overdose at 27 years old. Adrian McElwee recorded his own drug use with the intention of making a documentary about his struggles.

The filmmaker addressed the impact of these events on his work. "The story I thought I was telling with my filmmaking, the stories of lives lived over decades, is now disjointed, confused — the reels are all out of order," McElwee said.

He described the shift in his perspective and process. "The film might’ve been shot as a documentary, but now it’s fiction," McElwee said. He further reflected on the sequence of family events and loss.

"First there is a father, and he has a son: me. But then it starts all over. I am now father, and I have a son: you. But something goes awry. Something goes off-script. And then, suddenly, you’re gone," McElwee said.

He summarized his current professional identity in the wake of these changes. "I used to be a filmmaker," McElwee said. The documentary serves as a record of this transition and the events that precipitated it.