Elaine McMillion Sheldon is an award winning director. Read more about her film, ‘Timberline’, her net worth and other interesting facts.
Who is Elaine McMillion Sheldon?
Elaine McMillion Sheldon is an Award-winning documentary filmmaker who resides in West Virginia. Her work is mostly based upon the universal stories of upheaval, identity, survival, roots, resilience and hope. Sheldon has also directed the film, ‘Heroin(e)’ which is a Netflix Original short documentary that follows three women fighting the opioid crisis in ‘Huntington, West Virginia. ‘Heroin(e)’ was nominated for the Oscar 2018 award. Her film, ‘Hollow’ was released in 2013 which is an interactive documentary that explores the future of rural America through the eyes and voices of West Virginians. Sheldon received a Peabody Award, an Emmy Award nomination and a also a 3rd prize in the World Press Photo Multimedia Awards in 2013. She got the inaugural ‘Breakthrough Filmmaker’ award in 2016 by the Chicken & Egg Pictures. Sheldon was a 2013 Future of Storytelling Fellow and was also named as one of the ’25 New Faces of Independent Film’ by the Filmmaker Magazine and was also named as one of the ’50 People Changing the South’ by the Southern Living Magazine. Sheldon is the founding member of ‘All y’all Southern Documentary Collective’. She has been commissioned by Frontline PBS, PBS NewsHour, Center for Investigative Reporting, New York Times Op-Docs, TEDWomen, People Magazine, Lifetime, Field of Vision, Mashable, The Washington Post, and The Bitter Southerner. She was recently honored by being named a ‘2018 USA Fellow’ by United States Artists. Her documentary ‘The Lower 9: A Story of Home’ was released in 2012. ‘The Lower 9: A Story of Home’ is about the displaced culture and community of New Orleans’ Lower Ninth Ward through generations of memories that fill the abandoned homes, buildings and streets of the Lower Ninth Ward community. Her film, ‘Forager’ was released in 2015. ‘Forager’ was about a Ms. Noe who is searching for more than just food. The brief summary of the film says “People like Ms. Noe are one of a growing number who understand that life is more than instant satisfaction and fleeting gratification. They know that deliberate action, taken over time and then building a community to partake in that action, is a permanent fulfillment that doesn’t wither with the seasons.”
The net worth of the director
The net worth of Elaine McMillion Sheldon is $1.3 million.
An interesting interview on her film, ‘Heroin(e)’
“Heroin(e)” follows the lives of three women in Huntington, W.Va. — a fire chief, a drug court judge and a street missionary — who are battling the opioid epidemic. Elaine McMillion Sheldon was interviewed on her movie, ‘Heroin(e)’ and here is a brief from the interview: When asked to describe a scene of the movie that shows, the medics are shown treating an overdose patient at a Sheetz convenience store and at the same time there are cashiers ringing up customer after customer, she replied that the scene actually happening in front of her eyes was taking too long where as in the movie it seems very quick. She said that overdose incidents have become so common thesedays that the people don’t stop their daily life. She said that people hardly show any interest and even carry on buying their pepsi at the Sheetz store. She said that along with her there were some children also recording the incident on their phones which disturbed her a lot. She mentioned that she made the film along with her husband, Kerrin. His and her ideas were intertwined throughout the project. They both challenge each other’s creativity and yet are trustworthy and reliable for each other In her interview, Sheldon was asked about why she prefers to live in the city in which she is shooting her film to which she replied that this way she has more access to her subjects immediately. She said, “When one of our subjects has a court date and it’s three hours away, we can be there, so we can be more present and our films can be more real, hopefully. I never thought I’d be back in West Virginia, I thought I was gone, but I got out and then I realized that I’m from a place that’s very unique and a place that people don’t really understand. So when you know a place well and it’s being misrepresented, I think there’s a duty to do some work that helps right the wrongs. I’m not saying these films do that, but I think over the course of my life, that’s the goal — doing some work that helps people to understand this region a little better. I don’t think I could do that in another part of the country because I don’t have those roots.” The film has been premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and was shown at the Sheridan Opera House. The film got a great response in West Virginia because it covered the opioid epidemic really well. Sheldon has also discussed her documentary ‘Heroin(e)’ in Daily Show. She appeared in Episode 23 of season 3 of Daily Show. ‘Heroin(e)’ is nominated for the Oscar 2018 in the Best short Documentary Category. Oscar 2018 will be held on March 4, 2018.
Her brilliant documentaries force us to think differently and explore various factors in life.
