Bill Ross
Directing
Biography
Born in Sidney, Ohio in 1980, he works with his brother Turner. For their documentary 45365, a portrait of their home town, the two directors received numerous awards including Best Documentary Feature at the 2009 South by Southwest Film Festival in Austin, Texas. They followed it three years later with Tchoupitoulas (2012) about their second home of New Orleans.
Known For

Working from the text of James Baldwin’s unfinished final novel, director Raoul Peck creates a meditation on what it means to be Black in the United States.
I Am Not Your Negro

With high school in the rearview, five teenagers from inland Oregon embark on one last adventure. Piling into a van with a busted tail light, their mission takes them to a place they’ve never been—the Pacific coast, five hundred miles away. Their plan, in full: “Fuck it.”
Gasoline Rainbow

In the summer of 2015, legendary musician David Byrne staged an event at Brooklyn's Barclays Center to celebrate the art of Color Guard: synchronized dance routines involving flags, rifles, and sabers. Recruiting performers that include the likes of St. Vincent, Nelly Furtado, Ad-Rock, and Ira Glass to collaborate on original pieces with 10 color guard teams from across the US and Canada, Contemporary Color is a beautifully filmed snapshot of a one-of-a-kind live event.
Contemporary Color

Following the death of her brother, filmmaker Robie Flores returns to her hometown Eagle Pass on the Texas/Mexico border, wanting to turn back time. She collides with unruly experiences of adolescence – quinceañeras, Rio Grande river excursions, teen makeovers and beyond – that invite her to soak up the details of the home her brother adored and she ignored. What emerges is a playful dance between a personal and collective coming-of-age portrait of kids on the border and Robie herself as she rediscovers the possibilities of joy in the aftermath of grief.
The In Between

The story of the 2019 Hong Kong protests, told through a series of demonstrations by local protestors that escalate into conflict when highly armed police appear on the scene.
Do Not Split

A portrait of the lives of a disparate group of patrons and employees at an American watering hole today.
Bloody Nose, Empty Pockets

A true crime concert doc about David Byrne and two escaped convicts.
Temporary Color

An intimate portrait of a community fighting to save lives and keep hope alive in a neighborhood ravaged by the overdose crisis.
Love in the Time of Fentanyl

A lyrical documentary that follows three adolescent brothers as they journey through one night in New Orleans, encountering a vibrant kaleidoscope of dancers, musicians, hustlers, and revelers parading through the lamplit streets. The filmmakers fully immerse us into the New Orleans night, passing through many lively and luminous locations and introducing us to the people who make the city their home.
Tchoupitoulas

For generations, all that distinguished Eagle Pass, TX, from Piedras Negras, MX, was the Rio Grande. But when darkness descends upon these harmonious border towns, a cowboy and lawman face a new reality that threatens their way of life.
Western
Nearly 30 years later, the Ross Brothers rephotographed locations from Byrne's 1986 film, finding the same spots used in True Stories to see what may have changed. Rather than a sociological study, No Time to Look Back is a charming homage. The film includes a snippet from an interview with Byrne at the time True Stories was released.
No Time To Look Back

Setting out on what is technically a houseboat but more realistically a shed on two pontoons, award-winning filmmakers Bill and Turner Ross (45365, Tchoupitoulas), their brother Alex and friend Kyle “The Muscle” Rouse embark on a journey to sail from their home state of Ohio to New Orleans. As they brave the mighty Mississippi for three weeks on the not-so-trusty Rosemarie, the boys’ journey becomes a cavalcade of hijinks, near death experiences, nautical close calls and impromptu sing-alongs. Featuring an illustrious cast of characters met along the way and wonderful escapades with every dock they make, the film becomes a beautiful and hilarious adventure. Originally released online in weekly episodes, the film quickly became a much-lauded addition to the Ross brothers’ already beloved body of work. This is the first time River has ever been shown on the big screen in its feature version.
River

With cameras in hand, directors Bill and Turner Ross return to their hometown of Sidney, Ohio—zip code 45365—for nine months. In this small town, the stories of a father and son, cops and criminals, officials and their electorate coalesce into a mosaic of faces, places, and events.
45365

A behind the scenes movie of Benh Zeitlin's Wendy that technically can't be released.
Second Star to the Right and Straight On til Morning
An autobiographical stream-of-consciousness essay collage composed during the making of 'Gasoline Rainbow'.
Rose City Hurricane

A young family awaits the broadcast of their turn on Who Wants To Be A Millionaire.