2014 –
Waiting for Godard
2014
Waiting for Godard: part fiction, part truth, part Beckett, part Bishow, part unknown, part Kray, waiting… Save us, cinema
2003 – 2013
Six Degrees of High Plains Drifter
2011
14 min. mini-dv
A mash-up of the movies: High Plains Drifter (Clint Eastwood) and Six Degrees of Separation (Fred Schepisi) played out in a senior independent living community in Sun City, Arizona.
Essentially a Gambling People 2008 22 min. mini-dv
A little bit of the history and romance of gambling in the U.S. and the relationships, if any, of media to gambling popularity.
Motomanhattan/The Art of Falling performance installation
2007
film/dv; 6-minute loop
This piece contains overlapping content that stood alone as 6-minute that, as a longer piece, accompanied the live Catherine Hourihan 5-dancer performance. A very collaborative work developed over 3 years; but we worked very individually, perhaps both as choreographers: Catherine with dancers; me with screens.
Virtually Certain
2006
5 min. mini-dv
3-channel video loop, some replay of themes in Wanna Bet (2005) and mixed with a discussion of the development of communication and public media in America (and internationally).
Wanna Bet
2006
10 min. mini-DV
A day (or two) at the races. A well-rounded education.
Sanctuary: Last of the Artists
2003
5 min. mini-dv
Mockumentary on the plight of NYC artists, but oh, it is true.
Gone Global
2003
5 min. mini-dv and super8
The globe was breaking and I helped it along. Of course, as the song predicted I would, I miss it.
1998 – 2002
Mushroom Seekers Trailer from Pam Kray on Vimeo.
Mushroom Seekers
2002
55 min. mini-dv
Trailer for 55-minute documentary on the filmmaker’s introduction to wild mushroom picking. Original score: Ken Kearney.
Mushroom Seekers is a first-person exploration of the world of wild mushrooms and the people who pick them. Shot in Tábor, CZ; New York and Colorado, U.S.A.; Huautla de Jimenez, Mexico.
1990 – 1998
Archaeology
1999
5 min. (excerpt) super8 handcranked and captured on mini-dv
Vintage super-8 pornography handcranked and shot off super-8 viewer on mini-dv. Looks choppy; images emerge out of a haze—archaeology of the porn images in a pseudo-flipbook.
Smalltown Dr. So & So
1993
8 min. super8
Dance performance of same title. Choreography by Selene Colburn.
Not exactly a collaboration. I shot and edited this dance piece choreographed by Selene Colburn in San Francisco in 1993. In 1994, I performed live in another version of the dance piece and at one performance this movie played behind the dancers. I added this soundtrack, provided by the Italian group CCC CNC NCN.
My Year Without Words
1993
super-8 and live band
Life, its spectacles and subtexts. Played with Multicide (PL) and Katrin Regelski sculpture in Tábor and Hamburg, Germany in 1996 as part of the CESTA and Fact eV Orient to Occident Hamburg festivals.
Fast Forward
1990
VHS and live performance
First time out of film into video: video as a willing participant in performance.
Spoken word, dance and video; with Hope Clark, Maureen Leak and Jesse X.
the naive years
Consenting Children
1992
30 min. super8
Another moving image tribute to personal autonomy. What do we as children of this planet consent to? And what are we told we have to participate in? Virtually without words.
Piss Mission excerpt from Pam Kray on Vimeo.
Piss Mission
1990
9 min. super8
Poetry of piss. An examination of urination as a cultural and poetic phenomenon.
The full movie is approximately 10 minutes long. It is a poetic musing on this natural function of the human and other mammals’ bodies.
Penis Puppets excerpt from Pam Kray on Vimeo.
Penis Puppets
1987
12 min. super8
hand-processed by Paul Bishow
Penis puppets and the making of, all in one. And, a subtle comment on standing armies?
Started out as a heterosexual love story acted out by penises. Definitely became something else. Storyline by Bill Kamins.
The Million Heirs excerpt from Pam Kray on Vimeo.
The Million Heirs
1988
20 min. 16mm
This is the story of inheritance and legacy. What do we leave behind? With a page from The Vice Consul by Marguerite Duras, sounds played by Charley Davis and Pam Kray, camera by Paul Bishow and Pam Kray. Actors: Kathy Sawhill, Mike Horsley, Mitch Blakely, Marcia Cameron, Wayne Combs, Travis Kray, Louie, Pierre DeVeaux, Zoie Lafis.
The Ghost Sonata excerpt from Pam Kray on Vimeo.
The Ghost Sonata
1985
5 min. 16mm
Loosely based on August Strindberg’s play. Tale of house madness. Living together in the same house, driving each other mad.
earliest films
A Void Dance (1984? 1985?) (super-8, 20 minutes) is on a temporary if lengthy leave of absence. In 1998-99, right as I was starting to shift from super-8 film to mini-dv digital camera work, I wanted to work on some of the footage in A Void Dance. I had filmed a white goose in the dark at a farm in Michigan in 1981. Then I refilmed the footage, for four generations, until the goose was an abstract white moving shape on a dark blue background. In 1998-99, I had not started editing with a non-linear digital program. I had a super-8 viewer that was getting on my nerves. So I pulled the goose out of the movie, since it was not in one spot but spread out over the length of the film. Then I summarily lost the footage. It is on a reel somewhere, now being looked at by several people all these years later, with the hope of locating the goose… Too much information? Here’s more: A Void Dance was one part of a trilogy of super8 films: Coffee Interviews by Paul Bishow, Radioactive Heroin by Pierre DeVeaux, and A Void Dance by Pam Kray, all about 20–30 minutes long. It was a first attempt by me to make something longer than a couple of super-8 3minute reels. I hope to get it back together soon. I will upload some stills here as soon as I can.
A Void Dance
1982
Chapter of
1981
6 min. super8
A plane ride, students revolt. It’s a short chapter.
Constrictor Construction
1980
3 min. super8
My first film. Snake eats rat. Snake loves rat.