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Infamy director Doug Pray creates documentary films, music videos and commercials, but he is best known – and rightly so - for his feature-length films that explore subcultures. Premiering at the 2001 Sundance Film Festival, Scratch is an energetic window into the often secretive and behind-the-scenes world of hip-hop DJs and ‘turntablism.’ Premiere magazine called it “an amazing, life-affirming movie.” Scratch was released domestically in 2002 by Palm Pictures, worldwide by Intermedia Films, was nominated for an IFP Independent Spirit Award, and the best-selling DVD is available in stores everywhere. Hype!, Doug’s award-winning film about the emergence and explosion of the Seattle rock music scene, debuted at Sundance in 1996, was released theatrically coast-to-coast, and went on to receive international distribution in all media with Lions Gate/Artisan. A major critical success, reviews for Hype! included the L.A. Times, which called it “a brilliant synthesis of social anthropology and entertainment.” Siskel & Ebert gave it “Two Thumbs Up!”
Besides Infamy, Doug is in various stages of production on three other feature-length documentaries. Big Rig is about truck drivers, their philosophies of life, and America’s trucking culture. Surfwise is a portrait of Dorian “Doc” Paskowitz, the 84-year old surfer,
doctor, health advocate, sex guru and legend within the surfing community. Finally, The Alchemists is a journey inside the minds of the world’s most effective advertising creatives. Some of Doug’s other recent film projects include Red Diaper Baby, a feature-length performance film of Josh Kornbluth’s hilarious stage monologue, released on Sundance Channel/Roxie Releasing. Doug created the All The Way Live: Scratch Tour concert DVD for Scratch Worldwide/Sony Red Label releases. He also directed Sundance20, the first-ever look at the Sundance filmmakers lab; featuring Robert Redford, Sigourney Weaver, and others. Doug also directed Dharamsala, a documentary about the introduction of computer technology into the Dalai Lama’s monastery in India; a half hour documentary titled and about the musician Sting; and A Day In Balance, narrated by the late James Coburn, for PBS. Doug Pray’s work in branded entertainment and commercials includes a recent commission by the UK shoe company Dr. Martens to direct and edit six, five-minute film portraits of daring workers and artists in London named “Veer”, a series of HIV-AIDS awareness spots for Kaiser Permanente filmed in El Salvador, and documentary-style ads for Adidas, Sprite, Valvoline and the Sundance Channel, among others. Doug recently won a Bronze Clio and a Bronze Lion at the Cannes Advertising Festival with a national television campaign for gay rights in the workplace for the Gill Foundation (DDB), in which employees state their plans to “come out” at work in states where they could be fired for doing so. Doug has directed numerous music videos, dozens of live concert performances, and has edited music videos for everyone from Eazy-E to Steve Earle. He was also the editor of the feature film American Pimp for directors Albert and Allen Hughes. This controversial cult-hit documentary premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 1999 and was released in 2000 to theaters and home video on MGM.
After majoring in Sociology at the Colorado College, Doug received an MFA from UCLA’s Graduate School of Film and Television. He served on the documentary jury of the 2003 Sundance Film Festival, has appeared on numerous panels on independent filmmaking, and has been a guest on NPR’s “The Treatment” with Elvis Mitchell. He was born in Denver, Colorado, grew up in Madison, Wisconsin, and lives in Los Angeles. |
