Rick Ray
Encyclopedia
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
10 Questions for the Dalai Lama
10 Questions for the Dalai Lama
10 Questions For The Dalai Lama is a 2006 documentary film in which filmmaker Rick Ray meets with Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama at his monastery in Dharamsala, India...
which he wrote, filmed and directed. His documentary Lynching Charlie Lynch, about the trials of former medical marijuana dispensary owner Charles C. Lynch
Charles C. Lynch
Charles C. Lynch is the former owner of a medical marijuana dispensary in Morro Bay, California. In April 2006 Lynch obtained a Medical Marijuana Dispensary business license from the city of Morro Bay. In July 2006 Lynch was issued a Medical Marijuana Nursery Permit which allowed him to provide...
, premiered at the 2011 San Luis Obispo International Film Festival on March 9.
Career
Before 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama10 Questions for the Dalai Lama
10 Questions For The Dalai Lama is a 2006 documentary film in which filmmaker Rick Ray meets with Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama at his monastery in Dharamsala, India...
, Ray had produced eleven travel documentaries including The Soul of India, Raise the Bamboo Curtain: Vietnam, Cambodia and Burma (narrated by Martin Sheen
Martin Sheen
Ramón Gerardo Antonio Estévez , better known by his stage name Martin Sheen, is an American film actor best known for his performances in the films Badlands and Apocalypse Now , and in the television series The West Wing from 1999 to 2006.He is considered one of the best actors never to be...
), Morocco, Jerusalem: Sacred and Profane, and Lost Worlds of the Middle East.
Education
Rick Ray graduated with a degree in film from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1981. He apprenticed on the television show Ripley's Believe it or Not!Ripley's Believe It or Not!
Ripley's Believe It or Not! is a franchise, founded by Robert Ripley, which deals in bizarre events and items so strange and unusual that readers might question the claims...
for two years. At one time he served as chauffeur to Jack Palance
Jack Palance
Jack Palance , was an American actor. During half a century of film and television appearances, Palance was nominated for three Academy Awards, all as Best Actor in a Supporting Role, winning in 1991 for his role in City Slickers.-Early life:Palance, one of five children, was born Volodymyr...
. He then spent several years traveling around the world with only a backpack, camera and notebook.
Business
In 2000, Ray founded DVArchive.com, an internet based stock footageStock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures and file footage are film or video footage that may or may not be custom shot for use in a specific film or television program. Stock footage is of beneficial use to filmmakers as it is sometimes less expensive than shooting new...
library with the intent of making the imagery from his extensive travels available to a wide variety of film and media producers.
Ray's footage has appeared in such films as An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth
An Inconvenient Truth is a 2006 documentary film directed by Davis Guggenheim about former United States Vice President Al Gore's campaign to educate citizens about global warming via a comprehensive slide show that, by his own estimate, he has given more than a thousand times.Premiering at the...
, Contact
Contact (film)
Contact is a 1997 American science fiction drama film adapted from the Carl Sagan novel of the same name and directed by Robert Zemeckis. Both Sagan and wife Ann Druyan wrote the story outline for the film adaptation of Contact....
, the television series Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American comedy television series produced and broadcast by HBO, which premiered on October 15, 2000. As of 2011, it has completed 80 episodes over eight seasons. The series was created by Seinfeld co-creator Larry David, who stars as a fictionalized version of himself...
, as well as the concert videos of Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen , nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band...
, Liz Phair
Liz Phair
Phair's entry into the music industry began when she met guitarist Chris Brokaw, a member of the band Come. Brokaw and Phair moved to San Francisco together, and Phair tried to become an artist there...
and Roger Waters
Roger Waters
George Roger Waters is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. He was a founding member of the progressive rock band Pink Floyd, serving as bassist and co-lead vocalist. Following the departure of bandmate Syd Barrett in 1968, Waters became the band's lyricist, principal songwriter...
, among others.
From 2003 to 2007, Ray taught documentary film
Documentary film
Documentary films constitute a broad category of nonfictional motion pictures intended to document some aspect of reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction or maintaining a historical record...
making at Brooks Institute of Photography
Brooks Institute of Photography
Brooks Institute is a system of two for-profit private arts colleges based in Santa Barbara, California and Ventura, California, owned by Career Education Corporation. Formally known as "Brooks Institute of Photography," Brooks Institute offers four majors, two certificate programs and two...
. He has been a guest lecturer at hundreds of universities and has made seven appearances at the National Geographic Society
National Geographic Society
The National Geographic Society , headquartered in Washington, D.C. in the United States, is one of the largest non-profit scientific and educational institutions in the world. Its interests include geography, archaeology and natural science, the promotion of environmental and historical...
in Washington D.C.
Filmography
- Lynching Charlie Lynch (2011)
- Morocco (2008)
- 10 Questions for the Dalai Lama10 Questions for the Dalai Lama10 Questions For The Dalai Lama is a 2006 documentary film in which filmmaker Rick Ray meets with Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama at his monastery in Dharamsala, India...
(2006)
- Inside Iraq: The Untold Stories (2004)
- The Soul of India (2002)
- Lost Worlds of the Middle East: Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Israel (2001)
- Elvis: His Life and Times (1997) (TV)
- Jerusalem: Sacred and Profane (1997)
- Raise the Bamboo Curtain: Vietnam, Cambodia, and Burma (1996)
- Bali: Life In The Balance (1995)
- America Comes to Graceland (1993) (TV)
- Letters Home From Iceland (1990)
- Letters Home From The South China Seas: Adventures in Singapore & Borneo (1989)
External links
- Minnesota Public Radio interview
- Lynching Charlie Lynch, San Luis Obispo International Film Festival 2011