Doug Pray
Director
Filmmaker Doug Pray has directed a number of highly acclaimed feature-length documentary films about American subcultures and maverick characters. His best-known film, Surfwise, premiered at the Toronto Film Festival and was released in theaters nationwide by Magnolia Pictures.
Doug's first film was Hype!, a candid look at the emergence and explosion of the Seattle rock music scene, featuring Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden. The movie premiered at the 1996 Sundance Film Festival and is ranked #14 by Rolling Stone Magazine in its "Top 25 Music DVDs of All Time." Staying in the genre of music docs, Doug's second feature, Scratch, also premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an IFP Independent Spirit Award in 2002.
Past films also include Big Rig, about long-haul truck drivers; Infamy, about a few of America's most notorious graffiti artists; and Red Diaper Baby, a feature-length performance film of Josh Kornbluth's hysterical and emotional stage monologue for the Sundance Channel.
In between his documentary productions, Doug has directed numerous commercials and award-winning advocacy campaigns, including an HIV-AIDS awareness project which won an Emmy In 2006.
Pray received an MFA from UCLA's Graduate School of Film and Television. He has served on the documentary juries of the Sundance, Silverdocs, AFI Fest, AFI Dallas, and SXSW Film Festivals, and is a member of the Directors Guild of America and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences.