Ghost Story in Espanol
Adam P.Cray graduated from UMASS-Darthmouth with a Degree in Drama/Film Studies. He is originally of Westport MA, where the racial makeup of the town was 98.01% White, 0.17% African American, 0.14% Native American, 0.49% Asian, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.37% from other races, and 0.79% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.69% of the population. On paper, he doesn't seem like the kind of guy I'd imagine making a Mexican ghost story. I was pleasantly surprised to find that his love of Latin culture compelled him to make the Spanish language thriller Alarma (oh yeah...unlike Pablo Martinez, Adam Cray speaks FLUENT Spanish ;-).
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BFC: What was the culture of your home growing up?
My parents brought me up with a culture of creativity. Both my mother-a resourceful teacher-and father-an artist and musician-brought me up under one philosophy: I had no limits to what I could accomplish!
Culturally, my family was fairly conservative, again I was on a different path, but they were a very verbal family (storytellers) enjoying lots of movies, books and newspapers.
BFC: What got you into filmmaking?
Seeing STAR WARS for the first time as a four-year-old was the spark that lit my filmmaking fire. Then seeing a “making-of” documentary on the film a few years later introduced me to the magic and trickery of special effects in filmmaking. I was in awe to find that most of the spaceships onscreen were not much bigger than their toy counterparts. I was also very relieved: up until that time, I thought the camera crew had had to lug all that film equipment up into space!
My biggest inspiration came ten years ago after reading Robert Rodriguez’s book, REBEL WITHOUT A CREW. The book demystified the filmmaking process down to simple, fun basics. It also spoke to me on a very personal level, telling me: “You can do this!”. I’ve been filming ever since.
BFC: Tell us about ALARMA. Is it in English/Spanish? Why?
ALARMA was filmed completamente en espanol mainly to stay true to the Mexican characters and secondly as a personal choice because of my admiration of the Latino culture. My driving inspiration was the Mexican cinema of the last nine years, especially AMORES PERROS and Y TU MAMA TAMBIEN and most recently UNDER THE SAME MOON.
BFC: What are some of the changes you see happening in the industry, good or bad?
The emergence of direct-to-dvd releases and web distribution is allowing for a lot more films to be seen by a lot more people, which is fantastic. My only wish is that this will never replace the theatre-going experience. I hope that future generations will never forego seeing films on a big screen and being surrounded by hundreds of enthusiastic friends, family and strangers all sharing the same experience.
BFC: What has been your biggest obstacle to date and what have you done/are you doing to overcome it?
Hitting a creative wall has been a major obstacle in the past. When a story I’m trying to tell isn’t moving the way I’d like, I’ve found it most refreshing to just work on another project. As a result, I usually have 3-4 projects going on simultaneously at different stages of finish.
BFC: Where do you see yourself five years from now?
I hope to have a few feature films under my belt that can inspire others to follow their dreams as I have been inspired.
*See ALARMA trailer in the screening theater.
07/08 AM