Film Trails Graffiti Writers, Documents Their Processes In ‘Infamy’
Author: SoundSlam
Oct. 4, 2005 - New York, NY

The term ‘graffiti’ has the ability to conjure up some feeling or subject, whether positive or negative, in nearly everyone. The term can mean very different things to different persons, but those closest to the typically illegal art form are the only ones that understand how the game must be played. A new film directed by Doug Pray, the same man who directed the turntable-fascinated Scratch and edited American Pimp, will take a leap and shine extensive light on seven graffiti artists and their trials and tribulations with their aerosolique art form.

Executive produced in part by Quincy D. Jones III (QD3), Infamy will reveal the lives and livelihood of seven individuals, including Saber, Earsnot, Claw, Toomer, Jase, Enem, and “the graffiti guerrilla”, Joe Connelly, who makes deleting graffiti from L.A.’s cityscape a daily passion. Interestingly, Pray was not enthralled with the idea of simply documenting the history of graffiti or providing a frame-shot sequence of graffiti, but rather wanted to depict a much more engaging and real side of the male-dominated, often hyper-masculine art.

Doug Pray said of the film: “I didn’t want to make another ‘scene-movie’ or a general overview of subculture and its history. Instead, we’ve set out to create a more hard-hitting, personal portrayal of the pain and joy of being addicted to the only illegal art form there is.” Pray continued, adding, “These are intensely passionate individuals, they are incredibly talented at destroying surfaces with spray paint, and they don’t like cameras… What more could you ask for in a subject?” To denote this, Pray focuses, for example, on “writers” such as Earsnot, an openly gay, male graffiti artist, and Claw, a female in the male-saturated arena.

The film, Infamy, will be premiered as part of the ResFest tours that will greet roughly 35 cities worldwide. It will then be released on DVD by Image Entertainment in February of 2006.