Zazie Ray-Trapido

FILMS

      The Instability of Clouds (in post-production) 


Two neighbors bond after a shared traumatic event, a continuous home development creeps into nature's threshold, and a community celebrates freedom. The Instability of Clouds navigates an ecosystem in decay and growth while traversing across its spaces of comfort, spectacle, and disaster. Through the observation and construction of facets within a suburban neighborhood in Southern California, connections between landscape, neighbors, and environment ruminate on the American Dream and its resonances.

Additional Cinematography:
Leonardo Pirondi
Sound Mix:
Andrew Kim


      When We Encounter The World
      (16mm, 11 minutes, color/b&w, sound, 2023, Portugal/USA)


In 1934 an experiment by an amateur-scientist couple began. Named after a genus of moths, the Automeris Project placed a group of young children in an enclosed forest, leaving them to fend for themselves. On return visits, the couple presented self-made films, accompanied by live music, depicting the outside world. For them, these images were the perfect replica of reality seen in their expeditions. Nevertheless, the films were carefully framed, edited, and manipulated to induce a transformation and provoke the development of a new society.

This film revisits the remains of the Automeris Project and recreates one such film made using the few remaining assembly notes.

Co-directed with Leonardo Pirondi

      Nona (16mm, 6 minutes, color/sound, 2022)


Dr. Eva Ray is now approaching 90. Eva is a holocaust survivor who fled the Nazis in former Yugoslavia with her mother and sister. They settled in New York City, where she proceeded to spend her formative years. Eva worked for NASA as a biochemist—retiring in her late 50’s and she’s been heavily involved in local politics ever since. This portrait film of my grandmother weaves through past and present, exploring the role that memory has on who she is today.

Additional Cinematography:
Leonardo Pirondi
Sound Mix:
Craig Smith

Screenings:
2023 - Mimesis Documentary Festval 
2023 - Montreal Underground Film Festival
2023 - HEAVY LIGHT by San Diego Underground Arts
2023 - Athens International Film and Video Festival
2022 - Engauge Experimental Film Festival
2022 - Antimatter [Media Art]
2022 - REDCAT
2022 - Bideodromo

Nona (trailer)

      Playdate (16mm, 2 minutes, color/sound, 2021)


Playdate consists of surreal and performative reimaginings of the simple and naive games played throughout childhood.

Made in collaboration with Phoebe Jane-Heart

Cinematography:
Zazie Ray-Trapido & Alexia de Montalembert

Screenings:
2023 - Live Soundtrack 
2023 - Fisura, International Festival of Experimental Film and Video
2022 - Millennium Film Workshop
2022 - Kabayitos Microcinema Experimental Program at The Clemente Center
2022 - Whammy Analog Media
2021 - San Diego Underground Film Festival
2021 - Bijou Festival