Siddhesh Joshi (Editor)

Scott Crary

Updated on
Edit
Like
Comment
Share on FacebookTweet on TwitterShare on LinkedInShare on Reddit
Nationality
  
American

Role
  
Film director

Name
  
Scott Crary


Years active
  
2004-present

Other names
  
S.A. Crary

Movies
  
Kill Your Idols

Scott Crary httpsuploadwikimediaorgwikipediacommons77

Full Name
  
Scott Aaron Crary

Born
  
April 12, 1978 (age 45) (
1978-04-12
)
Oahu, Hawaii, United States

Occupation
  
director, producer, writer

Kill your idols scott crary original trailer


Scott Crary (also known as S.A. Crary) is an American film director, producer and writer, best known for having directed, produced, filmed and edited the film Kill Your Idols, a documentary examining three decades of New York art punk bands.

Contents

Film career

Crary's debut film, Kill Your Idols, features such noted no wave and art punk bands as Sonic Youth, Swans, DNA, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, Suicide, Black Dice, Gogol Bordello, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Liars, among others. The film received the award for Best Documentary at the 2004 Tribeca Film Festival and was subsequently screened at over 50 international film festivals, before being released theatrically in 2006. It was acquired for distribution in North America by Palm Pictures, in Europe by Minerva Pictures/RARO Video, and in Japan by Uplink. Kill Your Idols was also acquired for television by Showtime and Sundance Channel.

Crary served on the jury of the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival alongside Alan Cumming, Whoopi Goldberg, Darren Arronofsky, Tom Wolfe, Damon Dash, and others.

In 2005, Nokia commissioned Crary to direct the short film Perdu Dans La Ville, shot entirely on Nokia 6682 Imaging Smartphones.

In 2007, Crary directed the music video for the song "Story Goes First" by the Israeli band Katamine. The video starred Kurt Feldman of the indie pop band The Pains of Being Pure at Heart.

In May 2008, Crary's film, Kill Your Idols, was named on Black Book Magazine's list of 'Iconic and Influential Music Documentaries', alongside such films as Dig!, I Am Trying to Break Your Heart: A Film About Wilco, 1991: The Year Punk Broke, Meeting People Is Easy, and The Devil and Daniel Johnston. In May 2011, the film was also included on Nylon Magazine's list of 'Top Music Documentaries'.

Crary produced the 2010 documentary film William S. Burroughs: A Man Within, featuring Iggy Pop, John Waters, Patti Smith, Gus Van Sant, David Cronenberg, Jello Biafra, John Giorno, Genesis P-Orridge, Laurie Anderson, and others. William S. Burroughs: A Man Within premiered at the 2010 Slamdance Film Festival and was acquired for distribution in North America by Oscilloscope Laboratories, in Australia by Madman Entertainment, in Germany by Neue Visionen, and in France by Arte.

In 2011, Crary produced an episode of the PBS series Independent Lens, hosted by America Ferrara.

In 2013, Crary's film, Kill Your Idols, was included in the permanent archives of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Crary served as a producer on the 2017 film Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution, a feature documentary on Queercore directed by Yony Leyser. The film features interviews with Bruce LaBruce, Kathleen Hanna, Kim Gordon, Rick Castro, John Waters, Peaches, Dennis Cooper, and others. Queercore: How to Punk a Revolution premiered at Sheffield Doc/Fest on June 12, 2017 and was acquired for television by Arte in France and by ZDF in Germany.

Advertising

In addition to his film work, Crary has been involved extensively in advertising as well, working with companies such as Nokia, Mazda, Guitar Center, Bacardi, Ray-Ban, The Contrarian Media, Apple, and others.

Art

Crary has been exhibited at numerous museums and art institutions internationally. His work has been presented at the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona, the Musée d'art contemporain de Montréal, the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Arts Center in New Orleans, the Pera Museum in Istanbul, and London's Institute of Contemporary Arts. In 2005, Sight & Sound's Stephen Dalton characterized Crary's experimental video pieces as "short meditative loops" that "often deliver a kōan-like punchline."

Books

In 2013, Crary announced he had begun collaborating on "a book of illustrated short stories" with the artist and photographer Colette Saint Yves. Crary will author and Saint Yves will illustrate. The title of the book, Children Remember, is an allusion to the song of the same name by the band Circus Mort, which was fronted by Michael Gira who later formed Swans, a band featured in Crary's film Kill Your Idols.

On April 16, 2015, Crary previewed selections from a forthcoming conceptual photo book which depicts the former New York City residences of celebrated creative personalities, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, William S. Burroughs, Diane Arbus, Bob Dylan, J.D. Salinger, Mark Rothko, Nico, and others.

Music

Although more significantly known for his subsequent film work, Crary at first came to public attention in the mid to late 1990s as a hip-hop turntabilist, mixtape deejay and occasional producer, using the stage name DJ S.T.R.E.S.S. During this time, he performed as a supporting act on tours for such artists as De La Soul, Jungle Brothers, Smif-n-Wessun, Heltah Skeltah, and Chuck D of Public Enemy. He also released a number of self-produced mixtapes, which are notable for featuring some of the earliest appearances of artists like El-P, Mos Def, and Eminem, as well as original freestyles by The Roots, KRS-One, and Jeru The Damaja. As a member of the Universal Zulu Nation and an affiliate of the Native Tongues, Crary was associated with the consciousness movement in hip-hop.

Influence

In 2006, the Belgian graphic design agency Kidnap Your Designer chose its name as a reference to Crary's film Kill Your Idols.

Footage of Crary's film Kill Your Idols was incorporated into the music video for the song "Window In The Skies" by the band U2.

In the 2011 novel Απόψε θα χιονίσει, θα το δεις, Greek author Daphne Manousou based the character of Edd on Crary.

In 2012, a bar named Kill Your Idol (in homage to Kill Your Idols) opened in Miami's South Beach neighborhood, promoting itself as "a throw back to the emerging No Wave movement of the late 70s." A framed poster of Crary's film hangs over the bar there.

In April 2012, artist Seth Kim-Cohen used Crary's film Kill Your Idols as a basis for his solo exhibition, Tomorrow Is The Question? Is the Question!, at the Audio Visual Arts (AVA) Gallery in New York.

Lydia Lunch credited Crary as the inspiration for her 2012-2013 "Retro/Virus" concert tour.

In 2013, Crary was included in the books Resonances: Noise and Contemporary Music, published by Bloomsbury Publishing, and The Music Documentary: Acid Rock to Electropop, published by Routledge.

Crary was included in the 2014 book Fight Back: Punk, Politics and Resistance, published by Manchester University Press.

In 2016, Crary was included in the book Downtown Manhattan 78-82: De la No Wave aux Dancefloors, published in France by Le Texte Vivant.

In February 2016, Norwegian band Karokh premiered the song "Boogies", inspired by Crary's film Kill Your Idols.

Personal life

Crary lives in the Brooklyn Heights neighborhood of New York City. He married Paola Alejandra Crary on December 2, 2016.

Family

Scott Crary is the great-great-great-great-grandson of 19th century poet and abolitionist Oringe Smith Crary.

He is also cousin to geophysicist and Arctic explorer Albert Paddock Crary.

Awards & Accolades

  • 2004—Winner, Best Feature Documentary at the Tribeca Film Festival for Kill Your Idols
  • 2004—Nominated, Best Foreign Documentary at the São Paulo International Film Festival for Kill Your Idols
  • 2006—Winner, Audience Award at the Camden International Film Festival for Huldufólk 102
  • 2008—Kill Your Idols included on Black Book Magazine's list of 'Iconic and Influential Music Documentaries'
  • 2010—Winner, Van Gogh Award for Best Biography at the International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam for William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
  • 2010—Winner, Gold Kahuna Award at the Honolulu Film Awards for William S. Burroughs: A Man Within
  • 2010—William S. Burroughs: A Man Within named on Sight & Sound's Critics' Poll of the year's best films
  • 2011—Kill Your Idols included on Nylon Magazine's list of 'Top Music Documentaries'
  • 2013—Kill Your Idols included in the The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Archives
  • 2015—Kill Your Idols ranked at #5 on Taste of Cinema's list of 'Essential Punk Movies'
  • 2016—Kill Your Idols ranked at #7 on Mafab Magazine's list of the '50 All-Time Best Music Movies'
  • References

    Scott Crary Wikipedia