Kathryn Ramey
Professor, School of Film, Television, and Media Arts
Dr. Kathryn Ramey, a Guggenheim and Creative Capital fellow, has made over a dozen films and installations, contributed numerous articles to anthologies and journals, and written the essential text, Experimental Filmmaking: Break the Machine (Routledge, 2015).
From domestic to global concerns, from the personal to the political, her work is characterized by manipulation of the celluloid, “troubling” the image and agitating the viewer. Believing that art is a gift best when shared, she leads workshops and publishes articles and books on alternative film techniques, working to manifest radical empathy through a love of making and sharing gritty, artisanal, experimental film form.
She has screened at several festivals, including Havana, Toronto, Ann Arbor, TriBeca, Alchemy, Ji.hlava, and 25fps, among others. Other accolades include: The Brother Thomas Fellowship, The Massachusetts Cultural Council on the Arts Grant, Film Studies Center at Harvard University Fellow, CIFF/LEF Points North Fellowship, several LEF New England Moving Image Awards, and residencies at Squeaky Wheel and Yaddo Corporation.
Courses
- Experimental Media Production
- Topics in Media Studies
- Visual Ethnography
- Experimental Animation
- Feminist Media Production
- MFA Thesis Project
- Experimental Analog Film
- Experim Personal Filmmaking
Academic Work
- 2024, “Anti-Colonial Cinema Practices: Dialogical, Experimental, Photochemical Film Praxis in Puerto Rico” In Palgrave Handbook of Experimental Cinema, K. Knowles & J. Walley (Eds.), Palgrave Macmillan, p.275-288
- 2017, “ethno-cine-poet: The films of Robert Gardner,” in Looking with Robert Gardner, C. Warren & R. Meyers (Eds.), SUNY Press
- 2015, Experimental Filmmaking: Break the Machine, Routledge Press
- 2015, “? (the empty sign),” in EthnoScripts 17 (1) 123-137
- 2014, “Do No Harm: The ethnographic animations of Robert Ascher,” in Experimental Film and Anthropology, A. Schneider & C. Pasqualino (Eds.), Bloomsbury Publishing, Oxford England
Creative Work
- Silver & earth, 2027 (anticipated), 45 minutes, DCP, col/sd
- Better Lighting, 2025, 2mins, DCP col/sd
- El Signo Vacío (the empty sign), 2023, 75 minutes, DCP or 35mm print, col/sd, Honorable Mention: Best Experimental Feature (Sevilla Indie Film Festival, Seville, Spain); Agranto Award for Anthropological Excellence (Mostra Internacional de Cinema Etnográfico Museo do Pobo Galego, Galicio, Spain); Richard Werbner Award for Visual Ethnography (RAI Film Festival, Bristol, U.K.)
- Sayor, 2022, 10 minutes, 16mm col/sound
- Limen, 2019, 12 minutes, 16mm bw/sound
- Enola Em Evael/Leave Me Alone, 2017, 7mins, dual 16mm with stereo sound, Invited Installation: Alchemy Film Festival, Hawick, U.K.; Winner: Haverhill Experimental Film Festival, Haverhill, Mass.
- West: What I know about Her, 2012, 20 minutes, 16mm, col/sd, Jury Citation: Black Maria Film Festival; Grand Champion: Haverhill Experimental Film Festival, Haverhill, Mass.; Selected for touring program: Ann Arbor Film Festival, Ann Arbor, MI; Best 16mm Film: 100$ Film Festival, Calgary, Alberta; Jury Prize: Festival of Cinema Experimental and Different, Paris
- Flying A (West #1), 2010, 3 ¾ minutes, 16mm, b&w, silent, Finalist: 2011 Kraft Media Prize, Finalist: 2011 WPA Experimental Media Prize
- Yanqui Walker and the Optical Revolution, 2009, 33 minutes, 16mm col/sd, Best Short Doc: Athens International Film + Video Festival, Athens, OH; Jury’s Choice Selection (First Prize): Black Maria Film Festival
