SALLAD (2022)
1 Channel, 14 min 07 sec
Written, directed, and edited by Tramaine Townsend
Properly pronounced like the dish, salad.
This is an inclusion of ingredients that create a formidable recipe of excellence. We have been fortunate during these times to collaborate and communicate our expressions through a multitude of mediums and platforms. The apex is continually being pushed with each new endeavor or passion. We watch the world and each other constantly. Praising the accomplishments. Embracing our individualities.
This film celebrates those who are a part of this continually growing medley. From the ubiquitous obscurities to sheer and undeniable glamour. This film represents ourselves and those watching simultaneously. In a well-deserved and earned nourishment.
HEARD. (2018-2023)
2 Channel, 6 min 17 sec
Directed and edited by Tramaine Townsend
My journey to documenting black cowboys started with research for the first screenplay I wrote that revolves around one. I wanted it to be authentic and at the time my knowledge of the culture was very limited. I knew they existed being born and raised in Houston. You would see them out a lot for trail rides during the rodeo but as a child, I never paid full attention. Diving further into the culture I was able to learn the different sides of it and discovered it was part of my life more than I liked to realize. I wanted to explore the history that America seemed to want everyone to forget.
Documenting those I could meet by traveling to their stomping grounds, from the competitive to the urban. I was able to see, learn, capture, and discuss the differences between what this culture is with those who live it every day. It’s one with a rich history built with people who have always seen themselves as ranchers. Cowboys and cowgirls have been this way for generations and will continue for generations to come. These images and videos I’ve captured over the years are a small piece of that. With this body of work, I wanted to share with others what I have seen through my lens with the hope of them seeing the beauty I see in it too. Garnering a deeper love and appreciation of Texas that I didn’t realize I had. Becoming more knowledgeable and aware of who they are, rather than sensationalizing it for cultural movement. During this journey, I was taking into consideration that I was capturing not only black history but their legacy as well.
Suspense (2018)
2 Channel, 2 min 48 sec
Directed, edited, and animated by Tramaine Townsend
Take away all of our extensions of self and what do you have? Some say identity, while others may convey a sense of purpose. We are left to assumptions and more than likely judgment because we cannot readily or actively figure each other out correctly. We are attributed to our digital selves more than what we people see in person. We can no longer just be beings that exist. Surviving the best way we know how.
Suspense is a series of video vignettes of beings similar to us. Human in form, but something different. They have emotions that we can see visually but do not know genuinely what goes through their minds. It would be up to the viewers to decide for themselves. Shadowy and non-descript in form, their glowing eyes are a window inside their psyche. Reflective and reminiscent of ourselves.
Abyss (2016)
1 Channel, 4 min 10 sec
Directed and edited by Tramaine Townsend
Death is a topic that tends to be avoided. Perhaps the chilling fear of not knowing what comes next is the reason we avoid it? But what happens when we exchange that fear for curiosity? Maybe the end becomes a mindful reflection of life and a welcoming of indescribable euphoria after death. Still, we find ways to redefine our mortality, shifting us closer to immortality — if not by a physiological attempt to stay forever young, then through the work we leave behind, the stories we tell, the footprints we scatter for someone else to discover.
Filmed completely underwater in North Richland Hills, Texas, the film focuses on one individual’s movement through what is the beginning and end simultaneously. Utilizing dark tones and even darker sound design, the film instigates an internal dialogue for the viewer to discover and relish in their greatest aversions and unsung pleasures, before it’s too late.