Okay, Mr. Ray! (2024)
Mule trader, auctioneer, fast-talker: the only thing Ray Lum didn’t do was sit still. Nearly 50 years after his death, he still can’t be pinned down.
Director/Writer Ashley Melzer
Producer William R. Ferris
Editor Bridgette Cyr
Animator Rodgers Dameron
Music Jake Xerxes Fussell
“YOU’RE NEVER BROKE LONG AS YOU KEEP TRADING!”
SYNOPSIS
No one could spin a yarn to make a sale like Ray Lum. Twenty years after their initial meeting, Bill Ferris returned home to Mississippi in the early ‘70s with a camera. The result reveals a look back at the colorful rhythms of Ray’s life—at home, at the auction, joking with strangers outside country stores— and provides a glimpse at Southern manhood, friendship and loss. Now nearly Ray’s age when they first filmed, Ferris has become a Grammy Award winning documentarian and renowned folklorist. Using never before seen 16mm footage and new animations, OKAY, MR. RAY is a short documentary film about how even the tallest tales help us keep the memory alive of the ones we love.