3 Goats and a Gruff (2020 Preservation Print)

"3 Goats and a Gruff" is presumed to be Elam's first finished film, made while she lived in Yellow Springs, OH in the early '70s. In this fable, a "gruff" living in the woods threatens to shoot three "goats" passing, one by one, through a covered bridge. The first, a hippie flower woman, implores the gruff to let her pass and instead look for a smoking hippie man to come next. The man in turn encourages the gruff to look for the next traveler, whom he mimes to be a gruesome beast. Finally, this next man comes on a motorcycle and after a stand-off with the gruff, rides through to the path ahead. The gruff lies defeated in his wake. The exact date of production remains unknown.