Ryan McKenna

Canadian filmmaker Ryan McKenna became an international art house favorite thanks to the offbeat humor and strong cultural connection to his native country in his short and feature film efforts, which included "The First Winter" (2012) and "The Heart of Madame Sabali" (2015). Born and raised in the St. Boniface section of Winnipeg, McKenna studied history and film at the University of Winnipeg. He became involved in the Winnipeg Film Group, where he served as assistant editor to Canadian art house director Guy Maddin on his 2007 pseudo-documentary "My Winnipeg" while also working on his own film projects. His short dramatic and documentary films, which began with 2005's "The Open Window," reflected an offbeat sense of humor through deadpan performances and absurd premises. In "The Uniform" (2008), the internal struggle of McKenna's protagonist is reflected in his inability to fit into his work pants, while "Controversies" (2014) used an archival radio broadcast to illustrate silent portraits of everyday people. He also evinced a strong identification with the people and culture of Winnipeg. The city's unforgiving winter and its eclectic citizenry informed McKeen'a first feature, "The First Winter," a wry comedy about a Portuguese DJ who struggles to acclimate to Winnipeg after discovering that he has fathered a child with one of its residents. The film inspired a tongue-in-cheek manifesto, Winnipeg Brutal, which drew from the cinema of Robert Bresson and Scandinavian filmmakers like Aki Kaurismaki for its tenets of minimalist dialogue and performances while also attempting to reflect the unrelenting weather and low-key nature of the city and its occupants. Though he retained his strong connection to Winnipeg, McKenna relocated to Montreal in 2008; he parlayed his outsider status into his second feature, "Le coeur de madame Sabali" (2015). The film - his first French-language effort - starred Canadian cult actress Marie Brassard as a heart transplant recipient who believes that she is taking on the personality traits of her new organ's donor.