Ryan McKenna
Directing
Biography
Ryan McKenna is a Canadian film writer & director. His films include The First Winter (2012), Le coeur de madame Sabali (2015), and Cranks (2019). In 2011, McKenna shot his micro budget feature debut The First Winter '12. During the post-production, McKenna and his editor Matthew Rankin co-wrote the Winnipeg Brutalist Manifesto. In 2014, McKenna began experimenting with incorporating archival materials into his work, which resulted in the shorts Four-Mile Creek '14, Controversies '14, and Voices of Kidnapping '17. In 2015, McKenna directed his French language feature debut Le coeur de madame Sabali, which was the winner of the Grand Prix at Montreal's FNC. Le coeur de madame Sabali showcased McKenna's deadpan humour and his ability at creating unique visual worlds. In 2019, McKenna completed his third feature film Cranks, a film that mixed archival elements in a fiction feature.
Known For
After the death of her husband, Ethel retreats inward, doubting her loved ones, trying to make sense of the fabric of her reality. She has also begun wandering at night, each walk a more surreal and abstract adventure.
Promenades nocturnes
Cranks is a city symphony focused on several different characters living in the sleepy isolated town of Winnipeg. Formally, the film emulates the aesthetic of a photo album - each new scene a black & white tableau vivant of a new character and setting. Connecting the various characters is the letters they all wrote - very odd ones - to Peter Warren, the radio host of the infamous Action Line program, which was broadcast throughout Canada from 1971-1998. Cranks explores how journalists like Peter Warren, who pioneered an accusatory and belligerent style of reporting, how this angry way of tackling issues has trickled down into our culture, and has impacted and emboldened real lives.
Cranks
Dan is losing his vision, and Monika just got out of a long relationship. They come together at a rented studio for a brief photo shoot. Dan takes her headshot, and Monika gives him a loaf of bread.
I Used to Live There
Ghostly images of Colombia’s jungle landscapes are set to radio transmissions sent by family members to their kidnapped loved ones—heartrending messages of grief, support, and, against all odds, hope.
Voices of Kidnapping
A docu-fiction hybrid, exploring a burgeoning friendship and blending familial with public memory.
Solitudes
Aurore Cormier was a settler child who died from smallpox at the turn of the 20th century, near what is now known as Thunder Bay. 100 years later, her relatives search for her grave.
Four Mile Creek
In the 1980s, the popular Action Line talk show was a colourful record of Winnipeg caller reactions to hot-button issues of the day. Using archival audio as a formal foundation (with host Peter Warren’s voice removed), McKenna carefully composes monochromatic portraits of Winnipegers as stark silent listeners, while voices from the past illuminate how much and little has changed in Canada’s gateway to the West.
Controversies
The film is centered on the strange, beautiful and emotional story of Jeannette Sabali. When her boyfriend Bruno stops making love with her, Jeannette begins an affair with a young co-worker (Francis LaHaye). Alas, it turns out that her heart problems are physical as well as metaphorical. When Jeannette inherits the heart of a deceased Malian woman, she’s befriended by her donor’s teenaged son (Youssef Camara), who’s convinced that she’s the reincarnation of his late mother. It turns out that he might just be on to something.
Le Cœur de Madame Sabali
An irreverent tribute to French Prairie culture.
Bon voyage
Honky Tonk Ben was a yodeling cowboy with a talent for creating extravagant pianos.