Ryan McKenna

A docu-fiction hybrid, exploring a burgeoning friendship and blending familial with public memory.

An irreverent tribute to French Prairie culture.

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.

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.

Honky Tonk Ben was a yodeling cowboy with a talent for creating extravagant pianos.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.