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.