BIO/FILMOGRAPHY

Enter the name for this tabbed section: BIO
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Deco Dawson is an international award winning filmmaker from Winnipeg, Canada. His 15 innovative short films remain at times unclassifiable, continually blurring the lines between dramatic, documentary, animation and experimental film, often creating fantastical worlds with miniatures, archival footage, meticulous set design, in-camera effects and grainy, textured filmstock.   

Dawson is a two-time winner of the Best Short Film Award from the Toronto International Film Festival for his films KEEP A MODEST HEAD in 2012 and FILM(dzama) in 2001, which also won the Best Technical Innovation award at the 2002 Ann Arbor Film Festival. KEEP A MODEST HEAD also won the 2013 Best Short Doc Award from the Seattle International Film Festival. In addition to screening at major festivals worldwide, Dawson has been host to solo retrospectives of his work in France, Spain, USA and Canada.

In 2013 Deco Dawson was awarded the City of Winnipeg Mayor's Award for outstanding accomplishment in the arts and the 2013 Manitoba Hothouse Award given to a filmmaker of outstanding repute.

Dawson has also created a number of music videos, working closely with indie-rock darlings METRIC in particular, and has created a number of art installations internationally. Dawson also works regularly as a video projection designer for the theatre.

From 2000-2003 Dawson collaborated with cult-filmmaker as editor and cinematographer on a number of films including 2000’s BEST EXPERIMENTAL FILM OF THE YEAR AWARD from the Critics of Lincoln Centre for The Heart of the World, and the EMMY AWARD winning film Dracula: page’s from a virgin’s diary which Dawson also served as associate co-director.

Tackling everything from a 9-minute drum solo, to the haunting death of The Black Dahlia, to the forgotten ruins of the Goldrush to a portrait of the last French Surrealist, Dawson’s artistic scope and ambitions are seemingly limitless.

Deco Dawson is currently in development and in various stages of production on a number of new feature-length projects and other commissioned work.

Enter the name for this tabbed section: FILMOGRAPHY

       MAJOR FILM WORK

Keep a Modest Head 2012
                 19min   35mm

Sins of the Father    2011
                 4min   S16mm/HDCAM

Sluice Box and a Rocker    2009
                 8min   16mm/HDCAM
 
The Last Moment     2007
                 29min   Super16/DBeta
  
Elizabeth Short       2006
               7min    16mm
 
 DUMB ANGEL           2005
               9min  16mm/DBeta
  
Defile in Veil           2003
               9min   16mm
  
The Fever of the Western Nile
             7min    16mm   2003
 
 FILM(dzama)             2001
             23min   16mm
  
Lode                      2000
             13min   16mm
  
Knout                     1999
             10min   16mm
  
Luster                     1998
             7min   16mm
  
Emend                     1998
               5min  16mm
 


OTHER FILM WORK
 
2010
HYDRO: Tergus/Viscus HD/Thermal Imaging

2009
Wondershows (BW): 16mm Anamorphic


2009
Ghosts in the Air - Dawson City
 
2006
The Labyrinth Lair of the Lantern Lord (with Art City)
 
 
2006
DUMB ANGEL Live in Montreal
 
 
2004
Id/Ego/Video (The Peter Vesuwalla Video)
 
 
2003
CP5 (with Tempsion)
 
 
2003
Behind the Scenes: The Fever of the Western Nile
 
 
2003
Behind the Scenes: FILM(dzama)
 
 
2001
The Arm Wrestling Bear Movie (with the Royal Art Lodge)
 
 
2001
Monster Care (with the Royal Art Lodge)
 
 
2001
The Night of the Incandescent Flashlight (with the Royal Art Lodge)
 
 
1998
Timepiece (lost 16mm film)
 
 
1998
A Nearsighted Young Girl Looking for Love on a Farsighted Day
(lost S8 film)
 
 
1998
Hitler and the Cat
(lost 16mm university found footage film)