Deco Dawson

Deco Dawson is the professional name of Darryl Kinaschuk,[1] a Canadian experimental filmmaker.[2] His vast body of short film work has toured the world, including the Rotterdam International Film Festival, Clermont-Ferrand International Short Film Festival, Tampere Film Festival, Curtas Vila do Conde Film Festival, International Short Film Festival Oberhausen and numerous others across North America, including 8 world premieres at the Toronto International Film Festival. Dawson is a two-time winner of the Toronto International Film Festival Award for Best Canadian Short Film, winning at the 2001 Toronto International Film Festival for film(dzama)[3] and at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival for Keep a Modest Head,[4] and was a shortlisted Canadian Screen Award nominee for Best Short Documentary for the latter film at the 1st Canadian Screen Awards in 2013.[5]

In his early career, he was also a regular collaborator with Guy Maddin, with whom he was credited as editor on The Heart of the World and Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary[6] serving as associate-co-director on the latter. In addition, Dawson acted as the co-cinematographer on Maddin's The Heart of the World, Dracula: Pages from a Virgin's Diary and Fancy, Fancy Being Rich[7] and both the editor and co-cinematographer on the Sparklehorse[8] music video for "It's a Wonderful Life".

Dawson first started working in the theatre at the age of 17 where a few years later Guy Maddin attended one of his plays entitled "A Silent Act"[9], a 65-minute silent, physical comedy play created in the style of the Marx Brothers, Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin. In addition to his own film projects, Dawson continues to work semi-regularly in the theatre as a video projection designer.[10]