BIO/FILMOGRAPHY
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 has also won the 2013 Best Short Doc Award from the Seattle International Film Festival and the Best Short Doc at the 2013 Nevada City 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.
Presently Dawson is in Post-Production on a feature documentary film entitled “Double Façade and the Unloved City” which contrasts the sustainable architecture movement with the ever stagnant city of Winnipeg and its inability to embrace change and urban planning for fifty plus years.
Dawson has also created a number of music videos, working closely with indie-rock darlings METRIC in particular, and has created multiple art installations internationally. Dawson also works regularly as a video projection designer for the theatre, winning acclaim for his work in the Toronto Star, the NY Times and the Huffington Post.
From 2000-2003 Dawson collaborated with cult-filmmaker Guy Maddin 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 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.
MAJOR FILM WORK
The Measure of a Place 2014
HD
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)
THE FILMS OF DECO DAWSON