by Paul Kane
In 1998, Dave decided to make some films. The Week Before and N[eon] are short films that played the festival circuits worldwide and N[eon] won First Prize at the Clermont-Ferrand Film Festival. These films brought Dave to the attention of Lisa Henson from the Jim Henson Company, and together with Neil Gaiman and Dave’s small crew from the shorts, they embarked on MirrorMask, a feature fantasy film for Columbia/Tristar. Premiered at the Sundance Festival in Utah, and officially selected for the Locarno, Sitges, London, Edinburgh, Sarasota, Hawaii and Dublin film festivals, it won 9 awards (including the Inaugural Black Tulip at the Amsterdam Festival) and was finally released in cinemas in 2005. Three books were released to tie in with the film including The Alchemy of MirrorMask, a lavish art book which includes all the paintings, designs and photographs made for the film. Both the MirrorMask picture book and Wolves in the Walls were short-listed for the Kate Greenaway/Carnegie Medal. In 2006 he also finished two more children’s books: Crazy Hair (Neil Gaiman) and The Homecoming (Ray Bradbury).
Also in 2006 he created extensive designs, films and photographs for the Elton John Broadway musical Lestat for Warner Brothers. The National Theatre of Scotland/Improbable musical theatrical production of Wolves in the Walls opened in Glasgow and London, before transferring to New York. Several books were released in 2008/9: The Graveyard Book (Neil Gaiman) which has won the Newberry Medal, the Carnegie, and many other awards; Skeletons (Ray Bradbury); The Big Fat Duck Cookbook (Heston Blumenthal), Squink, Postcard from Paris and Postcard from Brussels (all drawing books). Also, a set of Mythological Creatures stamps from the Royal Mail.
In 2009, The Savage (by David Almond) was chosen to be the Liverpool Reads book of the year, a wonderful scheme to try to encourage a whole city to read one book. In 2010 Slog’s Dad was released, also published by the wondrous Walker Books. Also in 2010/11 an erotic wordless novel called Celluloid was released by Delcourt, Fantagraphics and other publishers across Europe. In 2011 Richard Dawkins’ The Magic of Reality was released, a book that encourages imaginative, critical, sceptical thinking, and introduces young readers (and anyone really) to the awe-inspiring real world of science.
At Easter 2011, Dave travelled to Port Talbot, Wales to direct the film version of Michael Sheen’s epic three day live theatrical event the Passion of Port Talbot, a contemporary, secular re-imagining of the Passion play. Staged by Wildworks and National Theatre Wales, 20,000 visitors took part in the outdoor scenes, and a core company of nearly 1000 locals contributed to one of the most important artistic events of the decade. The film was called The Gospel of Us, and was released by Soda Pictures in 2012. It won 2 Bafta Cymru Awards for Michael Sheen and sound wizard Ian Sands.
In 2013/14 Dave finished a new collection of short comics called Pictures that Tick 2: Exhibition, featuring several large gallery and interactive narrative works including the Coast Road and Blue Tree (Rye Art Gallery) and The Rut (Pumphouse Gallery, London). Also, a new book, Historic Heston, and restaurant mural and print projects, and a new book with David Almond—Mouse Bird Snake Wolf. He’s also completed two more travel sketchbooks (Perugia and Bilbao) and after seven turbulent years of production, his third feature film, Luna. Luna premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, and won Best British Feature at the Raindance Festival, and the Raindance Award at the British Independence Film Awards.
Dave is currently finishing a book of paintings (Nitrate), more travel sketchbooks (Perugia, Bilbao and Venice) and a new graphic novel (Caligaro). Also, new books with Neil Gaiman and David Almond, and a collection of all Dave’s short film projects is in the works for release in 2015/16. He lives on the Isle of Oxney in Kent, England with his wife and studio manager Clare, and their two children. Visit his official site at www.davemckean.com.
