Brad McGann Was Acclaimed Director

NZ filmmaker Brad McGann has died aged 43 (cancer). His adaptation of the Maurice Gee novel In My Father’s Den won ten awards at the 2006 NZ Screen Awards, and the International Critics Award at the Toronto Film Festival. In an interview with Senses of Cinema, McGann said the film “was about secrets, complicated and fractious familial relationships, the effects of physical and emotional isolation, and the tragic loss of potential in the death of a young person. It was also about people trying to reconcile themselves with the past, and how the past is very much a part of the present … I had no interest in exploring the sexual connotations of “intimacy”, but more an intimacy that occurs when two people begin to bare their souls to each other … in this film there is a subtle exploration between “shadow” and “light”ñ the joyous moments and the sadness that underlies the human condition.” McGann cited his influences as Dennis Potter (for the musical quality of his narratives), Krystof Kieslowski (for his visual poetry), Ken Loach (for his unrelenting realism), Atom Egoyan (especially The Sweet Hereafter), Ang Lee (especially The Ice Storm), early Roman Polanski such as Cul-de-sac and Knife in the Water (for their atmosphere and economical storytelling).

Brad McGann: 22 February 1964 – 2 May 2007