Eric McEver
area: Film
Key Facts
nationality
USAarea
Filmresidence
Nichols Hills, OKrecommending institution
monochromtime period
December 2021 - December 2021After spending his childhood in Oklahoma making animated short films, Eric McEver relocated to Tokyo during college to pursue his passion for Japanese fantasy cinema. While working variously as a theater actor, translator, game developer and animation producer, he developed an offbeat cinematic vision fusing the languages and idiosyncrasies of his two homes.
During his first trip to Japan in 2007, Eric was cast in Theatre Project Si’s production of Hamlet, an experimental adaptation of Shakespeare for the Noh stage performed by an international cast of Kyogen actors, Opera singers, and traditional theatre performers. Eric took part in a national tour of Noh stages throughout Japan, including the National Noh Theatre in Tokyo.
Between 2010 and 2012 Eric wrote, produced, and directed The Sansaku, a trilogy of experimental feature films shot in Japan. The Sansaku led to his graduate studies at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where he studied under mentors including Frank Oz and Spike Lee.
In 2017 Eric wrote, produced, and directed the narrative short film Paleonaut, a time travel romance inspired by his lifelong affinity for paleontology. Paleonaut screened at over 50 festivals worldwide and received nearly 20 awards, including the Wasserman Award in Directing (previous recipients include Ang Lee) and the Best Science Fiction Award at the Oscar-qualifying HollyShorts Film Festival. It is currently streaming on DUST, the science fiction label of Gunpowder & Sky Studios.
In 2021 Eric’s narrative feature film debut Iké Boys, a coming-of-age fantasy inspired by his own childhood and love of Japanese genre films, had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest. An international festival run and worldwide commercial release for Iké Boys is planned for 2022.
Eric is currently developing his next narrative feature film as writer and director.
My entire body of work as a professional artist has been informed by the fusion of diverse cultures. The initial spark came during my first trip to Japan when I was cast in an experimental adaptation of Hamlet. I performed in Japanese alongside performers trained in Noh, Kyogen, and Opera; this mixing of cultures and artistic traditions was central to the identity of the show. My desire to blend varied cultures into new forms has informed all of my directorial work, most notably in my short film Paleonaut (shot in Beijing with a cast of Japanese, Chinese, and Indian actors) and my narrative feature film debut Iké Boys, shot in my hometown in Oklahoma but infused with Japanese language, actors, animation, and puppetry.
I intend to further develop this theme of cultural fusion with my next film project Ryn, a fantasy film dramatized through experimental animation techniques. The story draws inspiration from Europe’s Golden Age of Exploration as well Japan’s feudal period, and the animation will build upon the mixed media in Iké Boys, which was largely produced by a French animation team. During my residency in Vienna I intend to research and draw inspiration from the city’s rich history of cultural fusion in art, deepening and illuminating the narrative and visual development of my new project. I hope to meet new collaborators for this and future film endeavors.