Kevin Kopacka
{{Short description|Austrian filmmaker (born 1987)}}
{{Infobox person
| image = File:Kevin Kopacka on set 2023.png
| caption = Kopacka on set, 2023
| birth_date = {{birth year and age|1987}}
| occupation = Filmmaker, painter
}}
Kevin Kopacka is an Austrian - Sri Lankan filmmaker and painter best known for writing and directing the 2021 horror film Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes.
Early life
Kopacka grew up in Graz, Austria as the son of Austrian journalist and writer Werner Kopacka and Ramani Kopacka from Sri Lanka. Kopacka has lived in Berlin, Germany since 2006, where he completed his studies in Fine Arts at the Berlin University of the Arts as a Master Student in the class of Japanese artist Leiko Ikemura.{{Cite web |title=Wir Magier. Leiko Ikemura und Meisterschüler|url=https://leiko.info/news/x/news/wir-magier-leiko-ikemura-und-meisterschueler/|website=leiko.info}}
In 2012, Kopacka was named one of the “Top 30 Groundbreaking Artists Under 30” by the US trade magazine “Art Business News.”{{Cite web |last=Tedesco |first=Ashley |date=December 11, 2013 |title=Kevin Kopacka's 'The One You Feed'|url=https://artbusinessnews.com/2013/12/kevin-kopackas-the-one-you-feed/|access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=Input |language=en}} He has exhibited his art in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Northern Ireland, France and the USA.{{Cite web |title=Action at a Distance: the life and legacy of John Stewart Bell|url=https://artfacts.net/exhibition/action-at-a-distance:-the-life-and-legacy-of-john-stewart-bell/773206|website=artfacts.net}}{{Cite web |title=Paranormales und Unsichtbares|url=https://steiermark.orf.at/v2/radio/stories/2625747/|website=ORF.at}}
Film career
After graduating from university, Kopacka started working on short films. His first short film HADES (2015), about a woman stuck in an endless dream, in which she has to cross the five rivers of Hades, and its sequel TLMEA (2016), about a drug raid that descends down the nine levels of hell, made a splash at the festival circuit and were already a testament to Kopacka's distinct visual style.{{Cite web |last=Boiselle |first=Matt |date=October 21, 2015 |title=HADES|url=https://www.dreadcentral.com/reviews/134711/hades-short-2015/|access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=Input |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Alexander|first=Chris |date= March 3, 2016 |title=Austrian filmmaker Kevin Kopacka returns with surreal horror prequel TLMEA.|url=https://www.comingsoon.net/horror/news/748750-german-horror-short-hades-gets-prequel-tlmea|access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=Input |language=en}}
Kopacka made his directorial debut in 2021 with the gothic horror film Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes which premiered at FrightFest in 2021.{{Cite web |title=Dawn Breaks Behind the Eyes (2021) – Film Review |url=https://www.bfi.org.uk/lists/frightfest-2021|access-date=2024-09-02 |website=bfi.org.uk}} The film was a success and won several awards.{{Cite web |last=Kay|first=Jeremy |date= February 2, 2022 |title=MPI boards EFM sales on gothic horror, Fright Fest premiere 'Dawn Breaks Behind The Eyes' (exclusive)|url=https://www.screendaily.com/news/mpi-boards-efm-sales-on-gothic-horror-fright-fest-premiere-dawn-breaks-behind-the-eyes-exclusive/5167290.article|access-date=May 2, 2024 |website=Input |language=en}}
In August 2023, Variety announced out of the Locarno Film Festival that Kopacka was developing his next feature film titled All the World Drops Dead - a co-production between Germany and Spain.{{Cite web |last=Hopewell |first=John|date=August 7, 2023 |title=Spain's Vertigo Joins 'All the World Drops Dead,' Kevin Kopacka's Horror Mystery About Global 'Fear of the Future'|url=https://variety.com/2023/film/global/kevin-kopacka-all-the-world-drops-dead-1235689229/ |access-date=May 7, 2024 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}