KENNY KILFARA
Educator - Filmmaker - Actor - Artist
STUDENT WORK
Boxed In
LOGLINE: Four friends discover a plain, white box but can't seem to escape what they find inside.
Filmed as a part of Film Lab, a term-long extracurricular that provides an opportunity to delve deeply into filmmaking. Movies are conceptualized, written, cast, shot and edited over the course of the term.
WATCH
STUDENT WORK
Talk to Her
LOGLINE: A brother, mourning the loss of his sister, finds that talking to her can make a world of difference.
Filmed as a part of Film Lab, a term-long extracurricular that provides an opportunity to delve deeply into filmmaking. Movies are conceptualized, written, cast, shot and edited over the course of the term.
WATCH
STUDENT WORK
Cobalt
LOGLINE: Sometime heroes don't have to be super to make big impact on his community. Cobalt is the story of a boy's journey from bystander to activist.
–Dir. Julian Alvarez
This film was produced as a Senior Project, a six-month long capstone project conceived and implemented by students with hands-on mentor support. I served as initial project mentor to Julian before moving to another school. He took several of my film classes before this project.
WATCH
Vimeo link
STUDENT WORK
Nascence
LOGLINE: This experimental film explores the tensions related to the modernization of the nuclear family.
–Dir. Devon Leaver
• 1st place in the East End Student Film Project Film Festival
• Help Devon secure her a place as a finalist in the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts Young Arts competition in Miami.
This film was produced for a part interdisciplinary cultural history class.
WATCH
STUDENT WORK
Was Ist Passiert?
LOGLINE: As a young man heads to his next class, several obstacles and his vivid imagination stand in his way.
This short was produced as a part of Advanced Film Production.
WATCH
STUDENT WORK Location Portrait As one of the initial assignments for Intro to Film Production, students are tasked with visually exploring a space in any manner they wish. WATCH
STUDENT WORK
BYTE
LOGLINE: Inspired by Milton's Paradise Lost, two people are tempted my a mysterious figure with a choice and the aftermath of that
Filmed as a part of Film Lab, a term-long extracurricular that provides an opportunity to delve deeply into filmmaking. Movies are conceptualized, written, cast, shot and edited over the course of the term.
WATCH
STUDENT WORK
Where Are You Going, Where Have You Been?
LOGLINE: This short film brings to life Joyce Carol Oates' celebrated short story of a young woman whose burgeoning sexuality is corrupted by a manipulative, terrorizing stranger.
–Dir. Alexa Barrett
• Official selection of The Hamptons International Film Festival
This film was produced as a Senior Project, a six-month long capstone project conceived and implemented by students with hands-on mentor support.
WATCH
Westhampton Patch article
STUDENT WORK
Saving Caroline
LOGLINE: A 17-year-old boy purchases a journal at a yard sale, only to discover that it has already been written in by a girl with a fantastic imagination. The more he reads, the more he is drawn into her fantasy world, until the lines between fantasy and reality begin to blur.
–Dir. Devon Leaver
• 1st place East End Student Film Project Film Festival.
• Official selection of The Hamptons International Film Festival
This film was produced as a Senior Project, a six-month long capstone project conceived and implemented by students with hands-on mentor support.
WATCH
Director discusses the film
STUDENT WORK
Trapped
LOGLINE: A student grows increasingly desperate after finding herself stuck in a barren classroom.
This short was produced as a part of Advanced Film Production.
WATCH
STUDENT WORK
The Map
LOGLINE: After finding a map stuffed in his mailbox, a student embarks on a scavenger hunt.
This short was produced as a part of Introduction to Film Production.
WATCH
STUDENT WORK
St. Paul's School Ballet Company Promo
LOGLINE: A short promotional piece about a unique high school Ballet Company.
This short was produced as a part of Advanced Film Production.
WATCH
Program page
CREATIVE WORK Canada Lee, Native Son Canada Lee was one of the greatest actors of the 20th Century. Lee leveraged his fame to fight for civil rights. His uncompromising stance prompted the U.S. Government to label him a communist, destroying his reputation and career. In 1952, Lee died at the age of 45. This is the first film to explore his life and legacy. WATCH Canada Lee Fiscal Sponsor page
CREATIVE WORK GO WEST While teaching at the Ross School, I had the pleasure of teaching co-leading a group of 6 faculty and 30 students across parts of Arizona, New Mexico and California. We sought to explore pastoral America and the current state to the American dream. WATCH
CREATIVE WORK Off the Grid As a part of my work at Ross, I had co-lead a group of 6 faculty and 33 students across parts of Ethiopia. We traversed vast expanses, leaving comfort and familiarity behind. We found ourselves face to face with an incredibly rich and ancient culture. WATCH
CREATIVE WORK
The End Runner
LOGLINE: When a drifter tries to capitalize on a chance encounter, he finds himself on the run.
–Dir. Kevin Roy
WATCH
Kevin Roy - homepage
CREATIVE WORKTHE RIGHT COPY This montage film explores reoccurring sociocultural and political themes in American history by condensing seven decades into just under five minutes. WATCH Interview in The Red & Black
CREATIVE WORK
GEE WHIZZZ
LOGLINE: One man + coffee... lots and lots of coffee and his an epic search for relief.
–Dir. Kenny Kilfara & Gordon Gair
WATCH
CREATIVE WORKSNOWSTORM A timelapse filmed over two days of the chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul, Concord, NH. WATCH
CREATIVE WORK
BEFORE CROSSING
LOGLINE: A young man and woman partake in a metaphoric reflection of their relationship.
Shot on 16mm, this film was made while studying under the tutelage of Jim Herbert
WATCH
INDUSTRIAL WORK World Monuments Fund – Lalibela Preservation Project In March 2013, a group of high school students and faculty from the Ross School in East Hampton, New York, traveled to Ethiopia. This midwinter term course provided an intensive experience in documentary photography and filmmaking in a distant land and culture. The group visited the site of Lalibela with WMF local representative Mamo Getahun, and produced this video about WMF's efforts to preserve Biet Gabriel Rafael, one of the eleven rock-hewn churches of Lalibela, carved some 800 years ago. WATCH WMF.com
INDUSTRIAL WORK St. Paul's Chapel Chapel is a part of daily life at St. Paul's School, yet there are many misconceptions about it. This short piece clarifies what chapel is and what role it plays in the community. WATCH Program page
INDUSTRIAL WORK St. Paul's School Theatre Program A promotional piece used on the school's website outlining values and priorities of the Theatre Program. WATCH Program page
INDUSTRIAL WORK Chapel Memories A short piece comprised of interviews with St. Paul's School alumni about their chapel experiences produced for the development office. WATCH
INDUSTRIAL WORK The Fiske Cup St. Paul' School has held this annual theatrical competition between the dorm houses since 1936. Students produce a short play to be performed in their dorm common rooms and compete for glory against other dorms on campus. WATCH
INDUSTRIAL WORK Lalibela: The Science Behind the Churches YouTube channel Amor Sciendi uses interesting works of art as a teaching tool. This webisode discusses the rock hewn churches of Lalibela, Ethiopia, their deterioration and the challenge of preserving them. WATCH Amor Sciendi YouTube page
INDUSTRIAL WORK The Harvesters and Early Modern Economics YouTube channel Amor Sciendi uses interesting works of art as a teaching tool. This webisode discuss Bruegel's great painting The Harvesters and the development of the advanced early modern Dutch economy. WATCH Amor Sciendi Youtube page
INDUSTRIAL WORK The Golden Matrix This pedagogical project explores and documents the preservation and transfer of knowledge, goods and culture from ancient Greece and Rome to Byzantium, through the translation schools of the Middle Ages in Baghdad, Cordoba, Paris and Sicily and culminating in the Florentine Renaissance. A select group of students and faculty traveled to and studied at locations particularly crucial to this transference. I had the pleasure of participating in the leg of the project that visited Egypt. Blog
INDUSTRIAL WORK Ross On the Road: Kenya This 16-day intensive travel course focused on documentary photography and filmmaking. Students and faculty traveled from Nairobi to Mombasa collaborating with local groups, including: The Boy's Town Orphanage outside of Nairobi, children of a local Maasai tribe on the Massai Mara and the Yatta South Women's Group in the Machakos Region. From their collaborations, students produced a series of multimedia projects. Blog
INDUSTRIAL WORK Ross On the Road: Morocco From Casablanca, Fez and Marrakesh to the High Atlas Mountains and the Sahara, 26 students and 4 teachers explored and documented the rich cultural diversity of Morocco on this 15-day media intensive travel course. Throughout the trip, students worked with underprivileged children in a variety of locations including a circus school in Sále run by the AMESIP Foundation. Students created workshops in web, photo and video for the children and co-create a web-based product for sharing their stories as well as documented their experiences through photography, video and journaling. Blog Documentary on the circus school in Sále
Run time: 5m 30sec
