Kurt Kuenne

• Name — Kurt Kuenne • Born — 24 October 1973 • Birthplace — Mountain View, California, U.S. • Education — University of Southern California • Occupation — Filmmaker, composer, writer • Years Active — 1995 to present • Notable Works — Dear Zachary: A Letter to a Son About His Father • Website — kurtkuenne.com

• Illustration — Kurt Kuenne in 2008 Kuenne was born October 24, 1973, in Mountain View, California He grew up in Northern California and began making films at aged seven on Super 8 film and later video. He attended Lynbrook High School and then studied film at University of Southern California's School of Cinema-Television, where he made Remembrances (1995) and was awarded the Harold Lloyd Scholarship in Film Editing. Kuenne then studied film composing, but returned to directing with feature Scrapbook (1999). In 2002 he was awarded an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for a script titled Mason Mule.

Validation (2007), written, directed, and scored by Kuenne, was distributed through Gay Hendricks's Spiritual Cinema Circle and is a short film about a parking attendant (played by T. J. Thyne) who dispenses compliments to his customers. It won Best Short Grand Prize at the 2007 Heartland Film Festival, and The Independent Critic rated it A+. It has received more than 10 million YouTube views.

Kuenne's documentary Dear Zachary (2008), about the murder of his childhood friend Andrew Bagby, was received as a documentary that "will rip you apart inside and pour your guts out through your tear ducts". Kuenne produced, directed, and scored the movie by himself. The only financial help given were donations to expand the YouTube short film into a full length feature.

His latest feature film Shuffle (2011) again stars T. J. Thyne, playing a man who finds his life running out of sequence. It won the Jury Award for Best Feature at the 17th Stony Brook Film Festival.

Kuenne's “Cyrano de Bergerac” score will open the 2025 Pordenone Silent Film Festival. Kurt has revised and updated his 1999 orchestral score for the 1923 silent classic Cyrano de Bergerac for the premiere of the film’s beautiful new 4K restoration at the Pordenone Silent Film Festival in Italy, which will be performed live to picture by the Orchestra da Camera di Pordenone, conducted by Maestro Ben Palmer. “Cyrano de Bergerac” is the festival’s opening event on Saturday, October 4th 2025.