Awards & Honors

For MASON MULE

For THE BLACKLIST

  • Winnner, EMA Award for Television Episodic Drama - Environmental Media Association
    (Episode: "General Shiro", Season 6, Episode 7)

For BATKID BEGINS

  • Audience Award - Cinequest Film Festival
  • Audience Award - Omaha Film Festival
  • Audience Award - Ashland Independent Film Festival
  • Audience Award - Dallas Film Festival
  • Audience Award - Rincon International Film Festival
  • Golden Eagle, Best Independent Feature Documentary - CINE

For SHUFFLE

  • Frank Capra Award
  • Director's Spotlight Award – Cleveland International Film Festival
  • New Visions Award – Cinequest Film Festival
  • Best Picture & Best Director – Phoenix Film Festival
  • Audience Award – Sedona International Film Festival
  • Best Picture – Stony Brook Film Festival
  • Best Picture – Garden State Film Festival
  • Closing Night Film – Heartland Film Festival
  • Audience Award – Santa Cruz Film Festival
  • Audience Award – SFF-Rated Athens, Int'l Sci-Fi & Fantasy Festival of Athens, Greece
  • Special Jury Award – Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film

For DEAR ZACHARY

  • One of the 100 Greatest Documentaries of All Time (#74) – PBS POV
  • One of the Top 5 Documentaries of 2008 – National Board of Review
  • Nominee, Best Documentary – Chicago Film Critics Association
  • Nominee, Best Documentary & Breakthrough Filmmaker – Online Film Critics Society
  • Best Documentary – Society of Professional Journalists
  • Nominee, Best Documentary Score – International Film Music Critics
  • Audience Award & Jury Award – Cinequest Film Festival
  • Top 10 Audience Favorite (#3) – Hot Docs Int'l Documentary Film Festival
  • Nominee, WGA Documentary Screenplay Award – Silverdocs AFI/Discovery Channel Documentary Film Festival
  • Audience Award – Sidewalk Moving Picture Festival
  • Audience Award – St. Louis Int'l Film Festival
  • Best Documentary – Orlando Film Festival
  • Best Documetary (#3) – International Filmweekend, Würzburg, Germany
  • Best Documentary (#3) – National Headliner Awards, Outstanding Achievement in Journalism
  • Truly Moving Picture Award – Heartland Truly Moving Pictures
  • CINE Masters Series Award (Best Feature Documentary)
  • One of the Best Films of the Decade (#3) – Film School Rejects

One of the Best Films of 2008:
Ain't It Cool News * MovieFone * TimeOut Chicago * IFC.com * EfilmCritic.com * Cinematical
The Oregonian * MSN Movies * WGN Radio Chicago * ComingSoon.net * Top Ten Reviews
MetroMix * Times Herald-Record * Einsiders * Chattanooga Pulse * FirstShowing.net * JoBlo.com
NewCityFilm * Reel Talk Reviews * InContention.com * Slant Magazine * MovieWeb
Hollywood Chicago.com * Big Picture/Big Sound * News & Observer * Film.com
Tiny Mix Tapes.com * FilmCritic.com * DC Entertainment Examiner * Moving Pictures Magazine

For SLOW

  • Crystal Heart Award – Heartland Film Festival
  • Best Experimental Short Film – San Joaquin International Film Festival

For VALIDATION

  • Best Narrative Short & Audience Award, runner-up – Cleveland Int'l Film Festival
  • Crystal Heart Award, Best Short Film & Audience Award – Heartland Film Festival
  • Audience Award – Hawaii International Film Festival
  • Christopher & Dana Reeve Audience Award – Williamstown Film Festival
  • Best Short Comedy – Breckenridge Festival of Film
  • Best Short Film – Gen Art Film Festival, Chicago
  • Best Short Film -- SoCal Independent Film Festival
  • Best Narrative Short – Great Lakes Film Festival
  • Best Narrative & Most Inspiring Film – Heart of Gold Film Festival, Australia
  • Best Comedy & Audience Award, runner-up – Dam Short Film Festival
  • Best Short Film – Omaha Film Festival
  • Best Short Film – Sedona International Film Festival & Workshop
  • Best Comedy (#2) – Marin County International Short Film & Video Festival
  • Best Short Film – Idyllwild International Film Festival

For RENT-A-PERSON

  • Audience Award – Cinequest Film Festival
  • Best Narrative Short (Academy Qualifying Win) – Atlanta Film Festival
  • Visual Excellence Award – Cleveland Int'l Film Festival
  • Gold Special Jury Award – Houston Worldfest
  • First Place – Pigeon Players Film Festival
  • Audience Award – MethodFest Film Festival
  • Audience Award – Marco Island Film Festival
  • Best Comedy – Breckenridge Festival of Film
  • Best Score – One Reel Film Festival (Bumbershoot, Seattle)
  • Best Comedy & Audience Award – Dam Short Film Festival

For DRIVE-IN MOVIE MEMORIES

  • Opening Night – 2001 Telluride Film Festival
  • Best Editing (Kurt Kuenne) – Rhode Island Int'l Film Festival
  • Gold Award – Worldfest Houston
  • Best Documentary – Breckenridge Festival of Film
  • Texas Award - USA Film Festival
  • Best Documentary – Big Bear Lake Int'l Film Festival
  • Texas Cinema Award - Deep Ellum Film Festival

For SCRAPBOOK

  • 25 New Faces of Indie Film, Filmmaker Magazine (Kurt Kuenne)
  • Audience Award Honorable Mention – Cinequest Film Festival
  • Audience Award – IMAGEFest, San Francisco Bay Area
  • Best Picture – Temecula Valley International  Film Festival

For REMEMBRANCES

  • 1995 Telluride Film Festival – “Filmmakers of Tomorrow: Resumes” section
  • Silver Award - Worldfest Houston
  • CINE Eagle

At USC

  • Harold Lloyd Scholarship in Film Editing – USC School of Cinema-Television for First Impressions, Vanity, Filler and An American in Traffic.

Music Honors

  • San Diego Symphony premiere of Cyrano de Bergerac (1925 – new score by Kurt Kuenne, May 1999)
  • Second Prize, Search for New Musicals for The Looking Glass Wars (2013) - Academy for New Musical Theatre
  • Nominee, Best Documentary Score for Dear Zachary (2008) – Int'l Film Music Critics
  • Best Score for Rent-A-Person (2004) – One Reel Film Festival
  • Best Score for Preston Tylk (2000) – Marco Island Film Festival
Nicholl
GenArt
HeartlandStewart
Slow
SPJ
CINE
Phoenix
CapraAward
Slow-wide