This Guy (Background on my ‘film archeology” and first-year writing instruction)

At the Williamstown, Ma screening & discussion

Speaking at the Egyptian Theater at the L.A. premiere of *Sqauirrels to the Nuts* (with Antonia Bogdanovich, Colleen Camp, Louise Stratten & Marilu Henner)

Screening and discussion with Carrie Rickey at Athenaeum of Philadelphia

Presentation of SQUIRRELS TO THE NUTS at the Martin Scorsese Festival of Preservation, 2022.

Speaking with Giulia D’Agnolo Vallan at the Festival of Preservation.

I’m James Kenney

” Few people are able to make a mark on film history as you have.” — Richard Brody, The New Yorker

I looked at “Squirrels” again, and I just can’t thank you enough for finding this small miracle…. I’m proud of it.…Once again, thanks for everything– you’re a prince! — Peter Bogdanovich, director of Squirrels to the Nuts, The Last Picture Show and Paper Moon

You saw it first at the Museum of Modern art, thanks to James Kenney, the scholar who discovered it. — Dave Kehr, Film critic and film curator for the Museum of Modern Art

Hello Professor Kenney! I am sorry that I can’t be there tomorrow to thank you in person, thank you again very much for the exception as it helped me out very much. That being said, I just wanted to reach out and say how thankful I am for having you this semester. Although I tend to try to learn in school, most classes go in one ear and out the next no matter how hard (or not) I am trying to focus. In your class this semester I truly was interested and felt engaged every time I came in. The way you taught these new techniques (D.R.A.P.E.S., TEST, etc.) genuinely has stuck with me and I feel as if I have grown tremendously as a writer over the last several months. I just wanted to thank you for teaching me and the class in engaging ways that made me really want to be a better writer. I know anyone that takes your class will be extremely lucky in the future and anyone who has previously I presume would say the same. I can’t wait to use these techniques in writing in the future, and again, thank you so much. — St. John’s student email

“This was one of the most impressive classes I have ever observed due to the masterful teaching techniques of the instructor. There was a wonderful energy in the class, and the students enthusiastically engaged in various exercises that would enable them to write clear and interesting essays. James Kenney is a wonderful teacher who provided the class with all the essential tools they need to achieve their goals, not only in college, but in the larger world.” — Dr. Carmel Jordan, Baruch College teaching observation, Fall 2025

Professor Kenney is a dynamic and engaging professor. He is, first of all, fully prepared. It was clear that he has spent a lot of time planning out the lesson; and he used all available resources—the chalkboard, video clips, and handouts explaining aspects of the class session: a varied and engaging mixture of pedagogical strategies. And he encouraged participation from his students. May I note that not a single student was lost in their cellphone? They had set aside their devices and were entirely focused on the class session. Professor Kenney held their attention, facilitated discussion, [and] got everyone in the room involved. I thought the class was wholly successful, and I told Professor Kenney that I was impressed with his planning and conducting of the course session — Associate Professor John Weir, Queens College teaching observation, Fall 2025.

I write and I teach first-year writing (for the City University of New York and St. John’s University) and I raise some kids with my wife. I saved the only copy of Peter Bogdanovich’s final film, SQUIRRELS TO THE NUTS and returned it to him seven years after he shot it. The film premiered at the New York Museum of Modern Art in March 2022, and I have been presenting it around the world, with screenings across the U.S., and in London and Melbourne in 2023. Most recently there have been screenings in Philadelphia (with Carrie Rickey) and New Orleans, and the film had its official premiere at the L.A. Cinemateque and at the Tribeca Screening Room in New York in early 2025. It is now avaiIable for rental and purchase from the usual suspects.

I have been contracted to write a book on Bogdanovich, due Spring 2026.

I am currently working in getting Gee Malik Linton’s director’s cut of DAUGHTER OF GOD, starring Keanu Reeves and Ana De Armas, exhibited, with its U.S. theatrical premiere in April 2023 at the Wisconsin Film Festival.

The restored Daughter of God at the Wisconsin Film Festival.

Gee Malik Linton talking to my freshman English class live via Zoom.

Trivia: I wrote a piece on Michael Pare that he personally thanked me for, and then he blocked me on Twitter because he was a Trump supporter. I still like Mike!

My work and research has been featured in the New York Times, the New Yorker, the Los Angeles Times and Sight and Sound magazine.

PUBLICATIONS:

I worked with Brian De Palma to edit and write the introduction to his unpublished screenplay, Ambrose Chapel, and edited and wrote introductions to Larry Cohen’s memoir I Killed Bettie Davis and his unproduced screenplay Headhunter.

Upcoming projects include editing and writing the introduction for Jim McBride’s Lost Screenplays of the 70s, Alex Cox and Rudy Wurlitzer’s collection of unproduced screenplays Zero Tolerance and Body Parts, and additional projects with Lizzie Borden (Working Girls and Born in Flames) and Steven De Souza (screenwriter of Die Hard)