Charles “Boots” Kennedye is an Oklahoma City-based filmmaker and member of the Kiowa Tribe. Kennedye began his career serving as documentary producer for the Oklahoma Educational Television Authority (2005-2014). He has won many awards for his work including eight Heartland Emmy Awards and five National Educational Television Association Awards including “2008 Best-of-the-Best.” Kennedye has been awarded the CPB/PBS Producers Workshop scholarship (2008) and the CPB INPUT Producer Fellowship (2014). His contributions are seen across many of OETA’s major projects including the 100-part Oklahoma story collective, Centennial Stories (2007); Oklahoma WWII Stories (2008); The People, Oklahoma Tribes (2009); and The State of Sequoyah (2011). In 2012, he partnered independently with Rocky Mountain PBS to film and produce for a national audience, Urban Rez (2012) and again with Red Power Energy (2014).

Kennedyes' commitment to Indigenous Storytelling led him to Vision Maker Media where he served as Creative Services Director and Producer (2014-2018) for Growing Native; a four-hour documentary series that showcases contemporary Native American stories from Oklahoma to Alaska, while celebrating traditional pathways; awarded four Telly Awards in 2018. Other productions include: Words from A Bear (2017) (Director Photography), a VMM co-production with American Masters; Redemption Story (2017), chosen for the PBS Online Film Festival; And We Walked, the Ponca Long Walk (2018), Nebraska Educational Television; Return of the Pawnees (2019, Director); Missouri Water Sales on Fort Berthold (2019) winning Native American Journalist Award, Best Feature News Story Large Market; Roadside History (2020) winning Golden Telly Award; Natsu Pukkuu, Comanche Horseman Camp (2021) winning Native American Journalists Award Best Feature Story Large Market and Silver Telly Award; Blackwall Street: 100 Years Later (2021); The Reign of Terror: Osage Murders (2021) Telly Award and the National Public Media Award (NETA) Best History Documentary.

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PROGRAM AFFILIATION

Spark Fund

COHORT YEAR

2022

WEBSITE

changingmindsproductions.com

INSTAGRAM

@boots_kennedye