Kevin G. Kennedy, PhD
Professor Emeritus of German Language, Literature and Culture
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Appalachian State University
Boone, NC 28608
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RESUMÉ
KDOCFILMS
Kdocfilms grew out of the need to combine my Caribbean roots in Jamaica with my profession as a Germanist.
However, kdocfilms’ primary focus and intention is esoteric in its reach, as it attempts to document lesser known aspects of German Diaspora.
“Von Essen zum Brot. Eine Geschichte deutscher Immigranten in Jamaika” (2005) showcases the life of a former IBM top manager in Germany, who decides to immigrate to Jamaica to become a baker.
“Peter Paul Zahl. German Exile Writer in Jamaica” (2007) depicts the life and work of a former German terrorist, who, after leaving jail, decides to make his home in Long Bay, Jamaica.
“German Enemy Aliens in the Land of the Sky” (2012) traces the year-long ordeal of German non-combatant prisoners-of-war in North Carolina’s only World War I enemy-alien prison.
"Germans in Jamaica. War, Spies and Camps" (2016) documents the German prisoner of war camps in Kingston, Jamaica from 1939- 1946.
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"Baron Maximilian von Ketelhodt"(2018) documents Ketelhodt's rise to power and his ill-fated death at the hands of freed slaves in the 1865 uprising in Morant Bay, Jamaica.
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Screenings
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"Baron Maximilian von Ketelhodt". Documentary (https://youtu.be/Gi2qDphdnd0)
- German-Jamaican Society, Bonn, Germany, October 22, 2018
- Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures Annual Symposium. Greenbriar Theater Appalachian State University. March26, 2019
- Charleston International Film Festival, Florence, South Carolina, January 2021
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“Germans in Jamaica: Of War, Spies and Camps”. Documentary. (https://youtu.be/KLqpaQ9ufVo)
- Work-in progress screening in Königswinter, Germany, October 2015
- Jamaica Film Festival in Frankfurt, Germany, November 11, 2016
- Greenbriar Theater Appalachian State University. February 23, 2017
- International Film Festival at UNCC. Charlotte, NC, March 31, 2017.
- Jamaica Military Museum (sponsored by the Museum of the University of the West Indies, Mona Campus, the Jamaica National Heritage Foundation, the Jamaican-German Society, and the German Embassy in Jamaica). Kingston, Jamaica, May 18, 2017
- Semi-Finalist. Houston Caribbean Film Festival, June 2017;
- Award of Merit. Impact DOCS Filmfest, La Jolla, CA, January 31, 2018
- Award of Excellence. Palm Bay Caribe Film Festival, Palm Bay, Florida, May 31, 2018
- South Film and Arts Academy Festival, Best Screenplay In A Documentary Feature Film. Rancagua, O'Higgins, Chile, November 27, 2019
- Gold Award for best International Documentary Feature. Carolina International Film Awards, Florence, South Carolina, November 17, 2020
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“German Enemy Aliens in the Land of the Sky”. Documentary. (https://youtu.be/R9gR5cdGXmk)
- 36th Annual Symposium of the Society for German-American Studies, University of Kansas and Max Kader Institute, Lawrence, Kansas, April 2012
- North Carolina German Studies Seminar and Workshop Series in conjunction with the Center for the History of the American South at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Chapel Hill, March 2013
- Perspectives of the “Great” War/Rückblick auf den Ersten Weltkrieg, Queen Mary, University of London. August 2014
- Internment During WWI: A Mass Global Phenomenon, DeMontfort University in conjunction with the Imperial War Museum North. Manchester, England, May 2015
- Hot Springs' Centennial Commemoration of the Great War and Hot Springs 1917. Remembering the German Internment. Hot Springs, NC, September 2017
- Hickory Book Club, Hickory NC, February 18, 2019
- Exhibition: A Fountain of Youth in the Southern Highlands: A History of Hot Springs, North Carolina at the Rural Heritage Museum at Mars Hill University, Mars Hill, NC, February 3, 2019 - August 31, 2019
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"Peter Paul Zahl. German Exile Writer in Jamaica". Documentary.
- Tagung der Deutsch-Jamaikanischen Gesellschaft, Königswinter, Germany, October 2007
- International Humanities Conference, Istanbul, Turkey 2008
- North Carolina German Studies Seminar and Workshop Series. UNC-Chapel Hill 2008
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"Von Essen zum Brot. Eine Geschichte deutscher Immigranten in Jamaika". Documentary.
- Tagung der Deutsch-Jamaikanischen Gesellschaft, Königswinter, Germany (2005); Appstate’s Campus Channel 92, October 24, 25, 27
- Town of Boone Community Channel 21, October 25, 2005
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