kenya gillespie

Kenya Gillespie is a Japanese American filmmaker and composer based in Austin, TX. His short film Jeremiah received its international premiere at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival (Cinéfondation) where it was nominated for the short film Queer Palm. It won Best Score at the Brooklyn Horror Film Festival and was nominated for the Jury Prize for Best American Short Film at the Champs Élysées Film Festival. His films have played at numerous festivals worldwide including Fantastic Fest, Outfest, Cleveland International Film Festival, and HollyShorts. He was also nominated for the 2019 Kodak Excellence in the Craft of Filmmaking Award. He is a 2021 Sundance Institute Uprise Grant finalist and is a four-time recipient of an Austin Film Society Grant for JEREMIAH, his narrative short MICHELLE, and his most recent narrative short GIVE.

Kenya received an MFA in Film & Media Production from the University of Texas at Austin. He also received an MM in music composition from Rice University and a BA in music from Yale University. He is currently a lecturer at Texas State University and is developing a feature length script.