Sunday, November 4, 2012

south sudan

recently returned from South Sudan.  working on a few projects related to this, including a personal essay-video called "10 Minutes is 2 House," related to the experience of shooting in this newly developing country for 3 weeks.

Here's a frame grab from a vid:

photo by Patrick Kennelly / Franklin Graham revival in Juba, South Sudan, October 26, 2012

And here's some copy from the initial press release that went out in the beginning of October:

Dennis Garcia of Trek for Peace has partnered with Sudan Sunrise and Highways Performance Space to bring attention to the crisis in South Sudan. He will be accompanied by a film crew led by award-winning multi-disciplinary artist Patrick Kennelly and Sudanese-American peace activist Rudwan Dawod to document the reconciliation project in Torit, the Manute Bol school project in Turalei,  and the Yida and Abyei refugee camps located in South Sudan.

Garcia first learned about Rudwan's reconciliation project through Ambassador Sharon Wilkinson and media coverage. Garcia met with Rudwan in Washington DC after his incarceration. Rudwan told Garcia about his unjust 45-day detention, arrest, and torture by Sudanese authorities in Khartoum. Rudwan, a Darfurian Muslim, believes the Sudanese government targeted him because of his humanitarian and reconciliation efforts with Sudan Sunrise to heal tensions between Christians and Muslims, and citizens of Sudan and South Sudan.  Rudwan also told Garcia about his first encounter with Manute Bol while volunteering at the Manute Bol School in Turalei, South Sudan. Rudwan was instantly inspired by Manute's commitment for reconciliation and subsequently dedicated his life to promoting reconciliation between Muslims and Christians, and Sudan and South Sudan. Rudwan detailed the special relationship he had with Manute, until his untimely passing in 2010.

"I was intrigued with the legacy entrusted to Sudan Sunrise by the late Manute Bol to continue his vision of building schools for children of all tribal, religious, and ethnic backgrounds in South Sudan and to foster peace and reconciliation in his country," said Garcia, adding, "You have to expect yourself to do what needs to be done."  Rudwan will now join Garcia with Trek for Peace to raise awareness and additional investment for both projects.

Garcia joins a growing list of Sudan Sunrise supporters including Board Chairman, John Zogby and advisory board member Ambassador Sharon Wilkinson. Sudan Sunrise supports projects that facilitate reconciliation efforts aimed at providing education, health care, and community development in South Sudan and Sudan.
Highways Performance Space, a non-profit arts organization in its 24th year of presenting, partners with Garcia on the filming. Highways Performance Space's mission is to promote interaction among people of diverse cultural backgrounds and to engage artists and the communities they serve in cross-cultural dialogues about social, cultural and artistic issues.

Patrick Kennelly shooting @ Franklin Graham revival in Juba, South Sudan

Wednesday, September 19, 2012

PATTY Commercials / PSAs SERIES 2

The second series of spots created for the world of PATTY.  These were included as part of the live performance of PATTY: The Revival and are also part of the interactive website @ www.pattytherevival.com.

Couldn't have done this series without director of photography Trevor Baker, Sigrid Gilmer, who scripted the "Gingham/Salamander" piece, composer and sound editor  Jonathan Snipes, composer Wes Medina (who did the 2nd half of the "Gingham/Salamander" piece), and the production support of Mean Panda (aka Ed Cha).


Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Sunday, September 9, 2012

PATTY trading cards (2)

Sneak peek #2 of the official PATTY trading cards!

photography: Trevor Baker / art direction: Patrick Kennelly / fashion design: Pilar Macchione / hair&makeup: Jill Fogel




Thursday, September 6, 2012

#TeamPatty

To all of the anti-patty terrorists - thank you for the publicity.  (Twittur'd)

Follow PATTY on Twitter @pattytherevival

PATTY SUPER EGO (modeled by Elizabeth Hayhurst)
photography: Trevor Baker / wardrobe: Pilar Macchione / hair&makeup: Jill Fogel / art direction: Patrick Kennelly




PATTY ID (modeled by Elaine Oakley Hammel)
photography: Trevor Baker / wardrobe: Pilar Macchione / hair&makeup: Jill Fogel / art direction: Patrick Kennelly
PATTY EGO (modeled by Blythe Evans)
photography: Trevor Baker / wardrobe: Pilar Macchione / hair&makeup: Jill Fogel / art direction: Patrick Kennelly

Saturday, September 1, 2012

PATTY schwag

PATTY - "The System" poster (by Marie Fromont)
PATTY t-shirts (logo designed by Kake Geck)
PATTY: The Revival album on custom-USB drive (designed by Patrick Kennelly)
PATTY glowsticks (designed by Patrick Kennelly)

Thursday, August 16, 2012

"PATTY: The Revival" - Promo Reel

"5 minute promo reel for "PATTY: The Revival." This was compiled from a 1 hour, 45 minute edit of the full show (available upon special request) done with the editing assist of Cristina Bercovitz and a sound mix by Jonathan Snipes.


"PATTY: The Revival"

Created & Directed by Patrick Kennelly
Music by Jonathan Snipes with others
Book by Sigrid Gilmer & Patrick Kennelly
Produced by Highways Performance Space, Artistic Director, Leo Garcia & Patrick Kennelly

Video edited from performances May 18-20 & May 23-26, 2012 @ Highways Performance Space in Santa Monica, CA. Live audio mix from May 26, 2012 performance.

Video documentation supervised by Trevor Baker, shot by Baker, Katherine Street, Ané Vecchione, Simon Hammel and others. The songs "The System," "Colors," "kiT," "Destroyer," and "Glory" were edited by Cristina Bercovitz. All other editing by Patrick Kennelly. Sound mixing by Jonathan Snipes.

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

PATTY trading cards

Sneak peek of the official PATTY trading cards!

photography: Trevor Baker / art direction: Patrick Kennelly
fashion design: Pilar Macchione / hair&makeup: Jill Fogel



Friday, July 6, 2012

Video Violence. optional commemoration and the future

my video for Clipping's "Mobb 2 it" is playing in Dresden, Germany as part of this exhibition:

  

Clipping: make party music for the club you wish you hadn't gone to, the car you don't remember getting in, and the streets you don't feel safe on; are phantom broadcasts bleeding into Power 106 as you drive out of range; are twenty different rappers looking into one broken mirror, talking to themselves all at once; are classic west coast rap music out of the tradition where sounding different wasn't cause for fear.

Formed in 2009, initially as a remix project, Clipping acquired a vocalist in 2011 and began pursuing music-making at the intersection of gangster rap, music concrète and harsh noise. One of the producers also composes film music under his name, Jonathan Snipes, and pop songs under the name Captain Ahab. The other one makes noise as Rale. The rapper fronts a hip hop group called The Getback under his real name, Daveed Diggs.

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

in-the-works

In pre-production on my new film - a speculative Mobius strip sex thriller.  Here's the teaser poster:
SEX IS VIOLENCE opens up a Pandora’s Box of lies and sexual negotiation, contemplating voyeurism, misogyny, and the crumbling marriage between physical decay and virtual immortality

Thursday, June 14, 2012

PATTY Commercials / PSAs SERIES 1

The first series of spots created for the world of PATTY.  These were included as part of the live performance of PATTY: The Revival and will soon be grouped together @ www.pattytherevival.com.

Couldn't have done this without the support of Cristina Bercovitz, who created "The Jessicas" and also edited "Tanya DeFreeze"; Rodney Ascher, who created the PSA for Triomphe; Sigrid Gilmer, who fleshed out and scripted all these wonderful concepts; Trevor Baker, who shot all the spots; and composer, music supervisor, and sound editor Jonathan Snipes.




Wednesday, June 13, 2012

Tuesday, June 12, 2012

PATTY Dress Rehearsal - 5/16/2012

Frame grabs (shot by Trevor Baker) from the very first dress rehearsal of PATTY, on Wednesday, May 16, 2012 @ Highways Performance Space.


Tuesday, June 5, 2012

PATTY: The Revival Album Available on Bandcamp




Full album available for Download @ patty.bandcamp.com

Name yer. price.  $10 if yr. honest, $0 if you prefer stealing.

Here's how I describe it, from an interview with Sean Carnage that can be found here:

"This is the peak of a collaborative partnership I’ve developed with Jonathan (Snipes) for the past 5 years. I don’t even know where to begin in describing his music. Perhaps 21st century Wall of Sound. Jonathan has truly come into his Phil Spector here—minus the guns and domestic violence! With the support of Kristin Erickson and Daveed Diggs, the music he’s created really has a richness of thematic depth and sonic complexity that is just non-existent in most contemporary pop music.

If you can imagine a ’60s girl group sound super-charged by French house, and then mix in prog rock elements, synth disco, 90s rave, ghetto tech and everything in-between, you might have a vague idea.

Ultimately though, the final stew—the PATTY: The Revival album—is completely its own unique, epic sound."


Wednesday, May 30, 2012

PATTY - "Colors" music video



from PATTY: The Revival, track released 26 April 2012

music: Jonathan Snipes
lyrics: Kristin Erickson, Patrick Kennelly, Jonathan Snipes
voices: Heather Cadarette, Blythe Evans, Elaine Hammell, Elizabeth Hayhurst, Stephanie Tucker, Justine Woodford
mix: Steve Kaplan

"Colors"
Produced, Directed and Edited by Patrick Kennelly
Starring (in order of appearance): Zoe Aja Moore, Biz Lyon, Elizabeth Hayhurst, Blythe Evans, Elaine Hammel, Jasmine Orpilla, Chelsey Holland, Justine Woodford, Radick Cembryznski, Maya Gingery, Stephanie Tucker, Heather Cadarette, Rachel Hirshee, Verity Branco, Amber Morse and Nikki Bohm
Cinematography by Trevor Baker
Costumes/Styling: Pilar Macchione
Hair & Makeup: Jennifer Kolhagen with Genevieve Garner
Choreography: Jmy James Kidd
Production Guru: Ed Cha
1st AD: Crystal Munson
2nd AD: Zack Moore
Rob Yoo Department: Rob Yoo
Production Assistance: Jen Bloom

POST-PRODUCTION
Compositing: Lawrence Klein / Leonard Menchiari
Backgrounds: Patrick Kennelly / Lawrence Klein / Leonard Menchiari
Sound Design: Jonathan Snipes

Monday, May 28, 2012

PATTY press

"PATTY: The Revival," which concluded its run this past Saturday night, was showered with some incredibly glowing reviews.  This project was three years in the making, so I am very grateful for the positive responses the overall project has elicted!  Excerpts and links below.

pictured: Blythe Evans as Patty Ego, Chelsey Rae Holland as Salamander / photo by Trevor Baker

Rebecca Haithcoat in LA Weekly:
"GO" "Meshing Patty Duke and Patty Hearst, creator-director Patrick Kennelly's musical explores our fixation on the cult of personality and our obsession with molding young celebrity girls into pop tartlets. Patty (played by four performers, representing her id, ego, superego and "shadow") is portrayed as a sacrificial lamb in today's entertainment-saturated culture. "Who will be the bright star of the future?" an announcer in the must-see "pop musical event" sing-songs. "I like posting pictures of myself on the Internet!" a vapid contestant answers in Auto-Tune. Down to the 5-plus-inch heels the talented, 15-member, all-female (!) cast struts around on for almost two hours, Kennelly nails the idea of how expectations help to cripple women in the public eye. In the show's frankest moment, the entire cast turns on the Pattys, chanting, "Kill yourself." Jonathan Snipes and Kristin Erickson's original music drips with satire and is as catchy as anything on the radio. Pilar Macchione's sculptural fashion design is commentary, too; the dresses are just so flattering. This will be one of the most exhilarating eviscerations in L.A. this year. Don't miss it."
full review here (scroll down to bottom of page)

Debra Levine on arts~meme:
"The peculiarly American phenomenon — the relentless commoditization of the individual and promoting it in a culture driven by celebrity (exemplars: the two Patties) – is Kennelly’s concern in “Patty the Revival.” The auteur and his many collaborators have fashioned a smart new musical that expresses ambivalence about the forces that shape our lives."
full review here

Sean Carnage @ seancarnage.com:
"I visited Patrick Kennelly at Highways in Santa Monica last week, and I was totally knocked out by what I saw and heard. PATTY is a kaleidoscope of old school analog counter culture vibes, cut and pasted all over the stage, thru some digital timespace manipulation (aka finesse)."
full article here