Kevin Duffy directed, produced, shot and edited the documentary feature, JOHN FLECK IS WHO YOU WANT HIM TO BE. The film focuses on the legendary performance artist who, in 1990, as one of the NEA 4, was the target of government-sanctioned homophobia at the height of the AIDS crisis, culminating in a U.S. Supreme Court case involving freedom of speech and charges of obscenity. Duffy reinvents the documentary form, implicating the viewer in a dialogue with Fleck in a film that explores shifting identity and how we define ourselves in relation to the other, using 25-years’ worth of archival footage as a memory track to background a portrait of a revolutionary artist and ultimate survivor. The film trails the artist as he prepares for performances at the New Museum in New York and California State University, Long Beach, intercutting raw, archival footage with a compelling interview in a kaleidoscopic portrait of this often misrepresented innovator. The film or excerpts from it have screened at CalArts, Valencia, CA, the New Museum, New York, California State University, Long Beach, CA and firedoglake.com.

Duffy’s first independent feature, BECOMING BLOND (2010) starring Mink Stole is istributed by Ariztical Entertainment and has screened on Here TV and VOD. Duffy’s short film, cheap flight, (1996) screened on the Sundance Channel, at the Hamptons International Film Festival, the American Cinematheque and other venues. His original screenplay, The Waker, was optioned by Taurus Production in Montreal.

A native of Queens, New York, Duffy graduated from New York University. He then worked in theater and performance and won a Fellowship in Playwriting from the New York Foundation for the Arts. After relocating to Los Angeles, Duffy received an M.F.A. in screenwriting from the American Film Institute. Following graduation from the AFI, He he worked as a writer and producer, writing dialogue and overseeing animation and game design for Disney Interactive on projects based on animated feature films.


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