{"id":19398,"date":"2026-07-15T13:04:36","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:04:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/?p=19398"},"modified":"2026-07-15T13:04:37","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T17:04:37","slug":"kendall-moores-films-have-an-afterlife","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.uri.edu\/magazine\/issues\/summer-2026\/kendall-moores-films-have-an-afterlife\/","title":{"rendered":"Kendall Moore’s Films Have an Afterlife"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Kendall Moore’s Films Have an Afterlife<\/h1>\n\n\n\n

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Which is exactly what she wants. The multiple award-winning documentary filmmaker and journalism professor says success is measured by the trust she earns and the extent to which her films generate awareness, change, and opportunities to amplify the voices of the people in them.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By Marybeth Reilly-McGreen<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look. Squint, if you must, against the glare of a sunny day in April. Look past the students from Providence\u2019s Paul Cuffee School and the Metropolitan Regional Career and Technical Center (MET) as they file into 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Memorial Union atrium for a screening of Kendall Moore’s latest film, Kindness and Grace in the Life of Jovanny Green<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By design and definition, an atrium is less than optimal for screening films: The room is too sunny and too hot. Ignore it. Withstand the temptation to wilt like a neglected hothouse flower.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Look instead at the young man at the front of the room. He\u2019s sitting in the very first row. See his smile and the excitement in his eyes. This is Jovanny Green, a young Black man living with autism and the star of Moore\u2019s film. He rocks a bit in his seat. It\u2019s called stimming\u2014repetitive movement, a response to sensory stimulation. Everyone does it, but in neurodivergent people, it can be more pronounced. Suspend judgment. See him<\/em>. See his joy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the film, Green stands and takes a bow, beaming at the applause he receives. Green, along with his mother, Jeanne Andreoli, and Rhode Island State Police Detective Lt. Herbert Tilson, whose son has autism, sit for a Q&A. Andreoli and Tilson also make appearances in the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Asked if he liked working with Moore, Green is effusive in his enthusiasm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt was amazing,\u201d he says. \u201cI like how it showed my room and different types of places I like to go \u2026 the beach, going in the waves. My dog Smitty.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andreoli, quiet up to this point, chimes in: \u201cKendall, you made it so easy for us.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She turns her gaze from Moore to the audience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI had a lot of concerns, but Kendall reminded us that even if one person takes something away from this \u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She pauses, changes course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAwareness is not enough; it\u2019s the acceptance part.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andreoli\u2019s words are a revelation delivered as a gut punch. What she means is this: Understand that it is not enough to watch, clap, and go on with your day.<\/em> Kindness and Grace in the Life of Jovanny Green is meant to change you.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The April screening of Kindness and Grace in the Life of Jovanny Green<\/em> at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Memorial Union. Jovanny Green is pictured on the screen.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Jovanny Green at the table with his mother, Jeanne Andreoli, and Rhode Island State Police Detective Lt. Herbert Tilson.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

The Film Is the Start of the Work, Not the End<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Moore calls her films \u201cartifacts.\u201d They\u2019re meant to have an afterlife, made to raise awareness and prompt discussion around issues of injustice, racism, and abuse of power.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe artifact, the project, is the start of the work, not the end,\u201d Moore says. \u201cOnce we’ve created something, it’s typically the start of a multipart process where you’re using this artifact to bring attention to an issue and then using it to bring people to the proverbial table to strategize and to make and to build relationships.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore talks about trust\u2014a lot<\/em>. Specifically, she talks about having to earn it. Often, the people in her documentaries have been betrayed by the very institutions professing to protect them: the government, industry, even the press.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMy work is straightforward; it\u2019s giving voice to people who historically and consistently go underrepresented in the dominant narrative and the dominant press,\u201d Moore says. \u201cI’ve always been attracted to those individuals, communities, and issues. And trust-building is important to me and to the creative work that we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The \u201cwe\u201d Moore refers to includes her crew\u2014her teenage daughter, Courtney Moore-Browne, is her sound engineer and Alex DeCiccio \u201910 is her director of photography. DeCiccio, who was once Moore\u2019s student, has been producing documentaries about ocean and climate research for more than a decade and leads a team of communications and media specialists at 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Inner Space Center.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cKendall stands out in justice-oriented filmmaking because of her ability to clear space and build trust within a project. She has taught me more than I can even articulate, and I’m so grateful for being able to work with her and call her a mentor and friend,\u201d DeCiccio says. \u201cMy life and creative work have been reshaped through our time together.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Don\u2019t Just Stand on the Periphery. Dive In.<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Moore, who grew up in Montgomery County, Maryland, credits her parents with giving her the freedom and encouragement to become a journalist and documentarian. Her parents, who worked for USAID, the government agency dedicated to global civilian foreign aid and development assistance, were away a lot, traveling the world. Her stepfather was an interpreter for the U.S. Department of State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore earned a bachelor\u2019s degree from Syracuse University, where she studied international foreign policy, intending to become an international journalist. She won a Fulbright award to serve as a professor at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and work on her film, Song in the Crisis<\/em> (2007), about HIV\/AIDS among Black women living in Tanzania, Jamaica, and the U.S. A second Fulbright award took her to Jamaica to teach and to continue work on the film.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A master’s degree at the New School for Social Research followed, and then a Ph.D. in media and communication from the European Graduate School, where Moore\u2019s research focused on race, philosophy, and aesthetics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moore came to 溏心vlog免费B站 in 2003. She has since won numerous grants, awards, and accolades for her films (12 and counting), which take on multifaceted issues, such as the racism that scientists of color encounter in academia\u2014Can We Talk? Difficult Conversations with Underrepresented People of Color <\/em>(2007, series); colonialism and trauma\u2014Philosophy of the Encounter<\/em> (2016); lead paint poisoning\u2014Jalen and Joanna: A Lead Paint Story<\/em> (2018); and environmental racism and injustice\u2014Harm in the Water<\/em> (2025).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201c<\/span>My work is straightforward; it\u2019s giving voice to people who historically and consistently go underrepresented in the dominant narrative and the dominant press.<\/span>\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00ad\u2014Kendall Moore<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

This year, Moore became track chair of an environmental justice specialization within 溏心vlog免费B站\u2019s Master of Environmental Science and Management program. Underpinning Moore\u2019s teaching and filmmaking are spare and elegant nonnegotiables:<\/p>\n\n\n\n