Kenny Riches

About this episode

Kenny Riches discusses his journey as a filmmaker and the themes of his latest film, Mouse.

In this episode of The Truth In This Art, the guest is Kenny Riches! Who is Kenny Riches: A Miami and Salt Lake City-based filmmaker born in Toyota City, Japan, whose award-winning features explore loneliness, identity, and human connection through intimate, character-driven narratives. With a BFA in Painting and Drawing and a filmography that includes The Strongest Man (Sundance premiere, 2015) and A Name Without A Place (2019), Kenny has received support from Sundance Institute, Knight Foundation, and PBS—and is co-founder of The Davey Foundation, a grant-giving organization for filmmakers. In our conversation, Kenny traces his journey from wanting to make films in the early 2000s when 16mm was still too expensive for a broke college student, to making skateboard videos with camcorders that evolved into short films alongside childhood friend and actor Patrick Fugit. He breaks down how Mouse —his fourth feature screening at Maryland Film Festival April 8–12 at the SNF Parkway Theatre and venues across Baltimore—emerged from pandemic isolation as a meditation on loneliness in the pre-social media early 2000s and a thriller about a lonesome first-generation person in ultra-white…

People in this episode

Host: Rob Lee

Guest: Kenny Riches

Topics covered

• filmmaking
• loneliness
• identity
• human connection
• pandemic isolation
• character-driven narratives

Keywords

• Kenny Riches
• filmmaker
• Mouse
• loneliness
• identity
• Maryland Film Festival
• Sundance
• documentary
• character-driven

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Sundance Institute, Knight Foundation, PBS, The Davey Foundation

Books & works: The Strongest Man, A Name Without A Place, Mouse

Places: Toyota City, Japan, Miami, Salt Lake City, Utah

More episodes of The Truth In This Art: Stories That Matter

• Megan Elcrat of Present Company on Hyper-Local Architecture, Preserving How Spaces Feel, and Place-Making in Station North · June 9, 2026 · 59 min
• Dr. David O. Fakunle II on Art, Storytelling, Health Equity, and the Power of Narrative · June 2, 2026 · 1h 23m
• Shaun Stewart of Patterson Pins · May 26, 2026 · 1h 5m
• Art Shopping Network's Maxwell Young & Amir Browder of HOMME DC ON 'Acquired Taste' · May 22, 2026 · 1h 36m
• Sarah B. McCann · May 18, 2026 · 57 min
• Sam Furnish & Bemo's Clothing · May 13, 2026 · 59 min