The NetWorks: Kenneth Kinna’s Approach to Turning Lived Culture into Cinema with B-Roll Films

At B-Roll Films, founded by Kenneth Kinna, work is centered on the belief that creative content can carry a message far beyond conventional promotion. His films, Kinna explains, document artists, nonprofits, musicians, writers, and communities as stories to be experienced rather than subjects to be marketed.

“I’ve always pushed to record and release what people are doing as short films or documentary content,” Kinna says. “I try to find what I consider real and meaningful topics that need an outlet into the world and get people recognized for their creative work.”

Throughout his career, Kinna has worked with organizations to help outcast members of society share their stories, documenting poets and performers on their creative paths, and recently releasing a dialogue-free art performance based on a project from a nonprofit organization that earned several accolades. After his current project, Kinna plans to begin a short documentary about international musicians blending African, Spanish, and American jazz traditions around themes of healing and connection.

“As an independent filmmaker, I always knew there were two paths I could take. One, to be a cog in the wheel and do large-scale projects, or two, shed light on local communities. I’ve chosen the latter,” he explains.

At the center of B-Roll’s present focus is The NetWorks, a feature-length documentary created for the nonprofit. The film follows an immersive art installation led by a German-born installation artist, developed through years of conversation with Gloucester’s fishing families. “These artists met with all the fishermen and their families, and after years of discussion, they completed an art show that celebrated their heritage,” he says. “And now we’re releasing a documentary about their process.”

Kinna notes B-Roll is donating the film’s copyright to the nonprofit and that he personally underwrote much of the production while ensuring participating artists and filmmakers were paid. “It’s a tricky weave of goals,” he says. “We’re representing the artists, the fishermen, the organization, and the community, all at once. That requires care and accountability.”

In Kinna’s view, The NetWorks’s development exemplifies an organic approach to filmmaking. While helping the nonprofit document its programming, he recognized that the art installation process carried a larger story. As cameras followed the artists who worked alongside fishermen, Kinna highlights that it translated maritime life into projections, soundscapes, scene design, and sculptural environments. The interviews followed naturally, expanding from gallery spaces to docks and boats, capturing local histories and present-day concerns. “Whenever we were editing the footage, we often came across moments that conveyed depth,” Kinna recalls. “Those moments ultimately defined the length of the film.”

According to Kinna, during filming, he encountered a fisherman who turned out to be the brother of the man portrayed in a disaster-drama film. He also points to the tragedy that struck the community when the fishing vessel Lily Jean was lost at sea, claiming multiple lives. Kinna says the event reshaped the emotional weight of the project. “It all of a sudden became very poignant how dangerous this business still is,” he says. “And how urgently we need to understand how to sustain it.”

The NetWorks, as per Kinna’s account, operates on several levels: a record of artistic collaboration, a portrait of fishing heritage, and an exploration of sustainability and survival. The installation’s creative team includes projection artists, scent designers, sound engineers, and visual storytellers. He highlights that local musicians have contributed traditional sea shanties, while other American artists have added music to broaden the film’s cultural texture. “By creating a film, you include a lot of different artists, and everyone gets to make the message more poignant,” he says. Kinna notes that the documentary is now entering the film festival submission circuit, which can allow the independent production to achieve wider distribution.

Furthermore, Kinna’s background informs the work he does today. Trained in Imaging Science, he co-founded and sold a software company before managing a Boston-area television station and developing local programming. Across these roles, he says he has combined photography, music, and software expertise to support creative storytelling.

Though The NetWorks is rooted in Gloucester, Kinna believes its themes resonate more broadly with fishing communities facing similar tensions between heritage, livelihood, regulation, and environmental change. He views the film as an opportunity to extend the work of the artists, the nonprofit, and the fishermen into wider conversations. As he says, “Ultimately, leading with the meaning is what makes this work worth doing, and that’s what elicits important conversations about heritage, preservation, and culture.”