Biography
Emmy® nominated Hollywood filmmaker and international film festival winner John Kuri is the son of 8-time Oscar® nominated and twice Oscar® winner Emile Kuri. John's pedigree is shaped by his beginning years at Walt Disney Studios and Disneyland in design and production of movies and television, and theme park operations, lessee relations, maintenance and construction. John is an award winning producer, director, screenwriter, production designer, published author in historical and fiction, journalist, commercial pilot, and jazz guitarist. September, 2023 John's documentary feature, "My Dad: His Remarkable Life" won Best International Documentary laurels at the Lebanese Independent Film Festival in Beirut. The Lebanese Film Festival Canada honored Kuri with a "Life Career in Film" award in Montreal on opening night of the 2024 festival. Nov of 2025 the Beirut Shorts International Film Festival presented John a trophy of recognition "For Inspiring and Empowering A New Generation of Lebanese Storytellers." Several of John's motion picture titles and screenplays have received laurels from numerous international film festivals.
John's IMDB has over 145-screen credits. He is co-creator of the Warner Brothers/ABC police drama, "Ohara," starring Pat Morita and Catherine Keener. Through his company he co-wrote, produced and directed 2nd unit for the MGM movie, "Captive Hearts." Following that he wrote "Determined to Live: An American Epic," published in "Frontier Times" magazine. He then wrote a screenplay adaptation that became a motion picture he produced (and directed 2nd unit) for Disney/ ABC under the title, "One More Mountain." He was nominated for an Emmy® for NBC's movie of John Steinbeck's, "The Red Pony," starring Henry Fonda. John produced Ron Howard's "Skyward," starring Bette Davis, as well directed its flying sequences for which he also piloted the camera plane. "NY Times" film critic John J. O'Connor described John's aerial work as "Swoopingly beautiful." Also, he flew wingtip formation with a WWII P-51 Mustang and Hawker Sea Fury and photographed the Blue Angels for the TV series "Airwolf" at the annual Reno Air Races. "Conagher," a film John produced with its star Sam Elliott, (debuting as U.S. cable's highest-rated two-hour drama, holding that ranking for over 7-years) was awarded the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum Bronze Wrangler. John's documentary, "My Dad: His Remarkable Life" won Best International Film at the 2023 edition of the Lebanese Independent Film Festival in Beirut, where it had its world premiere. Selected by the Lebanese Film Festival Canada, the documentary premiered at the Museum of Fine Arts in Montreal, June, 2024.
John has written, directed and edited several documentary shorts and music videos. For the NARAS 50th Anniversary Grammy® celebration he directed and edited documentary shorts presenting the role of music for the Civil Rights Movement and Protest Movement, and a third short on the Birth of Rock & Roll. John directed the pilot for a music performance series titled "Stay Tuned," hosted by Peter Coyote. For Lincoln Center's North American premiere of "Mongolia Concert" as well NY City's Central Park Summer Concert's presentation "Sudan Music and Dance Festival," John produced, wrote, directed, edited, as well operated one of the principal cameras. His documentary "The Big T: Testosterone" was an official selection of the 2018 Directors Circle of Shorts International Film Festival. He also has directed numerous documentaries on popular musical artists, all receiving film festival laurels, including "Squirrel Nut Zippers in Concert," "Leftover Salmon: A Rocky Mountain High" live at the Fillmore, and "Language of the Night" a live performance of legendary Blues artist John Hammond preforming all Tom Waits originals at San Francisco's Great American Music Hall.
John's Disney Studio experience includes his apprenticeship in art direction and encompassed work in areas of the company ranging from television/ motion picture production to theme park design and operations. Following the Disney years John gained experience with many studios on a variety of movies and television productions. He is a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. A member of Writers Guild of America, the Directors Guild of America, and the Art Directors Guild, John has production experience in many U.S. states including Hawaii, in Canada's Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton, and Montreal, as well as Ireland, England, Panama, Abu Dhabi, Lebanon, the UAE and Japan.
In addition to his screenplays, eleven of John's works have been published. His historical novel, "Cheyenne Rising Sun," arrived in bookstores in September of 2004 and rose to #1 on bestseller lists in several cities. In 2018 it was selected for inclusion in the archives of the American Philosophical Society, the first learned society in the U.S. and was founded by Benjamin Franklin. John's third novel, "Takin' It Back," previewed in June 2005 at Book Expo America in NYC and its hardcover edition was released in September of that year. Shaquille O'Neal, Bill Walton, NYPD Commissioner William J Bratton, and the NBA endorsed the book. A CBS one-hour special "Pride, Passion, and Power" introduced John and promoted the novel. His fourth book, "ROD," with the foreword by legendary sportscaster Keith Jackson, released June 2008 at Book Expo America.
In 2008 John was asked by Dr. Roy Godson, president of the Washington based NGO, National Strategy Information Center, to join its Culture of Lawfulness Project ("COL") as a Senior Fellow. Dr. Godson is professor emeritus in International Government at Georgetown university. John's work with the COL, sponsored by the US Dept. of State and Georgetown University's Center for Democracy and Civil Society, took him to Italy, Abu Dhabi, Dubai, The Kingdom of Bahrain, Jordan, Lebanon, Mexico, Panama and Colombia for challenging interactions and mentoring with government officials, journalists, television executives, producers, presenters, and writers.
With interest in the interactive video game space John designed, wrote and directed a multi-media CD-ROM science fiction game, "Dreggs" for Fathom Productions and Good Times Video during the mid '90s. John has guest lectured at UCLA, UCI, Madonna University, Detroit, and Saddleback College. Nov. 2025 John conducted a master class in movie development and production at the Beirut Shorts International Film Festival. He moderated "Interactive Writing" for Media World, was a panelist for "Digital Dreams" at the Mill Valley Film Festival, and was a panelist on the subjects of "Feature Film Distribution" and "Screenwriting" for the Newport Beach Film Festival. John participated in the Red Bull High Performance "Hacking Creativity" project, an exploration of human potential studying what creativity is, means, if it can be learned, and how to apply such knowledge. A devotee of jazz guitar, John plays in Los Angeles with his jazz sextet, Elixir & Friends and was a member of the Steven Boyd Quintet.
