In 2002 he was awarded an Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Nicholl Fellowship in Screenwriting for a script titled Mason Mule.

[6] Validation (2007), written, directed, and scored by Kuenne, was distributed through Gay Hendricks's Spiritual Cinema Circle and is a short film about a parking attendant (played by T. J. Thyne) who dispenses compliments to his customers.

[7] It won Best Short Grand Prize at the 2007 Heartland Film Festival, and The Independent Critic rated it A+.

The only financial help given were donations to expand the YouTube short film into a full length feature.

His latest feature film Shuffle (2011) again stars T. J. Thyne, playing a man who finds his life running out of sequence.