ABOUT KATE
Kate Kunath is an Emmy Award-winning director and producer specializing in documentary, non-fiction, and branded content. Her work is recognized for its artistic integrity and ability to capture complex human narratives with nuance and authenticity.
In 2018, she received a Primetime Emmy Award for Anthony Bourdain’s Explore Parts Unknown: Little Los Angeles, which she directed and executive produced. With this series she also won a James Beard Award for Visual and Technical Excellence. Kunath continued her award-winning collaboration with Bourdain and partners at Roads & Kingdoms on projects including The Perfect Dish: Asia and The Return to Catalunya.
Her commitment to LGBTQ+ storytelling is a hallmark of her career. Her first feature documentary, We Came to Sweat (2014), premiered at OUTFEST/NEWFEST and screened at festivals internationally. Recognizing the importance of preserving queer history, she has maintained a longstanding role as producer for The Outwords Archive, a nonprofit dedicated to documenting the activism of LGBTQ+ elders. In 2019, Kunath directed and produced Show Me the Way (Topic Studios), a portrait of rural queer life in Centerville, Tennessee, which was shortlisted for the IDA Awards
During the pandemic, she lensed, directed and edited a series of documentary shorts for BBC Travel and BBC Reel, including 50 Reasons to Love the World and The Utopian Town Built by 8,000 People in the Desert. In 2022, she partnered with Hello Sunshine to creative executive produce and direct In Her Element, an extended reality (XR) documentary on women in STEM fields, which aired on Apple+.
From 2023 to 2024, she directed a digital travel series, 24 Hours with Roger Federer, featuring the tennis icon as himself, exploring cities—and himself—in a new world outside of tennis.
Kunath’s work has been recognized by the Television Academy, the James Beard Foundation, the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalism Awards, the International Association of Culinary Professionals, the Webby Awards, Adweek ARC, and PromaxBDA.
She holds a BA from the University of Washington, where she played on the Women’s Tennis Team, and an MFA from Hunter College in New York City (where she also coached tennis). She is based in Los Angeles—and if you’re recruiting for a pickleball team, be warned: her heart still belongs to tennis.
