A film festival slated for February will honor Kevin Willmott, Academy Award-winning KU film professor.
Willmott, who joined KU’s faculty in 2000, has stepped down from active teaching and has taken professor emeritus status, according to a news release Friday morning.
The University of Kansas’ Department of Film and Media Studies will host the Kevin Willmott Film Festival, set for Feb. 18-21, 2025 at Liberty Hall in downtown Lawrence.
The festival will show one of Willmott’s films from prior to his 2019 Oscar win for Best Adapted Screenplay for co-writing “BlacKkKlansman” with director Spike Lee each day during the week of the festival.
“Willmott and/or his special guests, including actors from the films, will introduce and talk after each film showing,” according to the release.
Here’s the lineup:
• 7 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 18: “Destination: Planet Negro” (2013)
• 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 19: “The Only Good Indian” (2009)
• 1 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 20: “Jayhawkers” (2014)
• 6:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 21: “C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America” (2004)
“These four films, which bring underrepresented stories to the screen, led to later collaborations with director Spike Lee and ultimately won Kevin the Academy Award,” Anna Neill, interim chair of KU’s film and media studies department, said in the release. “Yet neither fame nor the increasing demands on his time stopped him from telling stories that needed to be heard, including about the lives of Kansans. Nor did these demands prevent him from providing extraordinary support and mentoring to his KU students, many of whom crewed or performed in his films.”
The university will announce guest speakers and ticket prices in the new year. Find more information and watch film trailers at film.ku.edu/kevin.
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