Professor Kevin Willmot is retiring from the University of Kansas Department of Film and Media Studies after two decades of teaching. But the screenwriter and director has no plans to stop filmmaking any time soon.
"This is probably, you know, one of the busiest periods of my whole career," Willmott says.
Willmott, who frequently collaborates with Spike Lee and won a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for 2018's "BlacKkKlansman," grew up enthralled by the films he watched in his hometown of Junction City, Kansas. He says he channeled his childhood dreams as a professor at KU.
"My big thing was, I always try to reduce the distance between Kansas City, Lawrence, and Hollywood," Willmott tells KCUR's Up To Date. "You know, that was the big thing for me as a kid in Junction City. I was trying to figure out, 'How am I going to be be there, get there, and be a filmmaker?'"
In his honor, KU is hosting the Kevin Willmott Film Festival from Feb. 18 through Feb. 21 in Lawrence. Each night, Liberty Hall will screen one of Willmott's films, including 2004's "C.S.A.: Confederate States of America" and 2014's "Jayhawkers."
- Kevin Willmott, KU film professor emeritus and filmmaker
