Two baby boomers are at the top of their game right now and their game is movie-making. Spike Lee is one of them; he’s a household name. The other is less well known, but equally talented and equally celebrated: Kevin Willmott. The two of them have teamed up on a film that debuts on August 10th, designed to coincide with the date of the white supremacist rallies that turned into riots exactly one year ago in Charlottesville, Virginia.
At age 59, baby boomer Kevin Willmott is an extraordinarily busy man … and that’s in addition to being a professor of film and media studies at the University of Kansas in Lawrence, Kansas. Yes, he can also be found many days at his office developing and writing a play for a local theatre in Lawrence. But there’s much more…
Kevin Willmott
Kevin is an active film director and screenwriter, and his latest film is so celebrated that it won the top award at the prestigious international 2018 Cannes Film Festival, together with a ten-minute standing ovation.
He wants us to pay attention, especially to the ironies and stereotypes in our society. His satirical style has teamed him with the likes of famed director Spike Lee. Their latest film is called “BlacKKKlansman.” Kevin was co-writer.
Adam Driver (left) with John David Washington.
“BlacKKKlansman” tells the true story of an undercover black detective (played by John David Washington) and his Jewish partner (Adam Driver) who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in the Colorado Springs area in the 1970s.
Spike Lee and Kevin Willmott.
Three years ago, Kevin collaborated with Spike Lee on “Chi-Raq,” a film that focused on gang violence on Chicago’s south side.
Kevin has written about absurd perceptions in American society. Racism, antisemitism, prejudice. For example, his film “C.S.A: The Confederate States of America” examined what would have happened if the South had won the Civil War.
“The Only Good Indian” was about Native American children at an Indian boarding school and the forced assimilation that took place.
Some critics of Kevin’s work say he focuses too much on race. “Well, if you haven’t noticed, I’m black,” he counters. “I’ve had to deal with race my entire life. My kids have had to deal with it. And their kids will have to deal with it. (Racism) should be one of the many things we fight against in America.”
You may remember Kevin in the news last year for wearing a bulletproof vest while teaching class. He’s still wearing it. “It’s an ongoing battle” at the university, he says, between pro-gun and anti-gun groups, and those who want to permit guns in the classroom are winning.
“As long as I’m teaching at KU, I’ll be wearing the vest as protest to that policy,” Kevin says. He sees no place for guns in schools. “The art that I make and produce always has a message of justice and peace.”
To author of article: Great article. This article reflects what I see everywhere, people instinctively rely on simplistic perceptions to make their lives easier, there is probably a psychological term for it.