A graduate of Salina’s Marymount College and current University of Kansas professor is an Oscar award winner.

“BlacKkKlansman,” which KU’s Kevin Willmott co-wrote with Spike Lee, won the best adapted screenplay Academy Award Sunday night.

“BlacKkKlansman” is a drama based on true events. It provides a provocative exploration of American race relations. In the midst of the 1970s civil rights movement, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) becomes the first black detective on the Colorado Springs Police Department. He sets out to prove his worth by infiltrating the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and convinces his Jewish colleague (Adam Driver) to go undercover as a white supremacist.

Willmott hosted a screening of the film at the Salina Art Center Cinema back in October. Afterwards, he led a discussion about it.

Willmott is an American film director and screenwriter, as well as a professor of film at the University of Kansas. Willmott grew up in Junction City. He earned a bachelors degree from Marymount College in Salina and a masters degree from New York University. He currently is an associate professor in the Film Studies Department at KU.

Among other things, Willmott is known for writing and directing Ninth Street, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America, and Bunker Hill.

Along with Lee and Willmott, the Oscar for “BlacKkKlansman” is shared with Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz.

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(University of Kansas Photo)