6pm Film Screening: Oscar Micheaux: The Super Hero of Black Filmmaking
(Film running time 80min)
7:30pm Q&A and recognition of Academy Award Winner Kevin Willmott
8:30pm Music concert by The Black Creatures

Honor the legacy of early film pioneer Oscar Micheaux and celebrate the Academy-Award winning career of Lawrence’s own Kevin Willmott in one engaging evening of film, music and special guests. We’ll begin the festivities with a film screening of the brand new documentary Oscar Micheaux: The Super Hero of Black Filmmaking that world-premiered at the Cannes International Film Festival and features interviews with Kevin Willmott, Amma Asante and Chuck D.

Oscar Micheaux wrote, directed and produced more than forty-four films, six novels and spent his latter years in Great Bend, Kansas. Join Kevin Willmott and film critic Lonita Cook for a conversation about Micheaux’s influence on cinema as a whole and Kevin’s career in particular. 

After a short intermission, we’ll return for a community tribute featuring clips from Willmott’s films from the early indie Ninth Street, the Sundance smash hit CSA, and his Oscar award-winning screenplays in collaboration with Spike Lee. Enjoy remarks by some of his closest collaborators, and get off your feet for a live music finale by acclaimed sonic duo, The Black Creatures. This is one special evening you won’t want to miss!

Event co-sponsor: University of Kansas Department of Film and Media Studies.

ABOUT THE BLACK CREATURES:
Gleefully tinkering with elements of soul, hip-hop, and EDM, The Black Creatures are here to tell interdimensional stories – through all-original, lyric-heavy songs and live performances. Influenced by neo-soul sirens like Erykah Badu and Alicia Keys, wordsmiths like Da Brat and Tech N9ne, and composers a la Daft Punk and Robert Glasper, they make music that defies genre and tradition in an effort to break generational curses. They aim to honor the past, celebrate the present, and transcend the expectations of the future by creating consistently unique songs, videos, images, and interactive live performances.