Kevin Willmott

Kevin Willmott (born August 31, 1959) is an Academy Award Winning American film director and screenwriter. He is known for work focusing on black issues including writing and directing Ninth Street, C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America, and Bunker Hill. His The Only Good Indian (2009) was a feature film about Native American children at an Indian boarding school and the forced assimilation that took place. In Jayhawkers (2014), he followed the life of Wilt Chamberlain, Phog Allen and the 1956 Kansas Jayhawks basketball team. Willmott has collaborated with Spike Lee, with whom he shared an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman. The two again collaborated in writing Da 5 Bloods, released worldwide digitally on June 12, 2020.

Wilmott is a professor of film at the University of Kansas.

Biography
Willmott grew up in Junction City, Kansas, and received a BA in Drama from Marymount College. He received a M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing from New York University. He has worked as a screenwriter and film director, known for work related to African-American history and contemporary issues. In 2017, Willmott taught classes in a bulletproof vest in protest of the ability of students and staff to carry concealed weapons on the campus.

He won the Best Director award at the American Indian Film Festival for The Only Good Indian. Willmott's next film, Jayhawkers, received funding through Kickstarter, a crowdsourcing website.

In 2019, Willmott won an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for the film BlacKkKlansman.

Personal life
Willmott is Catholic, and has cited Fr Dan Berrigan, SJ as an influence in his life and work.