Pentangle+ - PRESENTS: Spike Lee's BLACKkkKLANSMAN

Pentangle Arts is thrilled to host a conversation with Kevin Willmott, the Oscar winning Screenwriter of Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman.   

In this story inspired by true events, Ron Stallworth, an African-American Colorado police officer, successfully infiltrates the local branch of the Ku Klux Klan with the help of a white Jewish colleague, Flip Zimmerman.   

Join us for a screening of BlacKkKlansman followed by a discussion with Willmott moderated by Vermont’s own DeWanda Wise. This is a Pentangle event you won’t want to miss

Kevin Willmott won an Academy Award and the BAFTA the British Academy award for co-writing with Spike Lee the feature film Blackkklansman. The film also won the Grand Prix at the Cannes film Festival. 

He also co-wrote and is the Executive Producer of the critically acclaimed film, Chi-Raq also directed by Spike Lee. The film is on numerous best of 2015 lists including best film and best screenplay by The New Yorker Magazine.

Award winning Films written and or directed by Willmott include Ninth Street, CSA -Confederate States of America, The Battle for Bunker Hill, The Only Good Indian, Jayhawkers and Destination Planet Negro.

Documentaries directed by Willmott include: From Separate to Equal: The Creation of Truman Medical Center, Gordon Parks Elementary, Fast Break: The Legendary Coach John Mclendon, and William Allen White: What’s the Matter with Kansas,  No Place Like Home: The Struggle Against Hate in Kansas  and  The Heroic True-Life Adventures of Alvin Brooks.

He co-wrote with Spike Lee the feature film, Da Five Bloods for Netflix.  The National Board of Review named Da Five Bloods the Best Film of 2020. Willmott co-wrote with Trai Byers and directed the critically acclaimed feature film The 24^th about the Houston Riot of 1917 The film was nominated for an NAACP Image Award in 2020.

Willmott grew up in Junction City, Kansas and attended Marymount College receiving his BA in Drama. After graduation, he returned home, working as a peace and civil rights activist, fighting for the rights of the poor, creating two Catholic Worker shelters for the homeless and forcing the integration of several long-standing segregated institutions. He attended graduate studies at New York University, Tisch School of the Arts, receiving several writing awards and his M.F.A. in Dramatic Writing.

Willmott works full time as a screenwriter and director and is a Professor Emertitus of The University of Kansas .

DeWanda Wise is a critically acclaimed actor and filmmaker.

Recent credits include Love, Brooklyn, (Sundance ‘25,) Killing Faith now on Hulu, and Murderbot on Apple TV+

Previous film credits include Imaginary, Poolman, Jurassic World Dominion, The Harder They Fall, hit Netflix comedy Someone Great, and the Sony film Fatherhood among others.

Series Regular credits include her breakout role as Nola Darling in the Netflix adaption of She's Gotta Have It, In addition to Three Women, Underground, and Shots Fired.

Select stage credits include Furlough's Paradise this past season at The Geffen, Atlantic Theater Company's Fireflies, originating the roles of 'Nina' in Dominique Morisseau's Sunset Baby, and ‘Mercy’ in Flight, directed by Liesl Tommy, David Mamet’s Race, and In the Continuum. 

An Ambassador for NAMI, DeWanda is a Masters candidate in Counseling at Northwestern University. Wise is committed to reducing mental health stigma and advocating for systemic change towards accessible care for all.