Sun. Aug. 21, 2022, 1:30-3:30 p.m.
Pioneer Bluffs, 695 KS-177, Matfield Green, KS 66862
Flint Hills (Junction City) native and Academy Award winner Kevin Willmott became famous for the movies he has written with Spike Lee (“CHI RAQ”, “Da 5 Bloods” and “BlacKkKlansman”). But film buffs nationally and internationally have heaped praise on him since the 2004 release of his “C.S.A.: The Confederate States of America.” Before that, he had a cult following among Kansas film buffs for “Ninth Street,” a 1999 film set in Junction City featuring Isaac Hayes and Martin Short.
The beautifully restored, well-ventilated loft of the historic barn at Pioneer Bluffs is the setting for a screening of a 2020 documentary Kevin wrote and directed called “William Allen White: What’s the Matter With Kansas?” The film goes beyond the known facts of the Pulitzer Prize-winning “Sage of Emporia” and reveals the history of radical populism in Kansas and how White single-handedly drove the Ku Klux Klan out of the Free State. Following the screening, Kevin will invite the audience to consider how the film is still relevant today, talk about current projects and take questions.
Guests are invited to bring a picnic lunch to enjoy before the program on the beautiful grounds of the historic ranch stead and explore the new Nature Trail or even take a dip in Crocker Creek with its swimming hole and gravel bar.
Maximum guests: 50