Sundance selects KU professor's film 'CSA' for annual film festival

LAWRENCE -- "CSA: Confederate States of America," a satirical film on slavery created by two University of Kansas professors, has been selected as an official entry in the 2004 Sundance Film Festival, Jan. 15 through 25, 2004, in Park City, Utah.

Kevin Willmott is the writer, producer and director for "CSA" and Matt Jacobson, the cinematographer. Both are assistant professors in KU's theatre and film department. They premiered an earlier version of the film in Lawrence in February.

"CSA" uses a faux documentary style to examine what the United States would be like if the South had won the Civil War. The film was selected for the "American Spectrum" category at Sundance. The dates and times Sundance will show "CSA" will be announced later.

This is Willmott's first invitation to Sundance and Jacobson's second consecutive year in the competition at the Sundance festival, regarded as the foremost showcase for American independent films. Past festivals have included films that have charted the history of independent cinema such as "Sex, Lies and Videotape," "Hoop Dreams," "The Full Monty," "Shine," "The Blair Witch Project" and "In the Bedroom."

"Sundance provides filmmakers major exposure and the opportunity to find the perfect distributor," Willmott said. "The idea is to go there and sell the film so we can get our message out to as many people as possible. We want people all over the world to see that relevant, high-quality films can be made in the Midwest. This film is another facet of KU's 'Commitment to Excellence.' We hope people will see this film, and think, 'Wow, KU has really got it going on!'"

Jacobson first attended the festival this year for his work with the documentary "Bukowski: Born into This." Jacobson noted, "It was one of the few documentaries to find a distributor at the 2003 festival. It's exciting to be going back for 2004. It's not often that a cinematographer from Kansas, or anywhere, for that matter, makes it into competition at a festival like this two years in a row."

Both he and Willmott hope "CSA" will experience similar success.

Willmott credited Mechele Leon, KU assistant professor of theatre, for introducing him to a friend, Liz Manne, who is known as a producer's representative in the independent film world. "Having a producer's rep helps to get you invited to major festivals," Willmott noted. "I think your film has to speak for itself, but I like to credit Mechele for steering us toward a producer's rep who really understands and likes a uniquely challenging project like 'CSA.'"

Willmott, who grew up in Junction City, described his satire as probably the most controversial film never to have sex, nudity or violence, due to the topic -- slavery. In "CSA," slavery is alive and well in modern America.

"The South lost the war, but they sold us on their way of life -- segregating the races," Willmott said. Willmott posed questions to support his premise: "How did Kansas, a free state, become segregated? Or how did Lawrence, a city founded by abolitionists, become segregated? Why is it the Topeka Board of Education case? You would think it would be the Mississippi Board of Education case."

An earlier version of the film sold out for the Feb. 21 Lawrence premiere at Liberty Hall during the Langston Hughes February Festival celebrating Kansas writers and artists. Willmott scheduled a second screening in April that played to a capacity crowd. Jacobson presented a special screening of the film at the John W. Campbell Science Fiction Conference at KU in July.

In previous screenings in Salina, Kansas City, Rochester, N.Y., South Dakota and Springfield, Ill., the film was well received. Some viewers wanted copies of the film to use as a tool to teach history and race relations.

Willmott hopes festivals such as Sundance will help him sell the film for distribution to theatres throughout the country.

"CSA" funding sources included a grant from the National Black Programming Consortium, a PBS affiliate and KU's New Faculty Research Grant program.

Willmott deliberately wrote a satirical script hoping to find a popular market for a film on slavery -- a topic that hasn't sold well in Hollywood. "I wanted to find a way around Hollywood's lack of interest in producing films about slavery," he said.

Although slavery in modern America seems absurd, Willmott said his film never winks at the camera. "We play it totally straight," he said. "We worked hard to make this film a believable, seamless document that takes you into this world and doesn't allow you to step out of it. The absurdity of it, the humor, comes from, I think, taking it seriously."

Willmott's previous films include "Ninth Street," winner of the Independent Film Channel Award and based on Willmott's experiences growing up in Junction City.

Cast and production members came from throughout the area. They include:

From Atchison
Rupert Pate, actor (Sherman Hoyle, Southern historian).

From Augusta
Sean Blake, 2001 theatre and film alumnus, son of Mr. and Mrs. Paul Blake; co-producer, editor and actor.

From Humboldt
Jim and Debbie Lake, Sandy Wells, Rick Riley, John Booth, R.C. Brown, Shawn English, John Hodgden, Randy Downey, Bob and Venita Clark, Matt and Brett Dawson, Charlie Cress and Eric Cole, actors.

From Lawrence
Rick and Jeanne Averill and Will Averill, actors; Tim DePape, cameraman; Vickie Goetz, graduate student, production manager, assistant editor; Ollie Hall, associate producer; Novotny Lawrence, doctoral student in theatre and film, actor; Niki Newland, theatre and film 2001 alumna, cameraperson and gaffer; Mark Von Schlemmer, editing assistant; and Marvin Voth, executive producer.

From Newton
Arlo Caspar, actor (Abraham Lincoln).

From Overland Park
Matt Simon, actor.

From Waterloo, Iowa
Nathan Richardson, senior in theatre and film, son of W. Roy Richardson; assistant editor.

From Jefferson City, Mo.
Brian Woodman, doctoral student in theatre and film, son of Elaine Schellmeyer; actor.

From Kansas City, Mo.
Queen Bey, actor; Don Carlton, actor; Rick Cowan, producer; Kerwin Looney, associate producer; Kevin Mckinney, actor; Larry Peterson, actor (John Ambrose Fauntroy V); and Benjamin Meade, co-producer.

From New York, N.Y.
EvaMarii Johnson, actor (historian from the University of Montreal).

From Medellin, Colombia
Fernando Arenas, doctoral student in theatre and film; actor.