'Confederate States of America' film to be shown April 5-6 in Oldfather Studios

LAWRENCE -- In response to area requests for a second screening, "Confederate States of America," the satirical film on slavery by Kevin Willmott, assistant professor of theatre and film at the University of Kansas, will be shown at 7 and 9 p.m. April 5 and 6 in Oldfather Studios, 1621 W. Ninth. Tickets are $7 each at the door.

Willmott, scriptwriter and producer of "CSA," said the film sold out Feb. 21 at Liberty Hall during the Langston Hughes February Festival celebrating Kansas writers and artists.

"When the film sold out, Liberty Hall scheduled a second screening at 11 p.m. to accommodate people that same night, but we have had calls and e-mails from so many who were not able to attend either of those screenings that we decided to show it locally again," Willmott said.

"CSA" is not yet on the market as a video. Willmott started filming "CSA" with a grant from the National Black Programming Consortium, a PBS affliate. The consortium will have official first look at the film.

Willmott describes his satire as probably the most controversial film never to have sex, nudity or violence, due to the topic -- slavery. Slavery is alive and well in modern America in his film. "CSA" uses a faux documentary style to examine what the United States would be like if the South had won the Civil War.

"The South lost the war, but they sold us on their way of life -- segregating the races," Willmott said. A Kansas native, Willmott poses 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."

Willmott was inspired to use a documentary style after watching the Ken Burns documentary on the Civil War. A reference in that documentary to a plan by the South to build a tropical empire prompted Willmott to ask, "What if the South had won?"

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 deliberately wrote a satirical script hoping to find a popular market for a film on slavery.

"Slavery is a topic that doesn't sell well in Hollywood," he said. Although Willmott has sold several scripts to Hollywood producers and has won awards for his work, his scripts involving slavery remain unproduced. Producers told him, "'Beloved' didn't do well. 'Amistad' didn't do well." Most films about the Civil War focus on military and political heroes or details of battles but exclude slavery, Willmott said.

"I wanted to find a way around Hollywood's lack of interest in producing films about slavery," he said.

Willmott hopes his film will prompt audiences to think and talk about slavery and racism and their impact on our society more than 135 years after the war. Willmott said he believes that American history must be discussed and that too little is known of our history of slavery and racism. In previous screenings in Salina, Kansas City, 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's previous films include "Ninth Street," winner of the Independent Film Channel Award and based on Willmott's experiences growing up in Junction City.