Contact:
Janet Crow, Hall Center for the Humanities, (785) 864-7823
LAWRENCE-- A condensed version of "Ninth Street," a 1999 award-winnning
feature film directed by Kevin Willmott, KU assistant professor of theatre
and film, and Tim Rebman will be shown at noon Friday, March 9, during a
free workshop on the influence of oral history in Kansas.
The workshop runs from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the Jayhawk Room of the Kansas
Union and is free and open to the public. The film will be shown in Alderson
Auditorium.
Willmott will show a condensed version of the 95-minute movie about the
importance of keeping regional culture alive in Junction City during the
noon break of the workshop.
The film stars Isaac Hayes, Queen Bey and Martin Sheen and is based on
stories Willmott's mother told him about the legendary street in Junction
City in 1968. The film received first place in the feature film category of
the Black Filmmaker's Hall of Fame. Now available in video, the film was
premiered at film festivals in Berlin, London and Australia.
In the film, a group of longtime residents look back on the years when
Junction City was a Midwestern jazz landmark known as "the Harlem of
Kansas." As they look back fondly on the past, they grapple with the decline
of their city and the modern day problems that go along with it.
Willmott is currently directing "The Glass Menagerie" at the Coterie Theatre
in Kansas City, Mo.
KU's Hall Center for the Humanities, Project on the History of Black Writing
and Indigenous Nations Studies Program, sponsors the workshop.
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