Charles Burnett short films 1969 - 2007

Programme

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  Several Friends (1969, 22')

  The debut directorial work of Charles Burnett, made while he was a student at UCLA. Shot on 16mm, the film explores the everyday lives and restless ennui of a group of young people in the Watts neighbourhood South Central Los Angeles. It offers an early insight into Burnett’s unique documentary-like approach to fiction, as well as his skill with non-professional actors. The film also acts as an early marker of the LA Rebellion film movement, which sought to develop a Black cinema alternative to Hollywood that better reflected the filmmakers’ lived experiences by drawing on Italian Neorealism and Cinema Verité techniques.

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  The Horse (1973, 13')

  An exquisite, Faulkner-esque short that follows a young Black boy who keeps a horse company on its final day, while its White owners wait for the boy's father to arrive to put it down. Directed, produced and edited by Burnett, this stripped-back student film simmers with the poignant contrast between violence and compassion.

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  When It Rains (1995, 13')

  When a woman and her daughter threatened with eviction on New Year’s Day, a musician sets out to convince local citizens to contribute to their rent. Starring Ayuko Babu (founder of the LA Pan African Film Festival) as himself, and featuring a striking performance by jazz saxophonist John Handy, When it Rains is a joyous and poetic portrait of community that evokes the rhythms of jazz in its movements. Made shortly after his dramatic feature The Glass Shield (1994), this short is a playful return to Burnett’s roots in the Watts district of LA.

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  Quiet as Kept (2007, 6')

  In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, a family who have been displaced from New Orleans discuss the systematic failures that compound the difficulty of their situation. Shrinkflation, gentrification and the lack of black role models in mainstream cinema all coalesce in this conversation, which serves as a telling portrait of life at the margins.