Killer of Sheep

Director Charles Burnett created a cinema vérité-like tale about Stan, who lives in Watts and puts in long hours at a slaughterhouse. Stan (Henry Gale Sanders) comes home from work dead tired but manages to put up a brave face, as does his wife (Kaycee More). The camera follows the cast – largely made up of Burnett's friends and acquaintances – in loosely connected episodes that together form a slice of life; friends drop by, the kids are playing, neighbours come over to say hello.

Burnett's 16mm film was his final project at UCLA's Film Department, and came with a soundtrack featuring songs by top performers like Etta James, Earth Wind & Fire and Dinah Washington and music by Gershwin and Rachmaninov. Due to the the low budget it was impossible to distribute the film, but 'underground' screenings established Burnett”s name.

Killer of Sheep was everything a Blaxploitation film was not: an enacted but realistic portrait of life in a black deprived neighbourhood, without undue emphasis on drugs and violence and without funky action heroes in the lead role.

L.A. Rebellion

“The most influential film you never saw” was restored by UCLA Film Archives in 2007 and was officially released, now with the music rights secured, as a tribute to Charles Burnett and the independent black cinema of the seventies. At that time Burnett belonged to the L.A. Rebellion, a group of African American, Caribbean and African filmmakers and video makers who were inspired by such events as the violent riots in Watts (1965), a large black neighbourhood in South Los Angeles. Its population rose up against poverty, the lack of education and social exclusion.

"An American masterpiece, independent to the bone." (The New York Times)

"Charles' contribution to cinema – to a very particular cinema – has for too long gone understated. A monumental work." (Barry Jenkins, director of Moonlight)

Re-release by Eye, 4K restoration by UCLA Film & Television Archive, Milestone Films, & The Criterion Collection.