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Bless Their Little Hearts by Billy Woodberry

Wed May 27, 2026
Screening
Black and white still of a little boy sitting at a dining table holding up noodles with a fork and knife in front of his face and staring at it.
Billy Woodberry, Bless Their Little Hearts, 1984. Image courtesy Kino Lorber and Milestone Films.

Tickets & Info

Tickets & Info

Book tickets Become a member
When Wed May 27, 2026
Where Walker Cinema
Price $15; $12 Walker members, seniors, and students
Part of: Films of the LA Rebellion
Black and white still of a kid in a striped shirt wearing an oversized mask of a cartoony dog head. The kid holds their hands up to their mouth.

Part of: Films of the LA Rebellion

Struggling to overcome chronic unemployment in the LA neighborhood of Watts, Charlie Banks (Nate Hardman) begins to question his spiritual value. His wayward search for integrity jeopardizes his marriage to Andais (Kaycee Moore, Daughters of the Dust) and threatens the community they’ve built. Billy Woodberry’s debut feature is a gripping portrait of a family struggling against poverty, drawing on Italian neorealist style to reveal the intimate consequences of socioeconomic hardship. Written and shot by fellow LA Rebellion filmmaker Charles Burnett, the film carries the aesthetic and political signature of the movement Woodberry and Burnett helped establish. 1984, US, DCP, 80 min.

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Bio

Billy Woodberry is an independent filmmaker, historian, and multimedia artist. Born in Dallas, he studied filmmaking at the UCLA School of Theater, Film, and Television in the 1970s. A key member of the generation of independent filmmakers called the LA Rebellion, and close collaborator of Charles Burnett, Woodberry focused his first films on the quotidian striving of working-class Black communities of LA. His debut feature film, Bless Their Little Hearts (1984), screened at the Berlin Film Festival and was including in the Library of Congress National Film Registry in 2013. He has since moved into documentary work, including And When I Die, I Won’t Stay Dead (2015) and Marseilles après la guerre (2016). His recent documentary film Mário premiered at the 2024 International Film Festival Rotterdam. Woodberry has taught at the School of Film/Video and the School of Art at the California Institute of the Arts since 1989.

Accessibility

For more information about accessibility at the Walker, visit our Access page.

For questions about accessibility or to request additional accommodations, call 612-375-7564 or email access@walkerart.org.

Before Your Visit

Find us at 725 Vineland Place, Minneapolis, MN 55403.

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Personal photography is permitted throughout the Walker and the Minneapolis Sculpture Garden, but please turn off the flash when visiting the galleries.

To help us promote future events and programs, this event may be photographed or recorded. By attending, you consent to appear in this documentation and its future use by the museum. Please let staff know upon arrival if you prefer not to be photographed.

Dates & Tickets

    Mon May 25 — Sun May 31, 2026
  • Wed May 27, 2026