Killer of Sheep by Charles Burnett
Tickets & Info
Tickets & Info
June 10: $15; $12 Walker members, seniors, and students
Part of: Films of the LA Rebellion
Set in the Watts neighborhood of LA, Killer of Sheep is a poetic portrait of 1970s blue-collar African American life. The film focuses on slaughterhouse worker Stan, his family, and their surroundings as he and their neighbors toil to make everyday ends meet. The exhaustion of adult life is juxtaposed with the movement of the neighborhood’s children and their wonder. In one lyrical image, Stan and his wife slow dance while the youth jump from roof to roof across Watts’s inner-city enclaves, seeking ways to move their lives forward. Made with a minimal budget and a majority nonprofessional cast, this recent 4K restoration release brings to a new life the sharp black-and-white images of this defining work of Black independent filmmaking. 1977, US, DCP, 81 min.
Watch this film for free on May 28 as part of Free Thursday Night programming.
Charles Burnett is an independent filmmaker widely praised for his portrayal of the African American experience. Born in Mississippi and raised in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Burnett is a key member of the LA Rebellion independent Black film movement, a generation of Black filmmakers who studied filmmaking at UCLA in the 1960s to 1980s. He wrote, directed, produced, photographed, and edited his first feature film, Killer of Sheep, in 1977. Other features include My Brother’s Wedding, To Sleep with Anger, The Glass Shield, and Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation. Burnett’s documentaries include America Becoming and Nat Turner: A Troublesome Property. His work also includes short films such as The Horse and When It Rains. He received an Academy Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 2017.
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Dates & Tickets
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Thu May 28, 2026
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Wed Jun 10, 2026
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