Directed by Charles Burnett
USA | 1977 | Fiction | 83 min | English
Film Source: Kino Lorberv
Sponsored by: Bill Michaud
More than a landmark in independent filmmaking, Killer of Sheep is one of the finest films ever made about finding meaning in the hardships of everyday living. Set in the Watts area of Los Angeles—a predominantly Black neighborhood still showing the scars of the 1965 racial justice riots—Charles Burnett’s episodic first feature centers on a sleep-deprived slaughterhouse worker (Henry G. Sanders) and his proudly resilient wife (Kaycee Moore), whose marriage wavers under the burden of financial strain. With gentle humor and a discerning documentary eye, Burnett finds poetry in the rhythms of workaday life—the sensuous comfort of a warm cup of coffee; the transient thrill of a new car engine; the melancholy joy of slow dancing to a Dinah Washington ballad. Made for less than $10,000, Burnett’s UCLA thesis film interweaves street scenes of childhood play that serve as a Greek chorus questioning what it means to be an adult in a world where children grow up fast. ~LB ***Followed by an in-person Q&A with director Charles Burnett, recipient of VTIFF’s Award for Outstanding Contribution to American Cinema*** Thank you to UVM’s College of Arts & Sciences, Film & Television Studies Program and Humanities Center for assistance in bringing and hosting Mr. Burnett. Thank you to UVM’s College of Arts & Sciences, Film & Television Studies Program and Humanities Center for assistance in bringing and hosting Mr. Burnett.