"Charles Burnett is the most gifted and important black filmmaker this country has ever had." — Jonathan Rosenbaum, Film Critic

Born in 1944 in Mississippi, Charles Burnett grew up in Los Angeles. After receiving an engineering degree from Los Angeles Community College, he enrolled in the UCLA film school in the 1970s. In what would be coined "The L.A. Rebellion," Burnett—along with Julie Dash (DAUGHTERS OF THE DUST), Haile Gerima (HARVEST: 3,000 YEARS), and Billy Woodbury (BLESS THEIR HEARTS)—began making politically and socially engaged cinema in direct opposition to mainstream media stereotypes and the Hollywood Blaxploitation that reigned over the decade.

Despite his legendary status in the film world and with all of his critical acclaim — the festival awards, the MacArthur Foundation's "genius" grant— Charles Burnett remains relatively unacknowledged in the mainstream press. Burnett's films are often compared to works by the neo-realist masters—Rossellini, Renoir, Ozu. Likewise, Burnett's cinema is anchored in the realism of everyday life but burns through to something more politically aware, more human(e), more uniquely American than almost anything else ever put to celluloid.

AFI Silver is proud to screen KILLER OF SHEEP, MY BROTHER'S WEDDING, SHORTS PROGRAM (featuring SEVERAL FRIENDS, THE HORSE, WHEN IT RAINS and QUIET AS KEPT) and BLESS THEIR LITTLE HEARTS.

AFI Member passes will be accepted at all screenings in the Charles Burnett series.

KILLER OF SHEEP

"A masterpiece. One of the most insightful and authentic dramas about African-American life on film. One of the finest American films, period." — Dave Kehr, The New York Times

100 Essential Films, National Society of Film Critics
National Film Registry, 1990

One of the first films to be selected as a national treasure by the Library of Congress, KILLER OF SHEEP is director Charles Burnett's UCLA thesis film, shot in crisp black and white on location in Watts with mostly non-professional actors. Protagonist Stan (Henry G. Sanders) is a dreamy but weary family man who works at the local slaughterhouse. His pretty wife (Kaycee Moore) and children, unable to connect with him, try to take solace in small moments at home, while outside the neighborhood churns with packs of roaming kids, bizarre neighbors, and people narrowly scraping by.

DIR/SCR/PROD Charles Burnett. 1977, b&w, 83 min.

Saturday, February 9, 5:30; Sunday, February 10, 5:30; Monday, February 11, 7:00; Wednesday, February 13, 6:30 ($5 Montgomery College Show)

MY BROTHER'S WEDDING

"A film so firmly and organically rooted in a specific time and place that it seems to contain worlds." -A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Burnett's follow-up to KILLER OF SHEEP has remained largely unseen due to lack of distribution, a failure which film critic Armond White called "a catastrophic blow to the development of American pop culture." Beautifully restored by the Pacific Film Archive with a new re-edit by the director, MY BROTHER'S WEDDING tracks the intelligent but disaffected Everett Silas as he roams his Watts neighborhood and labors in his parents' dry cleaning shop -aware of his few prospects for the future- while his brother busily prepares himself for marriage into the bourgeoisie.

DIR/SCR/PROD Charles Burnett; PROD Gaye Shannon-Burnett. 1983, color, 115 min.

Saturday, February 16, 5:00; Sunday, February 17, 5:05; Mon., February 18, 7:00

SHORTS PROGRAM featuring SEVERAL FRIENDS, THE HORSE and WHEN IT RAINS

SEVERAL FRIENDS

The precursor to KILLER OF SHEEP, Burnett's first film is a neo-realist-inspired depiction of the frustrations and resilience of a group of friends.

DIR Charles Burnett. US, 1969, b&w, 23 min.

THE HORSE

This elegiac tale about a group of men and a young boy waiting on the boy's father to put down a horse received first prize at Oberhausen's short film festival.

DIR Charles Burnett. US, 1973, color, 14 min.

WHEN IT RAINS

Watts, 1960s. A man's quest for money to save a mother and her children from eviction by the landlord turns into a superbly comical, outrageous expedition through the lives and attitudes of various characters. A parable on the value of community.

DIR Charles Burnett. US, 1995, color, 14 min.

QUIET AS KEPT

A short on Hurricane Katrina.

DIR Charles Burnett. US, 2006, color, 6 min.

SHORTS PROGRAM: Saturday, February 23, 5:10; Sunday, February 24, 5:20

BLESS THEIR LITTLE HEARTS

One of the buried jewels of American independent cinema, this film has been aptly compared to neo-realist classics by Vittorio De Sica. A poetically realist look at the life of the Banks family in South Central Los Angeles during the 1980s. BLESS THEIR LITTLE HEARTS centers on the way each family member deals with the father's inability to be a breadwinner for the household. Burnett served as screenwriter and cinematographer, and his children are onscreen talent. (note courtesy Museum of Fine Arts, Boston)

DIR Billy Woodberry; SCR Charles Burnett. US, 1984, b&w, 80 min.

Saturday, March 1, 5:30; Sunday, March 2, 5:30; Wednesday, March 5, 9:30