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Director: Charles Burnett
Writer(s): Charles Burnett
Cast: Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, and Charles Bracy
As part of the 43rd Athens International Film + Video Festival, The Athena Cinema is honored to host renowned filmmaker Charles Burnett. Two of his films will be screened during the festival and Burnett will be in attendance to speak with audiences about his work and career.
Burnett’s first film, Killer of Sheep, was shot on 16 mm for his master’s thesis at UCLA. The film was largely ignored until a re release garnered the attention of the Guggenheim Foundation. In the years following the re release it won many awards including the FIPRESCI Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival and has been celebrated worldwide.
Killer of Sheep examines the black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who is growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse. Frustrated by money problems, he finds respite in moments of simple beauty: the warmth of a coffee cup against his cheek, slow dancing with his wife in the living room, holding his daughter. The film offers no solutions; it merely presents life — sometimes hauntingly bleak, sometimes filled with transcendent joy and gentle humor.
“Killer of Sheep caught the lives of the children with a fidelity to how kids really do fight, play, and cry — and how they can sometimes be cruel simply because they’re so scared.” — Rodger Ebert
Free admission supported by Ohio University’s Film Division, Black Student Cultural Programming Board, Multicultural Center and Programs, and the Athena Cinema. Tickets are free, however there are a limited number of seats available. Patrons are encouraged to secure tickets in advance.
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83 MIN
