Film
Killer of Sheep + Shorts
- 7PM
Dir. Charles Burnett
With Henry G. Sanders, Kaycee Moore, Charles Bracy
1979, 80min, DCP
The greatest student film ever made, Charles Burnett’s UCLA thesis work is a landmark of American neorealism, an at once gritty and poetic portrait of working-class African-American life in the Watts neighborhood of LA. The story of a slaughterhouse worker (Sanders) struggling to find fulfillment in the face of crushing societal forces is graced with moments of startling lyricism—including, indelibly, a transcendent slow dance to Dinah Shore’s This Bitter Earth.
Dir. Alile Sharon Larkin
1979, 27min, 16mm
One of the most distinctive voices to emerge from the LA Rebellion movement, Alile Sharon Larkin illustrates the economic struggle of an African-American single mother from the point of view of her young daughter. Featuring cinematography by Charles Burnett.
16mm restored print courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Dir. Don Amis
1974, 9min, Digital
“We are black, we are strong, we are determined.” An inside look at a Black Power community school in Los Angeles where kids are taught Afrocentric history, self-defense, and black pride.
Digital tape presentation courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive.
Go to the movies just once a month and a BAM membership pays for itself.
A stunning mix of vérité authenticity, densely stylized surrealism, and radical agitprop.
An audacious mix of satire, whiplash stylistics, and anti-colonialist indignation.
A jolting look at the link between the 60s black liberation and anti-war movements.