film

The debut feature by Charles Burnett, a central figure in the LA Rebellion group of Black filmmakers in the 1960s and 1970s, Killer of Sheep was shot in striking black and white while Burnett was a student at UCLA. Set in the Watts neighbourhood of Los Angeles, where Burnett himself grew up, the film follows Stan, a slaughterhouse worker worn down by routine, money worries and emotional numbness. 

Burnett explores Stan's world via a mosaic of everyday moments – children leaping between rooftops, couples slow dancing in cramped living rooms, men talking about how they plan to finally make it big.Burnett’s use of non-professional actors and a soundtrack that drifts from blues to soul gives the film a documentary intimacy. Music rights problems made Killer of Sheep almost impossible to see for many years, an extra reason to get along and see what is these days rightly recognised as a masterpiece of African-American underground film.