Killer of Sheep (1978)

Director Charles Burnett made a cinéma vérité-style film about Stan, a slaughterhouse worker and resident of the Watts neighbourhood. Stan (Henry Gale Sanders) comes home from work utterly exhausted but tries to keep his spirits up, just like his wife (Kaycee More). The camera follows the cast – largely made up of Burnett’s friends and acquaintances – in loosely connected episodes that together form a ‘slice of life’; friends drop by, the children play, neighbours strike up a conversation. Burnett submitted the 16mm film as his graduation project to the UCLA film school, featuring a soundtrack with songs by top acts such as Etta James, Earth, Wind & Fire, Dinah Washington and works by Gershwin and Rachmaninov. Due to the high cost of music rights, the film could not be distributed, but ‘underground’ screenings established Burnett’s reputation. 4K restoration from 2025 by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Milestone Films, and The Criterion Collection, from the original 16mm black-and-white negatives, the original 35mm sound mix and the original 16mm master mix. (1978 · Charles Burnett · 82 min) Screening at De Uitkijk.