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Short Films | More… |
| USA 1969-1995, DV, b&w and colour (M offensive language) | ||
| “Three ironic and inspiring short films spanning Burnett’s career. Several Friends, an episodic jaunt through working class life in South Central Los Angeles, the film paints a neorealist picture of these friends’ frustrations, foibles, and resilience. The Horse, an idiosyncratic tale about a group of men and a young boy awaiting the arrival of the boy’s father to put down a horse. When It Rains, a beautifully spun, hopeful parable about humanity trumping the system. | ||
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Killer of Sheep | More… |
| USA 1977, 35mm, b&w (M low level offensive language) | ||
| “Made while Burnett was a grad student at UCLA, Killer of Sheep is a study of social paralysis in South Central Los Angeles a dozen years after the Watts insurrection; its protagonist Stan works in an abattoir (hence the title) and is depressed, dreamy, and always worried-looking. The subject matter harks back to the heyday of Italian neorealism, but Burnett uses the film language of experimental documentaries for his urban pastoral – an episodic series of scenes that are sweet, sardonic, deeply sad, and very funny.” – J Hoberman | ||
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My Brother's Wedding | More… |
| USA 1983/2007, DV (M sex scenes) | ||
| Burnett’s long unavailable second film (only recently completed) gives us a tragicomic portrait of a shiftless young man torn between his family and the pending nuptials of his upwardly mobile brother and his loyalty to a troublemaking, recently paroled friend. Using non-professional actors, Burnett balances melodrama with calm observation, offering an eloquently ambivalent portrayal of the ties that bind. “A treasure that demands to be unearthed in all its funny-sad tenderness.” – Village Voice | ||
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To Sleep with Anger | More… |
| USA 1990, 35mm (PG adult themes) | ||
| A departure from the barebones brilliance of Burnett’s earlier lower budget films sees Southern trickster Danny Glover bring division and disaster to a middle-class family in South Central Los Angeles. Filled with invention and ambiguity: from the easy insightfulness of a screenplay flush with folkloric allusions and complex characters, to Burnett’s masterful, unhurried direction and crafty editing. “Droll, visionary, alarming, ironic, and deeply moving, all at the same time.” – The Nation | ||
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The Glass Shield | More… |
| USA 1995, DV (M cert) | ||
| “A scathing look at the racism and corruption of the Los Angeles police force, Burnett’s slickly photographed neo-noir thriller investigates the moral integrity of rookie cop Michael Boatman. The first black officer to serve in an all-white precinct, he is pressured into framing rapper Ice Cube for the murder of a wealthy white woman. “One of the most penetrating explorations of institutional racism ever made.” – New Yorker. | ||
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| Charles Burnett | |
| Presentation of these films is made possible by the generous support of Creative New Zealand. | |
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Born in Mississippi, Charles Burnett was raised in Los Angeles, in an environment he later described as “Southern in culture... A lot of traditions were carried on, and storytelling was one.” At UCLA’s film school in the early 1970s, Burnett set out to tell stories about African American life that rejected the clichés of the commercial cinema – both Blaxploitation-style sensationalism and simplistic “positive images”. Early works, such as the short Several Friends and his thesis film Killer of Sheep, found unexpected beauty and humour in the everyday struggles of ordinary people under crushing economic and social pressures. Focused on family and community, embracing ambiguity and irony, they set a pattern for the films to come… Jonathan Rosenbaum has called Burnett “the most gifted and important black filmmaker this country has ever had”. |