Sunday 12 May 2024, Can Dialectics Break Bricks Cinema: Killer of Sheep * 1978 * Directed by Charles Burnett * 80 minutes * In English* free screening * doors open at 8pm * intro & film start at 8.30
Back in the 1970s there was a defiant wave of black filmmakers on the West Coast of America that would later be known as the L.A. Rebellion. This movement broke out of the film department at U.C.L.A, so their movies were mostly based in Los Angeles. And since the filmmakers were primarily black, the films were exposing the poverty, violence, and everyday racism that their communities endured. One of the key directors that emerged from this movement was Charles Burnett, and this was his debut.. The depiction of his community was so tenderly and honestly rendered in this flick, that it became legendary even though it was pushed underground and never shown to a mass public audience.
What’s the story of this film?I don’t want to say very much, because everybody is fixated on stories. The Killer of Sheep focuses on the slums of Watts during the late 70s. It’s about a guy who dreams, but who is forced to work in a slaughterhouse. It’s about his family, and the world around him. That’s all I will say, and let the movie unfold for itself.
Today a lot of people in universities seem to get off on using sophisticated academic language that separates them from everyone else. This creates a clique or an elite group that ends up basically just talking amongst each other. This is the last thing we need. Back in the 70s this was much less of a problem, and someone like Charles Burnett was able to speak in a human way, and on a human level. This didn’t preclude experimentation or creativity. In fact it was exactly the opposite. The members of the L.A. Rebellion wanted to redefine the aesthetics of cinema, but to do that, they didn’t resort to academia to define their new forms, they instead went into the streets. Too many artists are creating with their head these days, and not with their heart. They are convinced that the heart can’t be creative, but they are so wrong. This film is a perfect example of this.
Film night at Joe’s Garage, cozy cinema! Free entrance. You want to screen a movie, let us know: joe [at] lists [dot] squat [dot] net
