Called a "founding text of the new African-American cinema" by the Village Voice's film critic J. Hoberman, Charles Burnett's Killer of Sheep was long unavailable due to music rights issues. In 2007, a number of donations made the film available for a wide-release for the first time since its creation in 1977. Immediately it was recognized as a classic, one of the greatest works in American independent cinema.
Killer of Sheep's free-flowing plot follows a butcher and his family living in poverty in Watts. Visually striking, poetic, and moving, ultimately there isn't enough flowery marketing language to throw at the film to do it justice. Just see it. (In fact, you may already have glimpsed a small piece: Mos Def used a still from the film for the cover of his 2009 album The Ecstatic.)
Killer of Sheep (1977)
Wednesday, April 6
7 p.m.
MoMA
11 West 53 St, New York
Tickets $10 (at the door only)
