Presented as part of our Charles Burnett Retrospective. Burnett will be honored in person with our Cinema Savant award on Saturday, November 2 at 7pm. Event information can be found here.

"As timeless as the human condition." - Seattle Times

"Poverty in the ghetto is not the guns and drugs we see on TV. It is more often like life in this movie: good, honest, hard-working people trying to get by, keep up their hopes, love their children and get a little sleep." - Roger Ebert

"Burnett's acute and sensitive direction is free of hackneyed movie conventions; even something as simple as a hello is said differently from the way you've heard it in any other movie." - Chicago Reader

In Killer of Sheep, Stan, employed at a slaughterhouse, is suffering from the emotional side effects of his bloody occupation to such a degree that his entire life unhinges. Killer of Sheep was one of the first 50 films to be selected for the Library of Congress' National Film Registry and was chosen by the National Society of Film Critics as one of the 100 Essential Films.

Presented with Burnett's short films Quiet As Kept (2007, 6 minutes). A teenage boy leaves a moment of boredom while his father works on his old car, and the mother mishes to go out for a stroll around the block.

Presented with Burnett's short film When It Rains (1995, 13 minutes). A musician spends New Year's Day trying to help his friend pay the rent.