Killer of Sheep

In the aftermath of protests against racial injustice that erupted in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles in 1965, an independent Black cinema movement, known as the L.A. Rebellion, emerged from an inclusive new film studies program at UCLA. One of the many important filmmakers who were part of the L.A. Rebellion was Charles Burnett, whose brilliant debut feature, Killer of Sheep, was filmed on a minuscule budget of just $10,000. Set in Watts, it tells the story of a sensitive dreamer (Henry Gayle Sanders) who begins to grow numb from the daily toll that his job and lack of money are taking on him and his family.

Killer of Sheep faced distribution challenges for years. Elected to the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry in 1990, granting the film the status of a national treasure, it has nevertheless taken until now for Killer of Sheep to receive the director-supervised full restoration it has long deserved. 

“A monumental work. Charles Burnett’s contribution to cinema has for too long gone understated.”—Barry Jenkins, director, Moonlight