New 4K Restoration!

Charles Burnett’s cinematic masterpiece KILLER OF SHEEP, magnificently restored in 4K with sparkling picture and sound, is one of the crown jewels of the Black indie filmmaking movement known as the L.A. Rebellion. The film evokes the everyday trials, fragile pleasures, and tenacious humor of blue-collar African Americans living in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles in the 1970s. Burnett made it on a minuscule budget with a mostly nonprofessional cast, combining keen on-the-street observation with a carefully crafted script 

The story centers on Stan (Sanders), a slaughterhouse worker battling exhaustion and disconnected from his wife, his children, and himself. Stan and his neighbors struggle just to get by, let alone get ahead. Only the kids, leaping from roof to roof, seem to achieve a mobility that eludes their elders. Burnett’s film focuses on everyday life in Black communities in a manner rarely seen in American cinema – combining lyrical elements with a starkly neorealist, documentary-style approach that combines deep nuance with riveting simplicity. – KinoLorber 

KILLER OF SHEEP has been digitally restored to 4K and remastered by UCLA Film & Television Archive, Milestone Films, and the Criterion Collection. Picture Restoration: Illuminate Hollywood. Photochemical Film Preservation: Film Technology Company. Sound Mix and Restoration: John Polito of Audio Mechanics and Larry Blake. Audio Transfers: DJ Audio, Endpoint Audio Labs. Music Rights: Chris Robertson, Global ImageWorks and Milestone Films. Restoration supervised by Ross Lipman and Jillian Borders in consultation with Charles Burnett. 

“A sharply observed, lyrically romantic drama” – Richard Brody, New Yorker

“An American masterpiece, independent to the bone.” – Manohla Dargis, New York Times

Please note: KILLER OF SHEEP and COMPENSATION show as double features when there are 2 consecutive showtimes.