Killer Of Sheep (digital restoration)
Director Charles Burnett filmed a cinéma vérité-style story about Stan, a slaughterhouse worker in the Watts neighborhood. Stan (Henry Gale Sanders) comes home from work utterly exhausted but tries to stay in good spirits, just like his wife (Kaycee More). The camera follows the cast—largely made up of Burnett’s friends and acquaintances—in loosely connected episodes that together form a slice of life.
Burnett submitted the 16mm film as his graduation project to the film program at UCLA, with a soundtrack featuring Etta James, Earth, Wind & Fire, Dinah Washington, Gershwin, and Rachmaninoff, among others. Due to high music licensing fees, the film could not be distributed, but “underground” screenings established Burnett’s reputation.
A 4K restoration from 2025 by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Milestone Films, and The Criterion Collection, based on the original 16mm black-and-white negatives, the original 35mm sound mix, and the original 16mm master mix.
