Includes bibliographical references, filmography, and index.
Contents:
Killer of sheep : Charles Burnett and the poetry of oppression / David C. Wall and Michael T. Martin -- Cinema and Black liberation / David E. James -- Struggles for the sign in the Black Atlantic : Los Angeles Collective of Black filmmakers / Michael T. Martin -- Charles Burnett : a reconsideration of third cinema / Amy Abugo Ongiri -- Charles Burnett : consummate cineaste / Michael T. Martin -- Toward a geo-cinematic hermeneutics : representations of Los Angeles in non-industrial cinema-Killer of sheep and Water and power / David E. James -- An aesthetic appropriate to conditions : Killer of sheep, (neo)realism, and the documentary impulse / Paula J. Massood -- Neorealism meets the blues in Charles Burnett's Killer of sheep / Keith Mehlinger -- Killer of sheep / James Naremore -- Killer of sheep / Jeffrey Skoller -- Nous revenons à nos moutons : regarding animals in Charles Burnett's Killer of sheep / Sarah O'Brien.
Summary:
"Charles Burnett's 1977 film, Killer of Sheep is one of the towering classics of African American cinema. As a deliberate counterpoint to popular blaxploitation films of the period, it combines harsh images of the banality of everyday oppression with scenes of lyrical beauty, and depictions of stark realism with flights of comic fancy. From Street to Screen: Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep" is the first book-length collection dedicated to the film and designed to introduce viewers to this still relatively unknown masterpiece. Beginning life as Burnett's Master's thesis project in 1973, and shot on a budget of $10,000, Killer of Sheep immediately became a cornerstone of the burgeoning movement in African American film that came to be known variously as the LA School or LA Rebellion. By bringing together a wide variety of material, this volume covers both the politics and aesthetics of the film as well as its deeper social and contextual histories. This expansive and incisive critical companion will serve equally as the perfect starting point and standard reference for all viewers, whether they are already familiar with the film or coming to it for the first time"-- Provided by publisher.
This resource is supported by the Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act as administered by State Library of Iowa.