September 27, 2017
Page 9
Mississippi
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African-American life in the Watts community of Los Angeles post 1968 is captured in the 1977 film “Killer of Sheep,” a cornerstone work of independent
cinema by noted black director Charles Burnett. The film will screen Monday, Oct. 2 at Whitsell Auditorium at the Portland Art Museum, downtown.
Black Director’s Masterpiece
A masterpiece film offering a ten-
der yet realized vision of life in 1970s
Watts, the racially segregated suburb
of Los Angeles where poverty, racism
and riots doomed the area for gener-
ations, gets a screening at Portland’s
Northwest Film Center.
“Killer of Sheep” was made by
noted African American filmmaker
Charles Burnett, considered a corner-
stone work of independent cinema of
the 1970s.
Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders), the
titular slaughterhouse worker and a
man like any other, holds this steady
yet brutal job in order to support his
family. When Stan begins to find the
work repulsive, he must deal with
the consequences of either quit-
ting―despite his wife’s protests and
the terrible job prospects for a black
man in Watts―or continuing to per-
form work that has a highly symbol-
ic meaning in this specific time and
place, and considering Stan’s circum-
stances.
The film screens on Monday, Oct. 2
at 7 p.m. at the Northwest Film Cen-
ter’s Whitsell Auditorium at the Port-
land Art Museum, downtown. Admis-
sion is $9 general and $8 for students
and seniors.