Charles Burnett (; born April 13, 1944) is an American film director, film producer, writer, editor, actor, photographer, and cinematographer. His most popular films include Killer of Sheep (1978), My Brother's Wedding (1983), To Sleep with Anger (1990), The Glass Shield (1994), and Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation (2007). He has also directed several short films and documentary films.
Burnett has been named as "one of America's very best filmmakers" by the Chicago Tribune and "the nation's least-known great filmmaker and most gifted black director" by The New York Times.A Film by Charles Burnett – Filmmaker . Killer of Sheep. Retrieved on 4 July 2011. He received an Academy Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for being an "influential film pioneer who has chronicled the lives of black Americans with eloquence and insight" in 2017.
Early life and education Burnett was born on April 13, 1944, in Vicksburg, Mississippi, to a nurse's aide and a military father.Charles Burnett: Biography from. Answers.com. Retrieved on 4 July 2011. According to a DNA analysis, he is mainly descended from people from Sierra Leone. In 1947, Charles's family moved to Watts, a largely black neighborhood in South Los Angeles. Burnett was interested in expressing himself through art from a young age, but the economic pressure to maintain a stable job kept him from pursuing film or art in college.
Watts had a significant effect on Burnett's life and work. The community, which gained notoriety in 1965 when violent riots in the area caused the deaths of 34 people and injured more than 1,000, again made the news in 1992 when protestors turned to looting and arson following the acquittal of police officers tried for the beating of Rodney King. Burnett has said that the neighborhood had a strong Southern influence due to the large number of Southerners living in the area. Watts strongly influences his movies' subject matter, which often revolves around southern folklore mixed with modern themes. His film Killer of Sheep was set in Watts.Smith, Damon, "A Quiet Storm: Charles Burnett on Namibia and His Post-Killer of Sheep Career" (interview), Bright Lights Film Journal, April 30, 2008. Retrieved on 4 July 2011.
Burnett first enrolled at Los Angeles City College to study electronics in preparation for a career as an electrician. Dissatisfied, he took a writing class and decided that his earlier artistic ambitions needed to be explored and tested. He went on to earn a BA in writing and languages at the University of California, Los Angeles.Charles Burnett – Biography – Movies & TV – NYTimes.com. Movies.nytimes.com (1944-04-13). Retrieved on 4 July 2011.
In an interview for Cahiers du Cinéma, Burnett speculated that "a serious speech impediment" may have led him to become a filmmaker: I always felt like an outsidean observerwho wasn't able to participate because I couldn't speak very well. So this inability to communicate must have led me...to find some other means to express myself...I really liked a lot of the kids I grew up with. I felt an obligation to write something about them, to explain what went wrong with them. I think that's the reason I started to make these movies. Burnett continued his education at the UCLA film school, earning a Master of Fine Arts degree in theater arts and film. His experiences at UCLA had a profound influence on his work, and the students and faculty he worked with became his mentors and friends. Some fellow students include filmmaking greats like Larry Clark, Julie Dash, Jamaa Fanaka, Haile Gerima, and Billy Woodberry. The students' involvement in each other's films is highlighted by Burnett's work as a cinematographer for Haile Gerima's 1979 movie Bush Mama, as a crew member for Julie Dash's 1982 Illusions, and as a writer and cameraman for Billy Woodberry's Bless Their Little Hearts.A Film by Charles Burnett – About the Film. Killer of Sheep . Retrieved on 4 July 2011. His professors Elyseo Taylor, who created the department of Ethno-Communications, and Basil Wright, a British documentarian, also had a significant influence on his work.
The turbulent social events of 1967 and 1968 were vital in establishing the UCLA filmmaking movement known as the "Black Independent Movement”, in which Burnett was highly involved.Masilela, pp. 107–108 The films of this group of African and African American filmmakers had strong relevance to the politics and culture of the 1960s, yet stayed true to the history of their people. Their characters shifted from the middle class to the working class to highlight the tension caused by class conflict within African American families. The independent writers and directors strayed away from the mainstream and won critical approval for remaining faithful to African American history.Kleinhans, p. 61 Another accomplishment of the Black Independent Movement and Burnett was the creation of the Third World Film Club. The club joined with other organizations in a successful campaign to break the American boycott banning all forms of cultural exchange with Cuba.Masilela, p. 110 Many critics have compared the films of the Black Independent Movement to Italian neorealist films of the 1940s, Third World Cinema films of the late 1960s and 1970s, and the 1990s Iranian New Wave. At the time the movement flourished, many countries in the Third World were involved in a struggle for revolution, inspiring them to create films expressing their own indigenous views of their history and culture. In addition to staying true to history, many Black Independent Movement films have been considered a response to Hollywood and Blaxploitation films that were popular at the time.
Career Burnett's earliest works include his UCLA student films made with friends, Several Friends (1969) and The Horse (1973), for which he was the director, producer, and editor.Film Index International Home Page. Fii.chadwyck.com. Retrieved on 4 July 2011. Burnett was involved in many shorts that include Several Friends (1969), The Horse (1973), When It Rains (1995), Olivia's Story (2000), and Quiet as Kept (2007). When It Rains follows the story about a musician that tries to assist his friend with paying her rent. Quiet as Kept is a story about a relocated family after Hurricane Katrina.
1978–1989: Film debut and breakthrough Burnett's first full-length feature film, Killer of Sheep, was his UCLA master's thesis. It took Burnett five years to finish, apparently due to the imprisonment of one of the film's actors, and was released to the public in 1978. The cast consisted mainly of his friends and film colleagues and it was filmed primarily with a handheld camera, seemingly in documentary style. The main character was played by Henry G. Sanders, a Vietnam veteran who had studied cinema at Los Angeles City College and was enrolled in several classes at UCLA. Sanders went on to a career in films and TV, including roles in Rocky Balboa, ER, Miami Vice, and The West Wing. The lead female character in Killer of Sheep was played by Kaycee Moore, who went on to act in former UCLA classmate Julie Dash's film Daughters of the Dust. The story follows the protagonist Stan, a slaughterhouse worker, who struggles to make enough money to support his family.A Film by Charles Burnett – Home . Killer of Sheep. Retrieved on 4 July 2011. According to the film's website, the movie “offers no solutions; it merely presents life”. Killer of Sheep revolves around rituals, in the family, childhood, oppression, and resistance to oppression.Masilela, p. 112 The soundtrack of ballads, jazz, and blues includes artists Faye Adams,Killer of Sheep Press book. Dinah Washington, Gershwin, Rachmaninov, Paul Robeson, and Earth Wind & Fire. The film was only screened occasionally because of its poor 16mm print quality and failed to find widespread distribution due to the cost and complexity of securing music rights. It was restored by the UCLA Film & Television archive in a new 35mm print of much higher quality. The re-released film won an array of awards including the critics' award at the Berlin International Film Festival, first place at the Sundance Film Festival in the 1980s, then called the USA Film Festival,Charles Burnett – Profile – United States Artists – Great art forms here . United States Artists. Retrieved on 4 July 2011. and a Special Critics' Award from the 2007 New York Film Critics Circle.Killer-of-Sheep – Cast, Crew, Director and Awards – NYTimes.com. Movies.nytimes.com (2010-11-01). Retrieved on 4 July 2011. It was an inductee of the 1990 National Film Registry list. In addition, it was chosen as one of the 100 Essential Films of All Time by the National Society of Film Critics in 2002. Burnett was awarded a Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship in 1981, following the film's completion.
Burnett served as the director, producer, director of photography, and screenwriter for My Brother's Wedding. My Brother's Wedding was his second full-length film, but was not released because of a mixed review in The New York Times after playing at the New Directors/New Films Festival in 1983.Movie Details – My Brother's Wedding – by: Charles Burnett . Milestone Films. Retrieved on 4 July 2011. As in Killer of Sheep, many of the film's actors were amateurs, including the costume designer's wife. The role of Pierce Mundy, the protagonist, was played by Everett Silas. Mundy struggles to choose between his brother's middle-class existence and his best friend's working-class world. The movie was the first feature Burnett shot on 35mm color film. Its cost was estimated at $80,000. The movie was acquired by Milestone Films, restored by the Pacific Film Archive at the University of California, Berkeley, and digitally reedited by Burnett.
1990–1999: Established work To Sleep with Anger was Burnett's first higher-budget film, with an estimated cost of $1.4 million. The grant he received from the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation helped Burnett support his family while working on the film. The $250,000 grant spread over the course of five years is awarded to gifted individuals to pursue personal projects. The movie was set in South Central LA and followed the same themes of family and southern folklore as most of his films. The story concerns a lower middle class Los Angeles family that welcomes a guest from the South who overstays his welcome and causes a major disturbance in the family.Kleinhans, pp. 62–63 The family's instability seems to reflect the larger community's volatility. To Sleep with Anger was Burnett's first film to feature professional actors. The lead actors include Danny Glover, Paul Butler, Mary Alice, Carl Lumbly, and Vonetta McGee. Glover, who plays Harry Mention, agreed to a reduced fee and went on to invest in the production. A box-office favorite known for his role in the Lethal Weapon films, Glover continued to star in many successful productions including The Royal Tenenbaums, Dreamgirls, 2012, and Death at a Funeral. Although highly acclaimed by critics, To Sleep with Anger did poorly at the box office. Burnett attributes this to poor distribution and lack of good taste. The film won many awards, including best screenplay from the National Society of Film Critics (the first award of its kind given to an African American writer). Other awards include two Independent Spirit Awards for Best Director and Best Screenplay, the American Film Institute's Maya Deren Award, the Special Jury Recognition Award at the 1990 Sundance Film Festival, a Special Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and nominations for Burnett and Glover by the New York Film Critics Association.