“Man, I ain’t poor. Look, I give away things to the Salvation Army; you can’t give away nothin’ to Salvation Army if you poor.” A groundbreaking revelation in American independent cinema: Charles Burnett’s lyrical feature film debut unfolds like a mosaic of Black life in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles. Don't expect an exciting plot in Killer of Sheep. The film delves into the life of Stan, who lives with his wife and two children in Watts, south of Los Angeles. His everyday life is marked by long shifts at the slaughterhouse, his children playing in the neighborhood, and tender moments with his family. Nothing happens, and yet at the same time, everything that makes up life happens in these nearly eighty minutes. Burnett himself operated the 16-mm camera, was responsible for the editing, and chose the music - ballads, jazz, and blue - that settles into the consciousness like smoke. For almost three decades, Killer of Sheep, originally created as a student graduation film with no commercial ambitions, remained hidden from the public. We are therefore all the more delighted to be one of the first European cinemas to present this central classic of Black Cinema in its digitally restored 4K version.

Loan of the film print with kind support of Arsenal - Institut für Film und Videokunst e.V..