Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep and Louis Massiah’s Louise Alone Thompson Patterson: In Her Own Words presented by Louis Massiah

Introduced by Louis Massiah, Executive Director, Scribe Art Center.

Made on a shoestring budget while director Charles Burnett was a graduate film student at UCLA, Killer of Sheep is perhaps the defining portrait of black working class Los Angeles. It is a film of precarious alienation and the richness of community. Louis Massiah has continued the spirit of truly Independent filmmaking in Philadelphia both with his own documentary work often on the untold histories of Black life in America and by founding Scribe Video Center to teach and promote continuing generations of independent filmmakers.

“Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep and Louise Alone Thompson Patterson: In Her Own Words, a film that I made with Pablo Colapinto and Tina Morton, felt like a good pairing for Nightletter, not so much because of any stylistic similarity but more because there is a kind of complementary resonance between the two. Killer of Sheep, which is one of my favorite films, forces us to see what had not been seen before and create a new analysis – of Black life, of family, of Los Angeles. It’s beautifully shot and makes us rethink a community that had been largely made invisible. The film surprises us with discovery and creates an internal monologue. Although a scripted narrative, there is a documentary truth to the film.

Louise Alone Thompson Patterson, is very much an expository documentary, coupled with animation. It is also a film of discovery and centering of Black life. It is a non-fiction film, driven by a very external monologue, with the images largely created through digital animation.” —Louis Massiah

Killer of Sheep / Charles Burnett / 1978 / 80 min / 16mm
Louise Alone Thompson Patterson: In Her Own Words / Louis Massiah / 2002 / 18 min / Digital

Doors: 7:00pm.
Tickets: $8-10 at the door.