Madison audiences will have two chances next week to hear from one of this country’s most significant independent filmmakers.
A visit from Charles Burnett will provide a capstone to recent efforts at Wisconsin Union Directorate and UW Cinematheque to showcase restorations of important independent films from African Americans.
Burnett will speak at the WUD Distinguished Lecture Series at the Memorial Union on Sept. 21 at 7 p.m. He also will attend a screening of a restoration of To Sleep with Anger, his 1990 feature starring Danny Glover (UW Cinematheque, Sept. 22 at 7 p.m.)
Burnett emerged as an important voice in American independent film with Killer of Sheep (1978), a raw yet poetic portrait of life in the Watts district in Los Angeles. He continued to rack up awards over the years and recently learned that the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscars folks) will honor him in November with its prestigious Governors Award.
When Burnett made Killer of Sheep as his thesis film at UCLA, the film school there was a haven for personal filmmaking. He and other African American classmates became known as the “L.A. Rebellion,” filmmakers influenced by politically engaged Third World and European Modernist cinemas to respond to “blaxploitation” and the narrow range of African American stories in mainstream filmmaking. L.A. Rebellion filmmakers included Julie Dash (Daughters of the Dust) and Billy Woodberry (Bless Their Little Hearts).
On Sept. 15, UW Cinematheque will screen a restoration of Woodberry’s Bless Their Little Hearts (began 1978, completed 1983), based on a screenplay by Burnett, who also served as cinematographer. While Killer and Bless share the same milieu and theme — the interpersonal consequences of economic hardship in Watts — stylistic differences anticipate Woodberry’s eventual move to documentary filmmaking. Both films were selected by the Library of Congress for the National Film Registry for their artistic and cultural significance (in 1990 and 2015, respectively).
Bless follows underemployed Charlie Banks (Nate Hardman) and his wife Andais (Kaycee Moore) as they struggle to raise three young children. In a memorable long take, Burnett’s handheld camera hovers around the couple as Andais questions Charlie’s fidelity. Woodbury allows the kitchen-sink drama to play out much longer than conventional filmmakers might deem necessary, showing all of the repetitions and redundancies common to arguments. The film’s episodic structure denies a story arc — Charlie reaches no goals, and doesn’t secure a sustaining job — but the cumulative effect of the scenes and the richly textured details deliver an emotional wallop.
To Sleep With Anger, Burnett’s first film to be distributed commercially, features a lively performance from Danny Glover as Harry, a mysterious wanderer from the South who disrupts the lives of a Los Angeles family when he pays an unexpected visit. His extended stay sets in motion a deceptively simple family drama, which Burnett complicates with touches of magical realism and African American folk culture. Burnett intentionally makes little effort to explain these touches to general audiences, instead addressing the film to those who understand the cultural legacy of the Second Great Migration after World War II, when many southern African Americans moved north and west. A leisurely pace allows Burnett to make insightful observations about how that migration affected different generations. The film won a special jury prize at the Sundance Film Festival in 1990, and Best Screenplay from the National Society of Film Critics.
At a time when even independent filmmaking offers a narrow range of images and voices, Burnett’s visit to Madison will remind audiences and student filmmakers that it is possible to broaden that range one distinct voice at a time.