Charles Burnett

Interviews

Robert E. Kapsis

• Publisher: University Press of Mississippi
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN: 9781604739497
• eBook ISBN: 9781628467833
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Film & Video

Charles Burnett (b. 1944) is a groundbreaking African American filmmaker and one of this country's finest directors, yet he remains largely unknown. His films, most notably Killer of Sheep (1977) and To Sleep with Anger (1990), are considered classics, yet few filmgoers have seen them or heard of Burnett. The interviews in this volume explore this paradox and collectively shed light on the work of a rare film master whose stories bring to the screen the texture and poetry of life in the black community.

The best qualities of Burnett's films-rich characterizations, morally and emotionally complex narratives, and intricately observed tales of African American life-are precisely the things that make his films a tough sell in the mass marketplace. As many of the interviews reveal, Hollywood has been largely inept in responding to this marketing challenge. "It takes an extraordinary effort to keep going," Burnett told Terrence Rafferty in 2001, "when everybody's saying to you, 'No one wants to see that kind of movie,' or 'There's no black audience.'" All the interviews selected for this volume—spanning more than three decades of Burnett's directorial career, including his recent work—examine, in various degrees, Burnett's status as a true independent filmmaker and explore his motivation for making films that chronicle the black experience in America.

Index

Actors, Burnett’s direction of, 61

Adams, Faye, 182

Adams Heights (Los Angeles neighborhood), 59

Addams Family Values, 84

Africa: Burnett’s feelings about, 21–22

struggle for liberation, 173

Agee, James, 4, 52, 132

Allamehzadeh, Reza, 43

America Becoming, xviii, 40, 60, 62, 69, 85–86, 123, 185

American Film Institute, xiii, xxviii, 28, 35, 65, 168

American Museum of the Moving Image, xix, 95, 101

Andersen, Thom, 138

Annihilation of Fish, The, 108, 124, 140

Anti–Vietnam War movement, 47

Apartheid, 78–79, 157, 169

Armstrong, Louis, 150, 182

Arnaud, Catherine, 49

Art house director, Burnett as, xix, 95–96

Atalante, L’, 66

Baldwin, James, 126

Barbershop, 161

“Bear, The” (Faulkner), 48

Becket, 98

Bell, Willie, 51

Berlin International Film Festival, xxvii, 10, 28, 42, 65, 82, 83, 119, 151, 159

Bible, 113

Bicycle Thief, The (Ladri di biciclette), 151

Birth of a Nation, The, 82, 100

Black actors, 49

Black community, 38, 60, 76, 80, 81, 93, 122, 130, 135, 148

in Boston, 74

in Burnett’s films, 77, 116

class differences, 56, 82, 100, 184

in Killer of Sheep, 6–7, 19, 120–21, 162, 165, 182

in Los Angeles, 11

in My Brother’s Wedding, 56

in To Sleep with Anger, 45, 56

Black filmmakers, 3, 51, 72, 122, 186

Black Independent American Cinema (retrospective in Paris, 1980), 3, 65

Black independent cinema, 3, 28,...

Table of contents

• Cover Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chronology
• Filmography
• Black Independent American Cinema: Charles Burnett Corine McMullin/1980
• An Artisan of Daily Life: Charles Burnett Catherine Arnaud and Yann Lardau/1981
• Life Drawings: Charles Burnett’s Realism Monona Wali/1988
• The House of Spirits Samir Hachem/1989
• The Long-Distance Runner: Charles Burnett’s Quiet Revolution Lynell George/1990
• The Black Familiar Lisa Kennedy/1990
• Interview with Charles Burnett Michel Cieutat and Michel Ciment/1990
• An Interview with Charles Burnett Bérénice Reynaud/1991
• One on One: Charles Burnett and Charles Lane Charles Burnett and Charles Lane/1991
• The House I Live In: An Interview with Charles Burnett Aida A. Hozic/1994
• An Explorer of the Black Mind Looks Back, but Not in Anger Michael Sragow/1995
• Burnett Looks Back Amy Taubin/1995
• Violence Sells: So They’re Telling Charles Burnett Wolf Schneider/1995
• Above It All: Charles Burnett Puts Black Power in Subtle Films Gary Dauphin/1997
• Talking with Charles Burnett Sojin Kim and R. Mark Livengood/1998
• Invisible Man Terrence Rafferty/2001
• Set This House on Fire: Nat Turner’s Second Coming Gerald Peary/2001
• Warming by the Devil’s Fire: Director Interview Charles Burnett/2003
• Charles Burnett Doug Cummings/2003
• Independent Lens: Charles Burnett Scott Foundas/2006
• Shadows of Watts, in the Light Dave Kehr/2007
• A Vision of Watts Still Frozen in Time Mary McNamara/2007
• This Bitter Earth James Ponsoldt/2007
• A Conversation with Charles Burnett David Lowery/2007
• Charles Burnett’s Namibia Premieres at the 2007 LAFF Diane Sippl/2007
• Charles Burnett Celebrates a Milestone Susan Gerhard/2007
• Blues People James Bell/2008
• Index