Charles Burnett’s Landmark Masterpiece Killer of Sheep Gets New Theatrical Trailer for 4K Restoration

It was just last week we published an interview with the great Charles Burnett, whose 1999 drama The Annihilation of Fish was finally resurrected and is now rolling out in theaters. This spring, Kino Lorber will now give another one of his newly restored films a theatrical roll-out, teaming with Milestone Films. Burnett’s 1977 landmark masterpiece Killer of Sheep, which was his UCLA thesis film, has been newly restored in 4K and will now open on April 18 beginning at NYC’s Film Forum. The new 4K restoration also restores the original soundtrack in its entirety, including the original closing song, Dinah Washington’s performance of “Unforgettable.”

Here’s the synopsis: “The story centers on Stan (Henry Gayle Sanders), a slaughterhouse worker battling exhaustion and disconnected from his wife, his children, and himself. Stan and his neighbors struggle just to get by, let alone get ahead. Only the kids, leaping from roof to roof, seem to achieve a mobility that eludes their elders. Burnett’s film focuses on everyday life in Black communities in a manner rarely seen in American cinema – combining lyrical elements with a starkly neorealist, documentary-style approach that combines deep nuance with riveting simplicity. Burnett once said of the film, ‘[Stan’s] real problems lie within the family, trying to make that work and be a human being. You don’t necessarily win battles; you survive.’”

Here’s details on the restoration: “Killer of Sheep has been digitally restored to 4K and remastered by UCLA Film & Television Archive, Milestone Films, and the Criterion Collection. Picture Restoration: Illuminate Hollywood. Photochemical Film Preservation: Film Technology Company. Sound Mix and Restoration: John Polito of Audio Mechanics and Larry Blake. Audio Transfers: DJ Audio, Endpoint Audio Labs. Music Rights: Chris Robertson, Global ImageWorks and Milestone Films. Restoration supervised by Ross Lipman and Jillian Borders in consultation with Charles Burnett. An earlier photochemical restoration was funded by Ahmanson Foundation in association with Sundance Institute. The film was preserved from the original 16mm B&W negative A and B rolls, the original 35mm three-track master sound mix, and the original 16mm master mix. The Film Technology Company enlarged the film to 35mm. John Polito of Audio Mechanics, and Peter Oreckinto of DJ Audio provided sound restoration and transfer services. The UCLA Film & Television Archive gives special thanks to Charles Burnett, the Stanford Theatre Foundation Film Preservation Center, and YCM Laboratories.”

See the new trailer and poster below.