Screen/Society--AMI Showcase--Diaspora & Community--"Iré a Santiago" (Sara Gómez, 1964)+"Killer of Sheep" (Charles Burnett, 1977) + discussion

Monday, November 28, 2016 - 2:00pm to 4:00pm
Screen/Society--AMI Showcase--Diaspora & Community--"Iré a Santiago" (Sara Gómez, 1964)+"Killer of Sheep" (Charles Burnett, 1977) + discussion

Film Screening:

Iré a Santiago (short documentary) + Killer of Sheep (feature film).

-- Introduced by Elizabeth Landesberg (AMI); Q&A to follow!

Iré a Santiago/I will go to Santiago
(Sara Gómez, 1964, 14 min, Cuba, in Spanish w/ subtitles, B&W, DVD)

This black-and-white film is a loving portrait of Santiago de Cuba and its people - the product of an earthy mix of black and criollo cultures. The film uses historical images portraying the end of the 18th century when Haitian slave owners fled with their slaves to Cuba after the Haitian Revolution.

About the filmmaker:

 

 

During her career as a filmmaker and community advocate, Sara Gomez captured the culture and traditions of Afro-Cuban life. In an industry dominated by men, Gomez’s presence was a brazen challenge to the status quo. Female directors in Cuba, especially those of African descent, were often marginalized and their films were not taken as seriously as those of male counterparts. Sara Gomez was one of the visionaries who started the movement to change this. Gomez was the first female Cuban filmmaker in the Cuban Film Institute (ICAIC), and her intimate portrayals of women in Cuban society sparked an important cinematic dialogue which continues to this day.

 

 

 

Killer of Sheep
(Charles Burnett, 1977, 83 min, USA, in English, B&W, Digital)

"L.A. Rebellion" filmmaker Charles Burnett's films focus on everyday life in black communities, combining incredibly lyrical elements with a starkly neo-realist, documentary-style approach that chronicles the unfolding story with depth and riveting simplicity.

Killer of Sheep was one of the first 50 films to be selected for the Library of Congress's National Film Registry and was chosen by the National Society of Film Critics as one of the 100 Essential Films. The film examines the black Los Angeles ghetto of Watts in the mid-1970s through the eyes of Stan, a sensitive dreamer who is growing detached and numb from the psychic toll of working at a slaughterhouse. The film offers no solutions; it merely presents life - sometimes hauntingly bleak, sometimes filled with transcendent joy and gentle humor.

-- Winner of Special Award at New York Film Critics Circle Awards (2007)!

 

 

 

-- “Burnett's documentarian empathy, coupled with his easygoing skill as a dramatic essayist, result in a film that doesn't look, feel or breathe like any American work of its generation.” – Chicago Tribune

 

 

 

  

Cost: Free and open to the public.

Sponsors: Program in Arts of the Moving Image (AMI)

American Tobacco Campus - Power Plant: Full Frame Theater