Today’s show features a conversation with Charles Burnett, who Martin Scorsese and Steven Soderbergh credit as one of America’s greatest filmmakers. His creative works tell personal and intimate stories – exploration of culture, relationships, social justice, mental illness, discrimination, and love. He was born in Mississippi in 1944 but moved to Watts in South Los Angeles in 1947. Killer of Sheep, based on his life in Watts, was his student thesis film at UCLA but it wasn’t until he was awarded an honorary Academy Award in 2017 that it began to be seen. It was his first full-length feature and took five years to complete, and it set him apart, even at a young age, as a great filmmaker.
The ’60s were not necessarily kind to Black filmmakers and complicated music rights kept Killer of Sheep away from wide distribution until Steven Soderberg took it under his wing and helped restore it. He also cleared the music rights and found distribution. It has since been admitted into the Library of Congress and called a national treasure.
Other films from Charles include “The Annihilation of Fish” with James Earl Jones and Lynn Redgrave; My Brother’s Wedding, The Glass Shield, and To Sleep With Anger starring Danny Glover.
Martin Scorcese was quoted in a review by Daniel Borrero, saying, “Charles Burnett is one of the finest filmmakers in this country. His pictures speak in a unique voice that is uniquely and completely his own.
I am honored to be speaking with Charles Burnett and am grateful for his candor about the industry and his gracious depiction of unfolding events in his life. We can all learn from him.
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Cirina Catania, is a successful filmmaker, former Sr Vice President of Worldwide Marketing at MGM-UA and United Artists and one of the co-founders and former director of the Sundance Film Festival. She is the founder, CEO and Executive Director of the non-profit, High School Media Collective. Cirina is Founder/Lead Creative at the Catania Group Global, Showrunner and Host of OWC RADiO and partner, Lumberjack System, as well as Tech Ambassador for companies such as Blackmagic Design. She is a long-time member of the Producers Guild, Writers Guild, Cinematographers Guild, the National Press Club, National Press Photographer’s Association, and more.