The United States of Slaughter: Killer of Sheep + Dawn of the Dead

TriLingua Cinema presents the first program in it’s newest series: Flashback Double Features. In this series we pair films from previous decades, curating unexpected couplings that compliment and complicate each other. Post-screening discussions will be held with panels of local thinkers. Join us in conversation about these films as we discover what they have to say about the past–as well as our world today.

The United States of Slaughter: Killer of Sheep + Dawn of the Dead

Two radical cinematic visions by two great American filmmakers.

Killer of Sheep (Not Rated)

One of the crown jewels of the Black indie filmmaking movement known as the L.A. Rebellion, this film evokes the everyday trials, fragile pleasures, and tenacious humor of blue-collar African Americans living in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles in the 1970s. The story centers on a slaughterhouse worker battling exhaustion and alienation from his family and everyday life.

Dawn of the Dead (Not Rated)

One of the most famous zombie films ever made, Dawn of the Dead might seem at first blush to have nothing to do with Charles’ Burnett’s meticulously observed work of social realism. Centered on the travails of a group of survivors inhabiting a shopping mall across the country from Burnett’s Watts, Dawn of the Dead mines a similar cultural moment and discovers it’s own depiction of American slaughter.

SCHEDULE

4:00pm – Killer of Sheep*

5:35pm – Dawn of the Dead*

7:45pm – Panel Discussion

*Films will start precisely at the times listed, without trailers or pre-show. One ticket gets you into both films, but you’re welcome to come to any or all of the three events.