Highlight of the '78 Flaherty Film Festival, Killer Of Sheep focuses on the increasing depression and sense of personal isolation of a Black slaughter-house worker who must suspend emotion to continue his job. Charles Burnett uses semi-documentary techniques and elicits remarkable performances from a cast of non-actors in this narrative film set in the Watts area of southern Los Angeles.

Burnett's profound creation of a sense of place draws a parallel between the story of Watts and that of his protagonist: “Stan is, in many respects, a character common in our community.... the idea for the film came from observation, seeing the limited choices that affect a person in Stan's position. In order to survive, you have to do conflicting things.... The consequences manifest themselves in many ways.” -Charles Burnett (from an interview with Olive Franklin, “Black Films and Filmmakers,” 1979 series)

“And still the film is not depressing. Stan does survive and, though it appears ironic in spite of the image of so much killing, there is a strong reverence for life. Kids introduce the film; they are always underfoot. Their vitality seems impossible to ‘slaughter.'”