Wednesday, December 9, 8PM at Union Station’s Historic Ticketing Hall

Metro Art Presents showcases an exciting array of free arts and cultural programs at historic LA Union Station….

The 4^th and final installment of Metro Art’s fall film series in collaboration with Echo Park Film Center features a real gem in Los Angeles cinema, Killer of Sheep by Charles Burnett. Killer of Sheep 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.

Frustrated by money problems, he finds respite in moments of simple beauty: the warmth of a coffee cup against his cheek, slow dancing with his wife in the living room, holding his daughter. The film offers no solutions; it merely presents life — sometimes hauntingly bleak, sometimes filled with transcendent joy and gentle humor.

Killer of Sheep was shot on location in Watts in a series of weekends on a budget of less than $10,000, most of which was grant money. Finished in 1977 and shown sporadically, its reputation grew and grew until it won a prize at the 1981 Berlin International Film Festival.

Since then, the Library of Congress has declared it a national treasure as one of the first fifty on the National Film Registry and the National Society of Film Critics selected it as one of the “100 Essential Films” of all time.

Watch a trailer of Killer of Sheep here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nXw-8MXhVE7:30pm

Doors open 7:30, 8:00pm Program begins. Show Metro TAP card at check-in and gain access to preferential seating. Guests are welcome to bring food and drink (no alcohol is permitted). The event is free and all ages, and will take place in LA Union Station’s Historic Ticketing Hall. More information: metro.net/unionstationevents

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