MOS DEF HAS GOOD TASTE IN CINEMA

I was browsing a record store the other day when I noticed rapper Mos Def has a new album out called "The Ecstatic".

The album cover is a photograph from one of my favorite films, Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep".

Still tragically unknown/forgotten to many, Burnett's 1977 neo-realist masterpiece IS what comes to mind when I think of true American independent cinema.

"Killer of Sheep" is a collection of vignettes depicting the lives of a working class African-American family in the Watts district of Los Angeles. It a gorgeous example of black and white 16MM cinematography and a lesson in unconventional yet simple storytelling.

Despite winning a critic's award at the Berlin Film Festival, the film never saw an actual public release because rights to the soundtrack could not be afforded. For 30 years, the 16MM prints collected dust in obscurity, over time earning a reputation with critics and film scholars as a lost classic.

Finally in 2007, 30 years after completion, the film saw a limited theatrical release, and suddenly "Killer of Sheep" was introduced to a new generation of viewers. When it opened at the IFC Theater in New York, I went to see it over the weekend, and by the time I returned to class on Monday, all my friends had seen it independently as well. We talked all class long about the film, and how lucky we all felt to have the opportunity to finally see it.