Early in Billy Woodberry’s Bless Their Little Hearts, Charlie (Nate Hardman) declares to a group of drinking buddies that there’s a time in every man’s life when he must “make a decision between the spiritual and the material.” Until now, Charlie has always chosen the material, and his pronouncement suggests a deliberate mental shift, perhaps as a form of self-preservation to stave off despair. After all, he pounds the pavement day after day, begging for work and filling out employment applications, yet all he ever has to show for it is the occasional temporary landscaping gig or a few bucks from selling catfish he caught by the side of the road.
Where Charlie’s confidence in the spiritual is short-lived—his faith is only ever rewarded by dashed hopes—it remains the central focus of Woodberry’s touching and melancholic feature-length debut. Written with piercing clarity by Charles Burnett,...
Where Charlie’s confidence in the spiritual is short-lived—his faith is only ever rewarded by dashed hopes—it remains the central focus of Woodberry’s touching and melancholic feature-length debut. Written with piercing clarity by Charles Burnett,...
- 8/9/2024
- by Derek Smith
- Slant Magazine
Brandon Harris—an educator, programmer, author, producer, director, executive as well as a longtime contributing editor at Filmmaker—has curated a series at Metrograph in commemoration of Black History Month. Entitled “Strange Fruit,” the series features an impressive slate of titles spanning several decades, from Pierre Chenal’s black and white Argentine drama Native Son to Billy Woodberry’s seminal L.A. Rebellion film Bless Their Little Hearts. The opening night selection, which played on Sunday, February 5, was Elvis Mitchell’s NYFF-premiering essay film Is That Black Enough for You?!? Several special screenings have also been programmed, including Del Lord’s 1927 silent film Topsy and Eva […]
The post Brandon Harris Curates “Strange Fruit” Series at Metrograph in Honor of Black History Month first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Brandon Harris Curates “Strange Fruit” Series at Metrograph in Honor of Black History Month first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/9/2023
- by Natalia Keogan
- Filmmaker Magazine-Director Interviews
Brandon Harris—an educator, programmer, author, producer, director, executive as well as a longtime contributing editor at Filmmaker—has curated a series at Metrograph in commemoration of Black History Month. Entitled “Strange Fruit,” the series features an impressive slate of titles spanning several decades, from Pierre Chenal’s black and white Argentine drama Native Son to Billy Woodberry’s seminal L.A. Rebellion film Bless Their Little Hearts. The opening night selection, which played on Sunday, February 5, was Elvis Mitchell’s NYFF-premiering essay film Is That Black Enough for You?!? Several special screenings have also been programmed, including Del Lord’s 1927 silent film Topsy and Eva […]
The post Brandon Harris Curates “Strange Fruit” Series at Metrograph in Honor of Black History Month first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
The post Brandon Harris Curates “Strange Fruit” Series at Metrograph in Honor of Black History Month first appeared on Filmmaker Magazine.
- 2/9/2023
- by Natalia Keogan
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Kaycee Moore, star of “Killer of Sheep” and “Bless Their Little Hearts,” died on Aug. 13. She was 77.
Born in Kansas City in 1944, Moore met director Charles Burnett while he was still in film school at UCLA, booked her first major role as Stan’s wife in his 1978 film “Killer of Sheep.” Burnett received an honorary Oscar in 2018 for his films such as “Killer of Sheep,” which depicted the realities of socioeconomic oppression faced by the Black community in Los Angeles in the 1970s.
Five years later, Moore starred as Andais Banks in “Bless Their Little Hearts,” which was written by Burnett and directed by Billy Woodberry. The film, which followed a family in Watts as it navigates race, money and gender, was met with critical acclaim.
Moore also appeared in Julie Dash’s “Daughters of the Dust” and the 1999 film “Ninth Street,” directed by Tim Rebman and Kevin Willmott.
Three...
Born in Kansas City in 1944, Moore met director Charles Burnett while he was still in film school at UCLA, booked her first major role as Stan’s wife in his 1978 film “Killer of Sheep.” Burnett received an honorary Oscar in 2018 for his films such as “Killer of Sheep,” which depicted the realities of socioeconomic oppression faced by the Black community in Los Angeles in the 1970s.
Five years later, Moore starred as Andais Banks in “Bless Their Little Hearts,” which was written by Burnett and directed by Billy Woodberry. The film, which followed a family in Watts as it navigates race, money and gender, was met with critical acclaim.
Moore also appeared in Julie Dash’s “Daughters of the Dust” and the 1999 film “Ninth Street,” directed by Tim Rebman and Kevin Willmott.
Three...
- 8/25/2021
- by Ethan Shanfeld
- Variety Film + TV
Billy Woodberry was a graduate student in UCLA’s film program when he started work on Bless Their Little Hearts (1984), a gauzy black-and-white portrait of a married couple in Watts as their responsibilities to one another are tested by the burdens of underemployment. Day-to-day gigging against a background of vanishing local industry, Charlie Banks (Nate Hardman) embarks on an affair, while his exhausted wife Andais (Kaycee Hardman) works double-time, commuting to her own job while also looking after their home and children. Chafing against the confines of roles that no longer seem to fit, their affections are suffocated by limits […]...
- 5/25/2017
- by Steve Macfarlane and Madeline Coleman
- Filmmaker Magazine - Blog
Get in touch to send in cinephile news and discoveriesRECOMMENDED VIEWINGThe first full trailer for Blade Runner 2049, Denis Villeneuve's sequel to Ridley Scott's original starring Ryan Gosling alongside Harrison Ford, looks like a storyboard come to (digital) life.An all-too-brief look at some kind of footage from the new Twin Peaks, with Everett McGill, Harry Dean Stanton, Grace Zabriskie, Harry Goaz, Michael Horse, and Kyle MacLachlan looking like figures in an eerie waxworks.Milestone will soon be theatrically releasing a new restoration of Billy Woodberry's debut film, Bless Their Little Hearts (1983), written and shot by Killer of Sheep's Charles Burnett.Philippe Garrel meets David Lynch? Indeed! In a new video essay, Cristina Álvarez López and Adrian Martin look at the "holy family" (mother, father, and child) in early experimental films by each director, Lynch's The Grandmother (1969) and Garrel's Le révélateur (1968), the latter of which is now playing on Mubi.
- 5/10/2017
- MUBI
Among the groundbreaking group of filmmakers who were part of the Black independent filmmaking movement based in Los Angeles known as the La Rebellion during the late 70's to the 80's (Charles Burnett, Julie Dash and Halie Gerima, and others), Billy Woodberry may not immediately come to mind. But he was no less an important member of this movement; his 1984 drama "Bless Their Little Hearts," based on a screenplay by Burnett, is a seminal and influential work of black independent cinema. Since then, Woodberry has been working as a video and multimedia installation artist, with his works showcased around the world - Viennale, DocLisboa, Amiens International...
- 12/21/2015
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
Thom Andersen and Pedro Costa on stage at the Courtisane Festival. Photo by Michiel Devijver.This year’s Courtisane Festival paired Pedro Costa and Thom Andersen as their artists in focus. Both filmmakers hung out with each other and the public for the full five days of this under-recognized gem of a festival in Ghent. What at first might seem very different directors with distinct backgrounds actually proved to be kindred spirits. In the end credits of his new cine-history, The Thoughts That Once We Had, Andersen thanks Costa, because “without [him] this motion picture would have been poorer.” Andersen has admired Costa’s work ever since he discovered In Vanda’s Room (2000) at the Montreal Festival du Nouveau Cinéma in 2001. He wrote about this experience and about Colossal Youth (2006) in Film Comment in 2007. Andersen has invited Costa to CalArts, where he teaches, more than once, and Cinema Scope published a...
- 7/17/2015
- by Ruben Demasure
- MUBI
2. For Paulo Rocha
Weekend 2 - Day 1 - December 13th, 2013
The second Harvard-Gulbenkian program centers around a vitally important yet still under appreciated figure of the post-WW2 Portuguese cinema, the late Paulo Rocha whose influential masterpiece of poetic neo-realism, Mudar de vida (1966) is offered both in tribute to his recent passing and as an occasion to reconsider Rocha's cinema and legacy. Looking beyond the historic "Cinema Novo" movement with which this film and Rocha himself are most closely associated, Mudar de vida is placed here within a broader, alternate context: in dialogue with the films and presence of Víctor Gaviria and Billy Woodberry, two directors inspired, like Rocha, to renew the promise of a truly "popular cinema" intimate with the stories, experiences and landscapes of the people depicted and ultimately empowered by their films. Unseen in Portugal, the films of Gaviria and Woodberry offer revelational compliments to Rocha's lyrical realism, each...
Weekend 2 - Day 1 - December 13th, 2013
The second Harvard-Gulbenkian program centers around a vitally important yet still under appreciated figure of the post-WW2 Portuguese cinema, the late Paulo Rocha whose influential masterpiece of poetic neo-realism, Mudar de vida (1966) is offered both in tribute to his recent passing and as an occasion to reconsider Rocha's cinema and legacy. Looking beyond the historic "Cinema Novo" movement with which this film and Rocha himself are most closely associated, Mudar de vida is placed here within a broader, alternate context: in dialogue with the films and presence of Víctor Gaviria and Billy Woodberry, two directors inspired, like Rocha, to renew the promise of a truly "popular cinema" intimate with the stories, experiences and landscapes of the people depicted and ultimately empowered by their films. Unseen in Portugal, the films of Gaviria and Woodberry offer revelational compliments to Rocha's lyrical realism, each...
- 4/10/2014
- by Cinema Dialogues: Harvard at the Gulbenkian
- MUBI
‘Gilda,’ ‘Pulp Fiction’: 2013 National Film Registry movies (photo: Rita Hayworth in ‘Gilda’) See previous post: “‘Mary Poppins’ in National Film Registry: Good Timing for Disney’s ‘Saving Mr. Banks.’” Billy Woodberry’s UCLA thesis film Bless Their Little Hearts (1984). Stanton Kaye’s Brandy in the Wilderness (1969). The Film Group’s Cicero March (1966), about a Civil Rights march in an all-white Chicago suburb. Norbert A. Myles’ Daughter of Dawn (1920), with Hunting Horse, Oscar Yellow Wolf, Esther Labarre. Bill Morrison’s Decasia (2002), featuring decomposing archival footage. Alfred E. Green’s Ella Cinders (1926), with Colleen Moore, Lloyd Hughes, Vera Lewis. Fred M. Wilcox’s Forbidden Planet (1956), with Walter Pidgeon, Anne Francis, Leslie Nielsen, Warren Stevens, Jack Kelly, Robby the Robot. Charles Vidor’s Gilda (1946), with Rita Hayworth, Glenn Ford, George Macready. John and Faith Hubley’s Oscar-winning animated short The Hole (1962). Stanley Kramer’s Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), with Best Actor Oscar winner Maximilian Schell,...
- 12/20/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
‘Mary Poppins’ among 25 films chosen for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry (photo: Julie Andrews in ‘Mary Poppins’) The powers-that-be at the United States’ Library of Congress have chosen to give the Walt Disney Studios a little support. Saving Mr. Banks, directed by John Lee Hancock, and starring Tom Hanks as Walt Disney and Emma Thompson as Mary Poppins author P.L. Travers, opened to solid — though hardly outstanding — box office numbers at 15 North American venues last Friday, December 13, 2013. The movie, which also features Colin Farrell, Ruth Wilson, Paul Giamatti, Jason Schwartzman, and Rachel Griffiths, opened in wide release in the U.S. and Canada today, Dec. 20. On Wednesday, Dec. 18, the Library of Congress announced that Mary Poppins (1964) had been included among the 25 movies added to the National Film Registry "to be preserved as cinematic treasures for generations to come." Directed by Robert Stevenson, Mary Poppins remains one of the biggest blockbusters ever,...
- 12/20/2013
- by Andre Soares
- Alt Film Guide
The Wrap the new triangular Oscar logo
French Films About Trains "Category is: 2013 Realness"
i09 Paul Rudd to play Hank Pym aka Ant Man in the future Marvel movie for Edgar Wright
Digital Spy... and Edgar Wright shares his ten favorites of 2013 (and Short Term 12 is on it so I love him even more now)
Cinema Blend Hugh Jackman to play the villain in the new Peter Pan film for Joe Wright... but he's not Captain Hook
Deep Cuts the best music scenes in movies this year
Film School Rejects 3 films getting Oscar rereleases and 3 that deserve to get the same treatment
Variety 'how American Hustle conned the critics' a scathing review of... um... either the movie or its reviews.
Vanity Fair David O. Russell's last minute decision to cast Jennifer Lawrence
Vulture Taylor Kitsch on The Normal Heart, Lone Survivor and his resistance to doing a Friday Night Lights...
French Films About Trains "Category is: 2013 Realness"
i09 Paul Rudd to play Hank Pym aka Ant Man in the future Marvel movie for Edgar Wright
Digital Spy... and Edgar Wright shares his ten favorites of 2013 (and Short Term 12 is on it so I love him even more now)
Cinema Blend Hugh Jackman to play the villain in the new Peter Pan film for Joe Wright... but he's not Captain Hook
Deep Cuts the best music scenes in movies this year
Film School Rejects 3 films getting Oscar rereleases and 3 that deserve to get the same treatment
Variety 'how American Hustle conned the critics' a scathing review of... um... either the movie or its reviews.
Vanity Fair David O. Russell's last minute decision to cast Jennifer Lawrence
Vulture Taylor Kitsch on The Normal Heart, Lone Survivor and his resistance to doing a Friday Night Lights...
- 12/19/2013
- by NATHANIEL R
- FilmExperience
The Librarian of Congress James H. Billington today named 25 motion pictures that have been selected for inclusion in the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for 2013. And on this year's list includes Billy Woodberry's woefully under-seen 1984 feature film, Bless Their Little Hearts, which fellow L.A. Rebellion comrade Charles Burnett wrote the screenplay for, and shot as well, by the way. Other notable picks include the 1966 documentary Cicero March, which details the September 4, 1966 Civil Rights led by Robert Lucas (Congress of Racial Equality) through Cicero, Illinois to protest restrictions in housing...
- 12/18/2013
- by Tambay A. Obenson
- ShadowAndAct
The Library of Congress has announced that 25 films will be added to the National Film Registry. New this year were Pulp Fiction, Roger & Me, The Right Stuff, The Magnificent Seven, and Forbidden Planet. Not immune to the Saving Mr. Banks press campaign, Mary Poppins also made the cut. You can read the full list below and drink some sugar-laden medicine as a tribute (ideally something non-drowsy).Bless Their Little Hearts (1984) Brandy in the Wilderness (1971) Cicero March (1966) Daughter of Dawn (1920) Decasia (2002) Ella Cinders (1926) Forbidden Planet (1956) Gilda (1946) The Hole (1962) Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) King of Jazz (1930) The Lunch Date (1989) The Magnificent Seven (1960) Martha Graham Early Dance Films (Heretic, 1931; Frontier, 1936; Lamentation, 1943; Appalachian Spring, 1944) Mary Poppins (1964) Men and Dust (1940) Midnight (1939) Notes on the Port of St. Francis (1951) Pulp...
- 12/18/2013
- by Jesse David Fox
- Vulture
Editor's Note: The La Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema film series tour continues its travels, making its final stop in Atlanta (Ga), running October 25 through November 24, 2013. The Atl installment of the series is sponsored by Emory University’s Department of Film and Media Studies, liquid blackness, for Georgia State University’s Department of Communication, and the Atlanta Film Festival, in association with UCLA Film & Television Archive. Billy Woodberry’s 1984 feature Bless Their Little Hearts is a film more admired than seen and more’s the pity. To my knowledge, the film has never been issued...
- 10/29/2013
- by Brandon Wilson
- ShadowAndAct
The 9th in the ongoing series of the Chicago screenings of the L.A. Rebellion touring film series, will continue on Saturday May 25th with a screening of filmmaker Billy Woodberry’s powerful and poignant 1984 feature film, Bless Their Little Hearts.Clearly inspired by the work of Charles Burnett and Italian post-World War II neo-realist films of Vittorio De Sica and Roberto Rossellini, the film deals with an African-American family struggling to survive and find its way through the cruel and dehumanizing conditions of South Central Los Angeles. And, of course, Woodberry himself will be present for the screening.And along with Hearts, there will be a screening of a new ...
- 5/22/2013
- by Sergio
- ShadowAndAct
Editor's Note: The retro is being rebooted for runs in Philly, Toronto and New York through February. Over the next few weeks, we'll be revisiting our reviews/write-ups/interviews on the series (from Brandon Wilson and Nijla Mumin) when it begun in Los Angeles over a year ago... here's another. The overview and complete lineup speak for themselves, so click Here to head over to the home site for the series. Saturday's screening of Billy Woodberry’s Bless Their Little Hearts, couldn’t have come at a more appropriate time. Set in the decaying urban centers of Los Angeles in the early 1980’s, the film is a rare glimpse into a working...
- 1/16/2013
- by Nijla Mumin
- ShadowAndAct
Add "Mad Men's" Jon Hamm to the list of stars including Nicole Kidman and Ashley Judd who have hit the red carpet only to become the victim of a major makeup mishap.
Bless their little hearts! We've all been there... although without the unforgiving bright lights and lots of camera crews, fortunately.
Just recently at an event, a friend of mine told me my lipstick was awful and I needed to change it Stat! The thing is, I wasn't offended at all. I Knew it was not a good color on me, but I was trying to use ...
Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Bless their little hearts! We've all been there... although without the unforgiving bright lights and lots of camera crews, fortunately.
Just recently at an event, a friend of mine told me my lipstick was awful and I needed to change it Stat! The thing is, I wasn't offended at all. I Knew it was not a good color on me, but I was trying to use ...
Copyright 2012 by NBC Universal, Inc. All rights reserved.
This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
- 11/5/2012
- by nobody@accesshollywood.com (AccessHollywood.com Editorial Staff)
- Access Hollywood
A reminder for B… As part of MoMA’s Charles Burnett retrospective that began last week, today, at 4:30Pm titled Charles Burnett: The Power To Endure, you can watch a program of short films by Charles Burnett when they screen tonight at MoMA – films that I doubt most of us have seen! These are films he made between 1969 and 2007, since his student days through the recent past. So, consider it a treat!
Titles, years and running times include: Several Friends, 1969, 21 min; The Horse, 1973, 14 min; When It Rains, 1995. 13 min; Olivia’s Story, 2000. 14 min; and Quiet As Kept, 2007. 6 min.
That should be interesting viewing, and I’m looking forward it!
And keep in mind that the retrospective runs through April 25th, with practically Burnett’s entire oeuvre in the lineup of films to screen, although a week into the series, several have already been shown. However, there will be some repeats; for example,...
Titles, years and running times include: Several Friends, 1969, 21 min; The Horse, 1973, 14 min; When It Rains, 1995. 13 min; Olivia’s Story, 2000. 14 min; and Quiet As Kept, 2007. 6 min.
That should be interesting viewing, and I’m looking forward it!
And keep in mind that the retrospective runs through April 25th, with practically Burnett’s entire oeuvre in the lineup of films to screen, although a week into the series, several have already been shown. However, there will be some repeats; for example,...
- 4/15/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Damn! I totally effed up and scheduled our podcast season debut tonight, completely forgetting that the MoMA Charles Burnett retrospective also begins tonight! And with his masterpiece too, Killer Of Sheep, which I Still haven’t seen on the big screen, and really want to. I have the recently released DVD issue, but, I think this is a film I’d really love to see in a theater, in all its gritty black and white glory.
Anyway… I already alerted you to this about 2 or 3 weeks ago, so consider this a reminder! MoMA sent out the below press release which details the entire retrospective.
But I’ll break it down for you:
What is it? Charles Burnett is being feted at MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art, here in New York City) with a series titled Charles Burnett: The Power To Endure.
When is it? April 6-25, 2011.
Where is it?...
Anyway… I already alerted you to this about 2 or 3 weeks ago, so consider this a reminder! MoMA sent out the below press release which details the entire retrospective.
But I’ll break it down for you:
What is it? Charles Burnett is being feted at MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art, here in New York City) with a series titled Charles Burnett: The Power To Endure.
When is it? April 6-25, 2011.
Where is it?...
- 4/6/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
Have you purchased your tickets yet?
I already alerted you to this 2 weeks ago week I believe it was. Consider this a reminder! MoMA sent out the below press release which details the entire retrospective.
But I’ll break it down for you:
What is it? Charles Burnett is being feted at MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art, here in New York City) with a complete retrospective titled Charles Burnett: The Power To Endure.
When is it? April 6-25, 2011.
Where is it? At MoMA of course – specifically, the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters.
How much will each screening cost you? $10 adults; $8 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D. $6 full-time students with current I.D.
The full lineup follows below. As can be expected, Killer Of Sheep, My Brother’s Wedding, To Sleep With Anger, The Glass Shield, and other of his most known films, will screen.
But of most...
I already alerted you to this 2 weeks ago week I believe it was. Consider this a reminder! MoMA sent out the below press release which details the entire retrospective.
But I’ll break it down for you:
What is it? Charles Burnett is being feted at MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art, here in New York City) with a complete retrospective titled Charles Burnett: The Power To Endure.
When is it? April 6-25, 2011.
Where is it? At MoMA of course – specifically, the Roy and Niuta Titus Theaters.
How much will each screening cost you? $10 adults; $8 seniors, 65 years and over with I.D. $6 full-time students with current I.D.
The full lineup follows below. As can be expected, Killer Of Sheep, My Brother’s Wedding, To Sleep With Anger, The Glass Shield, and other of his most known films, will screen.
But of most...
- 4/1/2011
- by Tambay
- ShadowAndAct
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