SABIFF 2025 SPECIAL GUEST 

 *** INAUGURAL ANKH ACHIEVEMENT HONOREE 2020 ***

ANKH AWARD CEREMONY TICKETS

Charles Burnett
Writer, Director, Producer, Professor

Body of Work:

• Killer of Sheep (1978)
• My Brother's Wedding (1983)
• To Sleep with Anger (1990)
• The Glass Shield (1994)
• The Annihilation of Fish (1999)
• Namibia: The Struggle For Liberation (2007)

Television:

• Night John  (1996)
  
• The Wedding (1998)
  
• Selma, Lord, Selma (1999)
  
• Finding Buck McHenry (2000)
  
• American Family (2002-2004)
  
• For Reel?  (2003)
  
• Relative Stranger (2009)

Documentaries:

• America Becoming (1991)
• Dr. Endesha Ida Mae Holland  (1998)
• Nat Turner:  Troublesome Property (2003)
• The Blues  (Episode: "Warming by the Devil's Fire")

Shorts:

• Several Friends (1969)
• The Horse (1973)
• When It Rains (1995)
• The Final Insult (1997)
• Olivia's Story (2000)
• Quiet As Kept (2007)

Cinematographer:

• Killer of Sheep
• Bush Mama
• Bless Their Little Hearts

Charles Burnett

​SABIFF is elated to welcome acclaimed filmmaker Charles Burnett to San Antonio as a guest for this year's Ankh Awards. Burnett was our inaugural Ankh Achievement Honoree in 2020, during the height of the COVID shutdown.

Charles Burnett has been named as "one of America's very best filmmakers" by the Chicago Tribune and "the nation's least-known great filmmaker and most gifted Black director" by The New York Times.[1] 
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A pioneer of UCLA's L.A. Rebellion movement, Burnett is celebrated for his deeply human, realistic portrayals of African American life. Born in Mississippi and raised in Watts, Los Angeles, he emerged from UCLA’s graduate film program with his landmark thesis film Killer of Sheep (1977), later selected for the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.

Over four decades, he has written, directed, and produced more than a dozen narrative and documentary films, both independently and within Hollywood. His accolades include: the prestigious MacArthur “Genius” Grant and the National Society of Film Critics’ Best Screenplay Award for To Sleep with Anger (1990). 

​He received an Academy Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (2017) for being an "influential film pioneer who has chronicled the lives of black Americans with eloquence and insight".  Burnett is based in Los Angeles, California.

SABIFF 2025 is honored to have this legendary cinematic voice among this year’s visionary filmmaker.

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Sources: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Burnett_(director)                    UCLA Film & Television Archives