Biography
Completed on a budget of less than $1.5 million Burnett's first theatrical release, "To Sleep With Anger", concerning a tightly-knit middle-class black family in Los Angeles that begins to unravel when a long-absent relative (Danny Glover) returns, thrust him into the limelight. …
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Pierre Rissient: Man of Cinema
Daughters of the Dust
Career Milestones
| Lectured on independent filmmaking at colleges, film centers and museums | ||
| Taught film for a year and a half during graduate school | ||
| Worked as script reader, synopsis writer for Chasin-Park-Citron Agency | ||
1969 | Directing debut, "Several Friends" | |
1977 | Directed first feature, "Killer of Sheep"; also wrote, edited and shot; made in 1973, while a graduate student at UCLA | |
1990 | Won praise for his helming of "To Sleep With Anger" | |
1997 | Directed the Disney Channel TV-movie "Nightjohn" (received a limited theatrical release) | |
1998 | Helmed the ABC TV-movie "Oprah Winfrey Presents 'The Wedding'" | |
2000 | Helmed "The Annihilation of Fish," a love story about two mentally unstable people played by Lynn Redgrave and James Earl Jones | |
2007 | "Killer of Sheep" was given a belated wide release | |
Awards
1990 | Los Angeles Film Critics Association Award for Special Citation in To Sleep With Anger |
1990 | National Society of Film Critics Award for Best Screenplay in To Sleep With Anger |
1991 | Independent Spirit Award for Best Director in To Sleep With Anger |
1991 | Independent Spirit Award for Best Screenplay in To Sleep With Anger |
1997 | National Society of Film Critics Award for Special citation |
2007 | New York Film Critics Circle Award for Special Award in Killer of Sheep |