alr

My Brother's Wedding

Directed by Charles Burnett.
With Everette Silas, Jessie Holmes, Gaye Shannon Burnett.
US, 1983, digital video, color, 82 min.
Copy source: UCLA

While Charles Burnett’s Killer of Sheep has gradually received the attention it deserves as a landmark of American independent filmmaking, its follow-up has long been ignored, due in large part to its status as a not-quite-finished film. It turns on the dilemmas faced by a young man torn between an alienating social advancement and a limiting past of petty crime. Working at his parents’ dry-cleaning establishment in the days before his brother’s marriage, Burnett’s protagonist is suddenly confronted by the return from prison of a friend from his youth. The director has called My Brother’s Wedding a “tragicomedy,” and he embellishes the plot with episodes of gentle humor. The film’s producers rushed the film onto the festival circuit in a rough cut; Burnett was only able to finish editing his own version a few years ago.

PRECEDED BY

  • A Little Off Mark

    Directed by Robert Wheaton .
    With Peter Parros .
    US, 1986, digital video, black & white, 9 min.
    Copy source: UCLA

This charming bit of romantic comedy features the usual “boy meets girl” tribulations from the point of view of a handsome but hapless would-be Romeo. 

Part of film series

Read more

L.A. Rebellion: Creating a New Black Cinema

Current and upcoming film series

Read more

Harvard Undergraduate Cinematheque

Read more

Albert Serra, or Cinematic Time Regained

Read more

Wang Bing’s Youth Trilogy

Read more

The Shochiku Centennial Collection

Read more

Planet at 50

Read more

The Yugoslav Junction Continues!

Read more

Theo Anthony, Subject to Review

Read more

The Ideal Cinematheque of the Outskirts of the World

Read more

From the collection – Satyajit Ray