Both Burnett and Davis are integral figures from the first generation of the L.A. Rebellion film movement, a group of African-American filmmakers who studied at the UCLA Film School in the 1960s-1980s. A panel discussion and Q&A sessions with the esteemed directors will follow each film screening. The celebratory weekend will kick off Friday, March 22 with the film Spirits of Rebellion: Black Cinema at UCLA followed by a public reception. The weekend will also feature the rarely-screened Killer of Sheep by Charles Burnett, in 16mm. The events are free and open to the public and the entire schedule is listed below.

“In what we hope will become an annual event, MassArt will create space for an exploration of this important movement in American film,” said Tammy Dudman, Chair of MassArt Film/Video. “We are delighted to be able to bring celebrated filmmakers Burnett and Davis to Boston.”

This program was co-curated by Dudman and Roxbury International Film Festival Executive Director Lisa Simmons. “RoxFilm is excited to partner with MassArt on this important film series bringing two acclaimed filmmakers from the LA Rebellion movement and lifting up their work and the work of others who played a major role in the creation of a new black cinema. A cinema that was anti-Hollywood, focused on creating films showing the dignity of Black people,” said Simmons.

According to the UCLA Library Film & Television Archive, “L.A. Rebellion refers to a group of filmmakers of African origin or descent who together produced a rich, innovative, sustained and intellectually rigorous body of work. Coming out of UCLA, they envisioned a new independent cinema, sensitive to the real lives of Black communities in the U.S. and worldwide.”