November 21 | Join us as we conclude the 30th Black Harvest Film Festival with the Chicago premiere of the 4K digital restoration of Charles Burnett’s (KILLER OF SHEEP, TO SLEEP WITH ANGER) long-lost feature, THE ANNIHILATION OF FISH (1999, USA, 108 min. In English), starring James Earl Jones, Lynn Redgrave, and Margot Kidder. The film presentation will be followed by a dialogue with director Charles Burnett, who will be presented with the Black Harvest Film Festival Legacy Award.
Shot in 1999, THE ANNIHILATION OF FISH screened that September at the Toronto International Film Festival and was acquired for distribution. But following a single bad review in Variety, the distributor canceled the film’s release. For almost a quarter of a century, THE ANNIHILATION OF FISH has been unavailable on all media—it has never been distributed on 35mm, DCP, VHS, DVD, Blu-ray, television, or streaming—until now. Adapted from a short story by Anthony C. Winkler, THE ANNIHILATION OF FISH is a tender comedy about two eccentric humans finding love later in life. With extraordinary performances from a stellar cast, the film tackles such issues as race, mental illness, and aging with anarchic humor and energy. The restoration is by UCLA Film & Television Archive and The Film Foundation with funding provided by the Hobson/Lucas Family Foundation. (Milestone Films).
Born in Mississippi and raised in the Watts neighborhood of Los Angeles, Charles Burnett is one of American cinema’s acknowledged masters. Trained to be a filmmaker at UCLA in the 1960s, as an early part of a movement later dubbed “The L.A Rebellion,” Burnett, whose career has included shorts, independent features, and documentaries for both Hollywood and TV, has been praised for crafting authentic stories that engage with class, gender, and Black identity in America. His feature film debut, KILLER OF SHEEP (1978) won the Critics’ Award at the Berlin International Film Festival, inducted into the Library of Congress in 1990, and has been universally hailed by critics, including Wesley Morris, who called the film “A milestone of eloquent understatement that captures the daily life of have-nots as few American movies have.” Burnett’s other feature films include MY BROTHER’S WEDDING (1983), TO SLEEP WITH ANGER (1990), THE GLASS SHIELD (1994) and NAMIBIA: THE STRUGGLE FOR LIBERATION (2007). Burnett also has made several documentaries including AMERICA BECOMING (1991) and NAT TURNER: A TROUBLESOME PROPERTY (2003) and short films including THE HORSE (1973) and WHEN IT RAINS (1995). In 2017, Burnett was the recipient of an Honorary Academy Award.
The Film Center is ADA accessible. This presentation will be projected without open captions. The theater is hearing-loop equipped. For accessibility requests, please email filmcenter@saic.edu
THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 7:00 P.M
$15 – Gene Siskel Film Center members and SAIC students, staff, and faculty
$20 – Students
$30 – General Audiences
