Origin Awards

Award-Winning Film Director

The work of Honorary Oscar® recipient and legendary filmmaker Charles Burnett stands among the most vital artistic and activist achievements in American cinema. Guided by moral clarity and an unwavering commitment to truth, Burnett has spent his career illuminating the inner lives of everyday people while confronting systemic injustice with quiet, enduring power.

His landmark debut, Killer of Sheep, is widely regarded as one of the most important American films ever made. Created as Burnett’s UCLA thesis project—where he earned an MFA from the School of Theater, Film & Television—the film was later declared a “national treasure” by the Library of Congress and became one of the first 50 films inducted into the National Film Registry. With poetic restraint and emotional precision, Killer of Sheepredefined cinematic language, presenting Black working-class life not as spectacle, but as lived experience.

Born in Vicksburg, Mississippi and raised in Los Angeles, Burnett emerged as a central figure of the L.A. Rebellion movement, crafting films rooted in community, history, and human dignity. On Killer of Sheep, he served as director, writer, producer, cinematographer, and editor—an early declaration of the artistry and authorship that would define his body of work. The film won the Critics’ Prize at the Berlin Film Festival and first prize at Sundance (then the U.S. Film Festival), announcing Burnett as a singular cinematic voice.

After receiving a Guggenheim Fellowship, Burnett wrote and directed My Brother’s Wedding, followed by To Sleep with Anger, a masterful family drama starring Danny Glover. The film earned three Independent Spirit® Awards, including Best Director and Best Screenplay for Burnett, and became his second work named to the National Film Registry. Blending folklore, social critique, and intimate storytelling, it exemplifies Burnett’s ability to fuse artistry with moral inquiry.

Throughout his career, Burnett has used film as an instrument of cultural memory and social witness. His work across independent cinema, studio films, documentaries, and television addresses racism, historical erasure, and resilience. Projects such as The Glass Shield, Nightjohn, Selma, Lord, Selma, The Annihilation of Fish, and Namibia: The Struggle for Liberation foreground stories of resistance and survival. His Disney Channel film Nightjohn—about literacy as an act of liberation—was hailed by The New Yorker as the best American film of its year.

Burnett’s influence extends far beyond the screen. A revered educator and mentor, he has served as visiting faculty and artist-in-residence at institutions including Yale, UC Berkeley, CalArts, and Bard College, shaping generations of filmmakers committed to integrity and purpose.

In 2017, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences honored Burnett with an Honorary Oscar®, presented by acclaimed filmmaker Ava DuVernay, with tributes from Tessa Thompson and the late Chadwick Boseman. The moment affirmed Burnett’s enduring legacy: a body of work defined not by commercial trends, but by conscience, artistry, and a profound commitment to justice.

Charles Burnett’s films do more than tell stories—they preserve histories, challenge injustice, and affirm the humanity of those too often left unseen.