Cannes Classics 2021 to Screen THE KILLING FLOOR

The Killing Floor will return to the Croisette in July as an Official Selection of Cannes Classics, the popular festival sidebar dedicated to restored heritage movies and documentaries. Cannes Classics will host a special event honoring Bill Duke, who will be joined by the film's producer and co-writer, Elsa Rassbach.

The screening and event will take place on Thursday July 15th at 8 pm in the Bunuel Theatre of the Palais des festivals. (Accreditation is required.)

"I want to thank Cannes for its much-appreciated recognition of my career and my work," says Duke, who is based in Los Angeles. "I truly appreciate this presentation of my first feature film, THE KILLING Floor."

Based on actual events and characters, the film's story is told by Frank Custer (Damien Leake), a southern Black migrant working on the "kill floor" of a giant World War One Chicago slaughterhouse under the command of Foreman Harry (Dennis Farina) and struggling to earn enough to bring his wife (Alfre Woodard) and children to more freedom "up north". His childhood friend, Thomas Joshua (Ernest Rayford), who came with him to Chicago, is subjected to a racist attack in the meatpacking plant and departs to join the Army and fight the war together with Black troops, later returning to Chicago even more embittered by racism. Despite strong warnings from experienced Black workers like Heavy Williams (Moses Gunn), Frank joins with European immigrant workers under the leadership of a militant German American shop steward (Clarence Felder) in a pioneering effort to break the race barrier and build the first interracial union in the Stockyards. But he must confront nearly insurmountable racial and ethnic tensions -- stoked by management and culminating in the notorious white supremacist Chicago "race riot" of 1919 -- as he attempts to unite the workers.

Shot on location in Chicago during the Reagan Era in 1983, the year Chicagoans elected their first Black mayor, THE KILLING Floor was financed by grants and donations from foundations, labor unions and corporations to a nonprofit organization founded by Rassbach to produce the film as the "pilot" for a proposed public-television drama series on the history of American workers. Production of this ambitious historical drama on a modest budget was only made possible through strong support by the local union film crew and cast, featuring the Chicago's fine acting talent, a number of whom later enjoyed successful Hollywood careers. Post-production was mounted by Rassbach in New York, working with the pioneering Black film editor, John N. Carter, avante garde composer Elizabeth Swados and DuArt film lab.

The 4K restoration of THE KILLING Floor was initiated by the rights holder, the nonprofit organization Made in U.S.A. Productions, Inc., and supported by the UCLA Film & Television Archive, which facilitated in-house 4K scanning of the film's 16mm original picture negative vaulted in the Archive's Sundance Institute Collection in commemoration of the 100th anniversary of the 1919 Chicago Race Riot. The 4K restoration and re-mastering were completed by Made in U.S.A. under Rassbach's supervision, with color grading by Alpha-Omega digital in Munich and Planemo post-production services in Berlin and a soundtrack digitally restored by Deluxe Entertainment Services Group from the film's original 35mm audio mono mix mag track. The NY-based distributor Film Movement and their Film Movement Classics imprint has launched a successful release of the 4K film exclusively in the U.S. and Canada, including theatrical, home entertainment and digital.

"It has been deeply gratifying to me to experience how audiences TODAY are responding with more enthusiasm than ever to this drama that explores a true story of how ordinary people struggled one hundred years ago to build bonds of solidarity in the hope of overcoming racism -- the legacy of colonialism and slavery -- and to fight against poverty and for the respect due to all. These are goals shared by many people all over the world, so I think international audiences will also find meaning in this film." says the producer and co-writer Rassbach. "We who worked on the film, and its many supporters and fans, thank the Cannes Film Festival for once again honoring Bill Duke and this important work." A new official website is planned that will include information on international acquisition and booking: www.the-killing-floor.com

"We're thrilled that THE KILLING Floor has been recognized for inclusion in such a prestigious international festival," says Michael Rosenberg, President of Film Movement. "With themes still painfully resonant TODAY and a stunning restoration, the film and the historical events chronicled are sure to find appreciative new audiences through Cannes Classics."