Billy Woodberry

Background Woodberry was born in Dallas, Texas. The Movement consisted of a generation of young African and African-American filmmakers who studied at the UCLA Film School in the late 1960s through the late 1980s. These independent filmmakers created a Black Cinema that provided an alternative to classical Hollywood cinema. The political and social discourse of 1967 and 1968 were vital in the establishment of this movement in filmmaking that would later be called the L.A. Rebellion. This term was coined by film scholar Clyde Taylor, and the movement sought for a new aesthetic and mode of representation and narration that spoke to the realities of black existence. The films produced by this group of filmmakers were significantly relevant to the politics and culture of the 1960s. Woodberry's film Bless Their Little Hearts illustrates this in its examination of the tensions caused by class conflicts within an African American family. His film, along with those of Julie Dash, Haile Gerima, Charles Burnett, and numerous others, helped to create narratives that spoke to the black experience. Adapted from Langston Hughes short story "Thank You, Ma’am," the film follows as the young boy reflects on his life, and reevaluates his decisions. The Pocketbook was released in 1980, and was dedicated to modernist photographers such as Paul Strand and Helen Levitt. Drawing on their legacy, the film consists of high contrast black and white photography that “draws on the history of photography as a social practice.”

Woodberry has appeared in Charles Burnett's When It Rains (1995) and Haile Gerima's Ashes to Embers (1982). He has provided narration for films such as Thom Andersen's Red Hollywood (1996) and James Benning's Four Corners (1998). Played by Nate Hardman and Kaycee Moore, the film's lead protagonist, Charlie and Andais Banks, grapple with financial hardships and constant stressors in their marriage.

And when I die, I won't stay dead (2015) Woodberry's latest film And when I die, I won't stay dead is a documentary about the life and work of the poet Bob Kaufman. The film had its world premiere in Vienna and was presented at the opening night of MoMa's Doc Fortnight in 2016. In this film Woodberry continues to address some of his major themes such as institutional wrongdoing (Kaufman ended up at Bellevue Hospital, where he was subjected to shock treatment); a close evocation of setting (North Beach scene in San Francisco) and the profound presentation of a complex, drifting character.

Filmography The Pocketbook Director, Editor, Writer, 1980, Short Film Ashes and Embers, Actor, 1982 Bless Their Little Hearts, Director, 1984, Feature Film When It Rains, Actor, 1995, Short Film Red Hollywood, Narrator, 1996, Documentary Spirits of Rebellion: Black Film at UCLA, Himself, 2011, Documentary And when I die, I won't stay dead, Director, 2015 A Story from Africa, Director, 2019, Documentary Short Mário, Director, 2024, Documentary Feature

Critical reception Bless Their Little Hearts received the Interfilm ecumenical jury award at the Berlin Film Festival.

"Its poetry lies in the exaltation of ordinary detail" is how Jim Ridley of the Village Voice described Bless Their Little Hearts in his 2008 review of the film.

Bless Their Little Hearts was selected in 2013 by the National Film Registry to be included for preservation, deeming it culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant.