“Articulate, indomitable, courageous.” - Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times
“Few documentaries rivet you to your seat; this one does. The guts it took to make are up there on the screen, in the footage shot by director Barbara Kopple and cameraman Hart Perry during the violent encounters.” - Elliott Stein, Film Comment Magazine
Opens May 1 | Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award–winning HARLAN COUNTY, U.S.A. unflinchingly documents a coal miners’ strike in a small Kentucky town. Kopple spent years with the subjects depicted in the film, was given unprecedented access to their lives and families, and captured the abuse they experienced at the hands of strikebreakers, police, and company thugs while fighting for fair labor practices and decent wages. Featuring a haunting soundtrack—with legendary country and bluegrass artists Hazel Dickens, Merle Travis, Sarah Gunning, and Florence Reece—the film is a heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line. An honest portrait of corporate greed and individual courage, HARLAN COUNTY, U.S.A. is one of the most important films ever made about American labor. Siskel Film Center exclusive.
Celebrate May Day by watching this remarkable movie and Kopple's follow-up feature, AMERICAN DREAM.
Awards & Nominations
Winner - Best Documentary Film, Academy Awards
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