Directed by Barbara Kopple • 1976 • United States
Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award-winning HARLAN COUNTY USA unflinchingly documents a grueling coal miners’ strike in a small Kentucky town. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners’ sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs. 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.
Recorded in 2005, this commentary features producer and director Barbara Kopple and director of editing Nancy Baker.
This documentary features new interviews with producer-director Barbara Kopple, cinematographers Hart Perry and Kevin Keating, associate director Anne Lewis, and three people featured in HARLAN COUNTY USA: United Mine Workers organizer Houston Elmore, miner Jerry Johnson, and strike activist Bess...
