“I’m often asked what my favorite film is, and of course I have many. But always on the list is this remarkable documentary by Barbara Kopple. In fact, it won the Academy Award in 1976 and is often cited as one of the greatest documentaries made—for good reason.
Rather than relying on narration or journalistic distance, Kopple embedded herself so deeply in the Brookside Mine community that the camera becomes a witness rather than an observer for one of the most dramatic labor battles in American history when miners walked off the job for a thirteen-month strike. Her camera stays close to the miners and, especially, their wives—women who emerge as the strike’s fiercest voices, facing down armed company men on the picket lines with a courage that is breathtaking to witness. Kopple captures it all: the songs, the solidarity, the threats, the violence, and the grief.”
—Stephen Apkon, Series Curator and JBFC Founder
After this event, Barbara Kopple will stay to introduce a screening of her 1990 Academy Award winning film American Dream.
