SERIES
Portraits of Class Struggle
November 27–29 at the Trylon
Radicalized by the anti-war protests of the sixties, Kopple used film to document American labor struggles. She borrowed the stylings of cinema verité to portray her working-class subjects authentically. These documentaries shine light on a pair of significant but obscure strikes from the latter half of the twentieth century. New Restorations!
(1976, 104m) dir Barbara Kopple. In 1973, the coal miners of Harlan County fought a bloody and protracted battle to unionize the Brookside Mine. At fifty years, Kopple’s debut is an enduring testament to the power of solidarity and collective action. FRI 7:00 SAT 4:45 9:00 SUN 12:45
Screenings: November 27 7:00, November 28 9:00, 4:45, November 29 12:45
(1990, 98m) dir Barbara Kopple. American Dream documents the doomed Hormel strike of 1985, when meat-packers in Austin, Minnesota, protested against wage cuts. Elegiac and bittersweet, the film captures the decline of organized labor in the face of deindustrialization. FRI 9:15 SAT 7:00 SUN 3:00
Screenings: November 27 9:15, November 28 7:00, November 29 3:00