Harlan County USA

Two-time Academy Award–winner Barbara Kopple returns to the Wex for a special presentation of her landmark documentary Harlan County USA. The film chronicles a 1973 coal miners’ strike in Kentucky and the fierce standoffs that ensued between the miners and strikebreakers, company thugs, and local police. Although it turns 40 this year, the film remains vital and gripping, as does its haunting country and bluegrass soundtrack featuring such legendary artists as Hazel Dickens and Merle Travis.

Kopple will introduce the film. After the screening, she’ll be joined onstage by Appalachian singer David Morris, along with his son Jack Ballengee Morris, for a short performance of music created for the film’s original soundtrack. (103 mins., 35mm)

This event is organized by The Appalachian Project, Ohio (a collaboration between Ohio State’s Center for Folklore Studies; Department of Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies; and Student Life's Department of Social Change) and cosponsored by Ohio State’s Departments of Arts Administration, Education, and Policy; Comparative Studies; Film Studies; English; and the Barnett Center for Integrated Arts and Enterprise.

Preserved by The Women's Film Preservation Fund of New York Women in Film and Television and The Academy Film Archive.