The Aurora Film Society brings “Harlan County USA” to the screen at The Venue (21 S. Broadway) on August 19th at 7 p.m.
2026 will be the 50th anniversary of the release of the film Winner of the Best Documentary Oscar in 1977. In 1990, the film was selected for the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”
In 2014, Sight and Sound published a list of Greatest Documentaries of All Time, and Harlan County, USA was ranked 24th, tied with two other movies.
This film documents the “Brookside Strike”, a 1973 effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Duke Power Company-owned Eastover Coal Company’s Brookside Mine and Prep Plant in Harlan County, southeast Kentucky. When director Barbara Kopple and her cameraman Hart Perry showed up on the picket line, the locals were suspicious of their intentions. Rumors flew that a “hippie crew from New York” was sniffing around the strike. When she confronted a striker who told people not to talk to her, she was told: “Girl, you gotta tell people here what you’re doin’.”
Kopple and her crew spent years with the families depicted in the film, documenting the dire straits they encountered while striking for safer working conditions, fair labor practices, and decent wages. She followed them to picket in front of the Stock Exchange in New York City, filming interviews with people affected by black lung disease, and miners being shot at while striking. Kopple chose to film the words and actions of the people themselves and use their voices to tell the story. The music used in Harlan County USA is integral to conveying the culture of the miners. It reflects the culture of the people of Harlan County and shows the power of folk music that was a living part of their culture. Listening to Florence Reece sing the song she wrote “Which Side Are You On” is amazing.
When the film was re-released in 2006, critic Roger Ebert praised the film, writing “The film retains all of its power, in the story of a miners’ strike in Kentucky where the company employed armed goons to escort scabs into the mines, and the most effective picketers were the miners’ wives — articulate, indomitable, courageous. It contains a famous scene where guns are fired at the strikers in the darkness before dawn, and Kopple and her cameraman are knocked down and beaten.”
Join us on August 19th at The Venue. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the film begins shortly after 7 p.m. The screening is open to subscribers and box office ticket holders. Attendees who wish to purchase a one-time ticket for this show may reserve a ticket on this site under the Box Office tab for a donation of $10 or may pay via The Venue’s Eventbright link on their website. Those that wish to subscribe to our 2026 series may secure a subscription by making a donation of $70 under the Subscription tab. We will see you on the 19th, and bring a friend who loves movies!
