1976, 103 minutes, Color
Barbara Kopple, director
Criterion Collection, DVD

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.

• New, restored high-definition digital transfer, supervised by director-producer Barbara Kopple

• Audio commentary by Kopple and editor Nancy Baker

• The Making of “Harlan County, USA,” a new documentary featuring interviews with Kopple, crew members and strike participants featured in the film

• New video interview with legendary bluegrass singer-songwriter Hazel Dickens

• Never-before-seen outtakes from the film

• New video interview with director John Sayles

• A panel discussion from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival featuring Kopple and Roger Ebert

• Original theatrical trailer

• English subtitles for the deaf and hard of hearing

• New essays by film scholar Paul Arthur and music journalist Jon Weisberger

New cover by Eric Skillman