For this second episode of our current season we try something new with a look back at an important film from the past, Barbara Kopple's 1976 Harlan County U.S.A., which won the 1977 Best Documentary Oscar. Why this trip down docu-memory lane? Two reasons: 1) our guest host this week is actually a guest historian, Betsy McLane, who not only knows just about everything there is to know about documentary history, but also knows quite a lot about Kopple; and 2) the coal miners of Harlan County, Kentucky, are once again on strike, gaining national and international attention over the summer. Plus ça change …
And while we're on the topic of great films about unions, we thought we'd also play a recent interview Chris did with directors Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert of American Factory, just recently released on Netflix, which tells the story of what happens when a Chinese glass company takes over an abandoned GM plant. It starts out so well, but then, well … you'll just have to listen to our podcast and then watch the movie. Enjoy!
Group Review Documentary:
HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A. (Barbara Kopple, 1976)
Available on disc and online
Film Featured in Interview Portion:
AMERICAN FACTORY (Steven Bognar/Julia Reichert, 2019)
Now on Netflix
Other Books and Documentaries Mentioned:
- American Dream (Barbara Kopple, 1990)
- Hillbilly (Sally Rubin/Ashley York, 2018)
- The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (Steven Bognar/Julia Reichert, 2009)
- Monterey Pop (D.A. Pennebaker, 1968)
- Murder on a Sunday Morning (Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, 2001)
- My Generation (Thomas Haneke/Barbara Kopple, 2000)
- A New History of Documentary Film, 2nd Edition (BOOK), by Betsy McLane (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013)
- One Child Nation (Nanfu Wang/Jialing Zhang, 2019)
- ReFocus: The Films of Barbara Kopple (BOOK), edited by Jeff Jaeckle and Susan Ryan (Edinburgh University Press, 2019)
- The Staircase (Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, 2004-2018)
- Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh, 1970)
- Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation (Barak Goodman, 2019)
Links to review and interview by Christopher Llewellyn Reed:
- Hammer to Nailreview of American Factory
- Film Festival Todayinterview with Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert of American Factory
Timestamps:
- 00:40 – Intro
- 04:27 – Group Discussion of HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A.
- 25:58 – Chris interviews Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert of AMERICAN FACTORY
- 43:38 – Doc Talk
Website/Email:
Credits:
Artwork by Hilary Campbell
Intro music by Jeremiah Moore
Transitional music by BELLS (thanks to Christopher Ernst)
Editing and shownotes by Christopher Llewellyn Reed
Show Notes
For this second episode of our current season we try something new with a look back at an important film from the past, Barbara Kopple's 1976 Harlan County U.S.A., which won the 1977 Best Documentary Oscar. Why this trip down docu-memory lane? Two reasons: 1) our guest host this week is actually a guest historian, Betsy McLane, who not only knows just about everything there is to know about documentary history, but also knows quite a lot about Kopple; and 2) the coal miners of Harlan County, Kentucky, are once again on strike, gaining national and international attention over the summer. Plus ça change …
And while we're on the topic of great films about unions, we thought we'd also play a recent interview Chris did with directors Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert of American Factory, just recently released on Netflix, which tells the story of what happens when a Chinese glass company takes over an abandoned GM plant. It starts out so well, but then, well … you'll just have to listen to our podcast and then watch the movie. Enjoy!
Group Review Documentary:
HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A. (Barbara Kopple, 1976)
Available on disc and online
Film Featured in Interview Portion:
AMERICAN FACTORY (Steven Bognar/Julia Reichert, 2019)
Now on Netflix
Other Books and Documentaries Mentioned:
- American Dream (Barbara Kopple, 1990)
- Hillbilly (Sally Rubin/Ashley York, 2018)
- The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (Steven Bognar/Julia Reichert, 2009)
- Monterey Pop (D.A. Pennebaker, 1968)
- Murder on a Sunday Morning (Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, 2001)
- My Generation (Thomas Haneke/Barbara Kopple, 2000)
- A New History of Documentary Film, 2nd Edition (BOOK), by Betsy McLane (Bloomsbury Academic, 2013)
- One Child Nation (Nanfu Wang/Jialing Zhang, 2019)
- ReFocus: The Films of Barbara Kopple (BOOK), edited by Jeff Jaeckle and Susan Ryan (Edinburgh University Press, 2019)
- The Staircase (Jean-Xavier de Lestrade, 2004-2018)
- Woodstock (Michael Wadleigh, 1970)
- Woodstock: Three Days That Defined a Generation (Barak Goodman, 2019)
Links to review and interview by Christopher Llewellyn Reed:
- Hammer to Nailreview of American Factory
- Film Festival Todayinterview with Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert of American Factory
Timestamps:
- 00:40 – Intro
- 04:27 – Group Discussion of HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A.
- 25:58 – Chris interviews Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert of AMERICAN FACTORY
- 43:38 – Doc Talk
Website/Email:
Credits:
Artwork by Hilary Campbell
Intro music by Jeremiah Moore
Transitional music by BELLS (thanks to Christopher Ernst)
Editing and shownotes by Christopher Llewellyn Reed
