Episode 702: Harlan County U.S.A. / American Factory

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: www.fogoftruth.com [email protected] 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