Harlan County USA is a 1976 documentary directed by Barbara Kopple, filmed over several years during a bitter 1973 coal miners strike against the Eastover Mining Company and Duke Power in Harlan County, Kentucky. Shot in a direct, embedded style alongside striking miners and their families, the film documents violent confrontations on the picket line, the killing of a striker, and the unions eventual contract victory. Harlan County USA won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and is widely regarded as a landmark of American labor and direct-cinema documentary filmmaking.
Facts
Classification
Original Language AwardAcademy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film 1 Release Year FAQs
Which films competed against Harlan County USA for the Academy Award for documentary feature?
It won over four other nominees: Hollywood on Trial, Off the Edge, People of the Wind and Volcano.
Harlan County, U.S.A. won the Documentary (Feature) award at the 49th Academy Awards, which the Academy lists under 1977, with Barbara Kopple credited as producer. The four films nominated beside it were Hollywood on Trial, Off the Edge, People of the Wind and Volcano: An Inquiry into the Life and Death of Malcolm Lowry.
Connections
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Original Language
Also in Language Atlas: the original language of this subject.
Originated In
Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject originated.
Sources
1. Harlan County USA (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundationlead paragraph, opening sentence naming the release year
Harlan County USA (variously written with and without a comma) is a 1976 American documentary film covering the "Brookside Strike", a 1973 effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Duke Power Company-owned Eastover Coal Company ...
lead paragraph, opening sentence naming the country of production
Harlan County USA (variously written with and without a comma) is a 1976 American documentary film covering the "Brookside Strike", a 1973 effort of 180 coal miners and their wives against the Duke Power Company-owned Eastover Coal Company ...
Harlan County USA, Description, original language
Harlan County USA won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and is widely regarded as a landmark of American labor and direct-cinema documentary filmmaking.
Wikipedia category, checked 2026-09-27
Category:Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners
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