Harlan County U.S.A.
After several nuanced portrait films of Quebec cultural figures, Simon Beaulieu, also a screenwriter, follows a trajectory that brings his work closer to the essay film. In addition to screening his films, the carte blanche we offer him showcases the diversity of his influences and the eclecticism of his tastes.
Winner of the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 1977
Documentary about workers at Eastover Mining in Kentucky. In 1973, they went on strike because their employer challenged their right to join a workers' union.
Barbara Kopple
Barbara Kopple is an American film editor, producer, director, and screenwriter. A documentary filmmaker for over forty years, she is one of the most prolific and prized American filmmakers of her generation. Kopple is considered a revolutionary figure in the documentary film genre. Her productions span from social documentaries to feature-length fiction films; she even directed an educational children's series for the Disney Channel. As she started to work, she held various positions: assistant editor, editor, and sound engineer, before becoming more independent. Her career as a filmmaker really began when she was sent to investigate the 1973-1974 Harlan County coal miners' strike in Kentucky as a journalist. She used the footage to make Harlan County U.S.A. (1976), which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and was later selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the Library of Congress. She won her second Academy Award in 1991 with American Dream, becoming the first woman to win the award twice for Best Documentary Feature. She is among those who paved the way for women directors in Hollywood, alongside filmmakers such as Nora Ephron, Ava DuVernay, Sofia Coppola and Jane Campion.
