Harlan County, USA

“This is Harlan County USA, I think the best documentary I’ve ever seen and one of the most, most important ever made. This movie asks, in song, “Come to Harlan County, which side are you on?” And I think that’s a question that we all need to be asking ourselves right now: which side are you on? The powerful or the powerless? Harlan County.”

“The first I’m gonna pick is this one right here: Harlan County USA, which is an incredible documentary by Barbara Kopple. And I picked this one because, yeah, I love it. It’s terrifying and heart-expanding. And it is about the power of collective action and the importance of union membership. Two things that I believe in very much. We have a lot more power than we think. There are those who don’t want us to use that power, and they try to convince us that we’re powerless and they can do a pre...”

“Bowling for Columbine. Harlan County U. S. A. Which is awesome, awesome. Barbara Kopple is brilliant filmmaker.”

“Grand Finale: Harlan County USA. Barbara Kopple. When Turner and I were first starting out, I think she was like the first famous person I ever met. She made Harlan County USA, one of my favorite movies of all time. I literally went up to her and I said that and then I walked out of the room and burst into tears. Anyway, all-timer of a film here.”

“Just saw Barbara last night. This is Harlan County. Super punk rock at the time and she directed my very first movie. Barbara Kopple, she's—yeah, shout out to her.”

“Amazingly enough, I don’t own this. This is one of my very favorite docs, it’s one of the greatest documentaries ever made. It’s Barbara Kopple’s Harlan County USA, and it is a film about a striking workers’ skirmish that they embedded themselves into that got quite violent and terrifying. I think it speaks timelessly to the struggles of workers everywhere, but also to how documentaries can actually have something to say about society while being art.”