Buy Physical Copy At:
Licensor Information
Cabin Creek Films
Directed by: Barbara Kopple
Barbara Kopple’s Academy Award–winning Harlan County USA unflinchingly documents a grueling coal miners’ strike in a small Kentucky town. With unprecedented access, Kopple and her crew captured the miners’ sometimes violent struggles with strikebreakers, local police, and company thugs. Featuring a haunting soundtrack—with legendary country and bluegrass artists Hazel Dickens, Merle Travis, Sarah Gunning, and Florence Reece—the film is a heartbreaking record of the thirteen-month struggle between a community fighting to survive and a corporation dedicated to the bottom line.
Streaming Options
1427.
+545
Release Information:
Technical Specifications
Format:
DVD
Disc:
DVD-9 (1 Disc)
Total: 1 Disc
Regions:
1 (DVD)
Aspect Ratio:
1.78:1
Audio Options:
English Dolby Digital Mono 1.0
Resolution:
480p/29.97
Subtitles:
English
Supplements
Types of Supplements Included: Audio Commentary, Documentary, Interview, Outtakes, Q&A, Theatrical Trailer, Booklet
- Audio commentary by Barbara Kopple and editor Nancy Baker
- The Making of “Harlan County, USA,” a new documentary featuring interviews with Kopple, crew members and strike participants featured in the film
- New video interview with legendary bluegrass singer-songwriter Hazel Dickens
- Never-before-seen outtakes from the film
- New video interview with director John Sayles
- A panel discussion from the 2005 Sundance Film Festival featuring Barbara Kopple and Roger Ebert
- Original theatrical trailer
- Booklet featuring new essays by film scholar Paul Arthur and music journalist Jon Weisberger
Forum Member Statistics
Sign-in with your forum account to rate this release
Film
Picture
Audio
Supplements
Artwork
Release Credits
Artwork: Eric Skillman
Producer: Johanna Schiller
Release Notes on Restoration
Harlan County USA
Harlan County USA is presented in the aspect ratio of 1.78:1. This is the ratio of the 35mm blowup of the film restored by the Academy Film Archive and the New York Women in Film Preservation Fund On standard 4:3 televisions, the image will appear letterboxed. On widescreen televisions, the image should fill the screen. Approved by director Barbara Kopple, this new high-definition digital transfer was created on a Spirit Datacine from the Academy-restored 35mm blowup of the film struck from the duplicate negative. Thousands of instances of dirt, debris, and scratches were removed using the MTI Digital Restoration System. To maintain optimal image quality through the compression process, the picture on this dual-layer DVD-9 has been encoded at the highest-possible bit rate for the quantity of materials included.
The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the Academy’s original 3-track magnetic print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1-channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.
The soundtrack was mastered at 24-bit from the Academy’s original 3-track magnetic print, and audio restoration tools were used to reduce clicks, pops, hiss, and crackle. The Dolby Digital 1.0 signal will be directed to the center channel on 5.1-channel sound systems, but some viewers may prefer to switch to two-channel playback for a wider dispersal of the mono sound.