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Part of the Image, Sound & Silence Art House Film Series

CAPFILM: HARLAN COUNTY U.S.A.

Date:
May 17, 2026
Time:
3:00 pm
Venue: Capitol Theatre
Price: All tickets $15
Series:
Duration: 1 hour 43 minutes
Rating: PG

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.

Image, Sound and Silence
An Art House Film Series

Art House Film is one of the most bold, dynamic and influential parts of cinema history. While its impact on filmmaking is significant, it is extremely broad, can be challenging to access, and may be difficult to know where to begin. This series—the first of its kind to be presented at the Appell Center—is designed as an introduction, opening the door for our audiences into the wide world of the Art House.

We will explore pivotal film movements, screen films across different eras, celebrate national film traditions from around the globe and filmmakers who have made far-reaching impressions on world cinema.

Whether you are completely new to these films or have seen them many times before, we hope to create a community around this series; encouraging audiences to share their thoughts through discussion following the full theatrical experience and sparking a continued sense of creative exploration.