Accessibility
When workers at the Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota are forced to take a substantial pay cut, the local union takes a stand for its members. Their strike tests the fragile promise of the American ideal, revealing the cost of survival when the dream no longer feels shared.
+ MoreWhen workers at the Hormel meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota are forced to take a substantial pay cut, the local union takes a stand for its members. Their strike tests the fragile promise of the American ideal, revealing the cost of survival when the dream no longer feels shared.
Over the course of six years, director Barbara Kopple documented the plight of 1,500 middle-class workers who believed in the idea that hard work and dedication would result in an increased standard of living. Sudden wage reductions provoked the union to strike, but corporate higher-ups were already prepared to stifle their dissension at any cost. American Dream is not a black-and-white story of injustices thrust upon the American worker — a strategic battle emerges within the union itself, creating a no-win situation that pits brother against brother and friend against friend. In documenting their struggle, Kopple’s observational style is patient, intimate, and unobtrusive. Viewed through a contemporary lens, it serves as a modern manual for understanding the stakes of labor — a reminder that the American Dream still exists on contested ground. — AM
Supervised and approved by director Barbara Kopple, this 4K digital restoration was undertaken by Janus Films and the Criterion Collection from a scan of the 16 mm internegative. The original monaural soundtrack was remastered from the 35 mm DME magnetic track.
Available in person only.
Library Center Theatre
Park City
Closed Caption
Barbara Kopple
Arthur Cohn
Barbara Kopple
Esther Cassidy
Peter Miller
Cathy Caplan
Tom Haneke
Lawrence Silk
Robert McFalls
Peter Gilbert
Kevin Keating
Hart Perry
Mark Petersson
Mathieu Roberts
Michael Small
Lewie Anderson
R.J. Bergstrom
Ron Bergstrom
Wayne Goodnature
Jim Guyette
Jesse Jackson
Janus Films
booking@janusfilms.com
Barbara Kopple is a two-time Academy Award–winning and 10-time Emmy-nominated filmmaker. She received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 44th Annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards in 2023. Throughout her career, she has directed and produced upward of 50 films, including Harlan County, USA and American Dream.
A case that haunted Tennessee’s best detectives for decades is cracked wide open by the most unlikely of investigators: a high school sociology class.
(1hr 2mins)As a Nairobi journalist probes a land battle entangling the local government and a powerful multinational corporation, covered wounds are revealed and family secrets are exposed.
(1hr 36mins)Yves Bouvier brokers masterpieces, from da Vinci to Rothko, into the private collection of Dmitry Rybolovlev until Bouvier is accused of a billion-dollar betrayal. Rising ambitions, frayed relationships, and bruised egos fuel a decade-long all-out war between the Swiss art dealer and the elusive Russian oligarch.
(1hr)
On the shifting edge of the Mississippi River in New Orleans, the spirit of a fading outsider community endures through its two oldest residents.
(16min)FESTIVAL HOST STATE
FESTIVAL HOST STATE
FESTIVAL HOST STATE
.png){kind=logo}
.png)
.png){kind=logo}
.png){kind=logo}
.png)
.png)
.png)
