Barbara Kopple’s academy award-winning documentary “Harlan County, USA,” depicting the struggle of 180 coal miners and their families against a Kentucky coal mining company will be screened at Vinegar Hill Theatre, Tuesday June 5th at 7pm. The moving documentary is part of the Vinegar Hill ’76 Film Series which pays tribute to notable films from 1976, the year the iconic theater opened.
Local documentary film producer Lori Shinseki and award-winning director Paul Wagner will lead a discussion following the film. “You can’t understand Appalachia today without understanding yesterday. The coal companies and the union, the gun thugs and picket line people, the men AND the women of Appalachia, all passed through a bitter year of conflict,” noted Wagner. “And there with her camera was Barbara Kopple, shooting one of the seminal works of the independent documentary film movement of the late 20th Century – Harlan County, USA.”
Light House Studio purchased the iconic Vinegar Hill Theatre in 2015 and after renovations, opened the doors in 2016 to the community to offer a venue to screen independent films, documentaries, impactful films such as those included in the ’76 Series as well as student films.
Light House Studio, a nonprofit dedicated to equipping young people with the skills and confidence to tell their stories and build their community through collaborative filmmaking, is hosting the ’76 Film Series each Tuesday at 7pm at Vinegar Hill Theatre until June 26th. Tickets may be purchased online or at the door for $10. www.lighthousestudio.org/vinegar-hill-76 . For more insight to the significance of “Harlan County, USA” read Light House intern Helena Chung’s blog http://www.lighthousestudio.org/harlan-county-usa.html .
About Light House Studio
Light House Studio is an award-winning nonprofit filmmaking center for children and teens that has been teaching self-expression through the art of film since 1999.
