Barbara Kopple facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Barbara Kopple
Kopple at the May 2015 Montclair Film Festival
Born	(1946-07-30) July 30, 1946 (age 78) New York City, US
Occupation	Film director

Barbara Kopple (born July 30, 1946) is a famous American film director. She is best known for making amazing documentaries. Documentaries are films that tell true stories about real people and events. Kopple helped bring a special filmmaking style called "cinema vérité" to American audiences. This style makes films feel very real, like you are right there.

Barbara Kopple has won two Academy Awards (also known as Oscars) for her documentaries. She won for Harlan County, USA (1977), which was about a miners' strike in Kentucky. She also won for American Dream (1991), which told the story of a workers' strike at a food company in Austin, Minnesota. She was the first woman to win two Oscars in the Best Documentary category.

She also directed other well-known documentaries like Bearing Witness (2005). This film was about five women journalists working in war zones during the Iraq War. Other films include Wild Man Blues (1997) and Miss Sharon Jones! (2015). Kopple received a Primetime Emmy Award for Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson (1993). She even directed episodes of popular TV shows like Homicide: Life on the Street and Oz. In 2023, she received a special Lifetime Achievement Award for her work in television.

Early life and first steps in film

Barbara Kopple in conversation

Barbara Kopple grew up on a vegetable farm in Scarsdale, New York. Her father worked in the textile industry. She went to Northeastern University to study psychology. For one class, she chose to make a film instead of writing a paper. This is how she first became interested in filmmaking. During college, Kopple also became involved in protests against the Vietnam War.

After college, Kopple went to the School of Visual Arts. There, she met famous documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles. She helped them make their films, including Salesman and Gimme Shelter. She worked on camera and sound for their projects. Kopple said that working with the Maysles brothers was great because they treated women equally. Everyone's ideas were important.

Later, she worked as an editor and camera operator on many documentaries. In 1972, she started her own production company called Cabin Creek Films. Through this company, she continued to direct and produce films and TV projects.

Making famous documentaries

Harlan County, USA: A story of miners

Kopple first learned about the struggles of miners in Appalachia while in college. In 1972, she started filming the Miners for Democracy movement. This was a group of miners fighting for their rights. When miners in Harlan County went on strike for better union recognition, Kopple moved there. She lived with the miners and their families with a small film crew. They filmed even when they ran out of film. Kopple said that having a camera there sometimes helped keep things peaceful.

Harlan County, USA took four years to make. It was very expensive to produce. Kopple and her crew often went back and forth between Harlan and New York. They worked odd jobs and wrote letters to get money for the film. Kopple even used her own credit card to pay for expenses. She got into a lot of debt for the project.

During filming, mine owners threatened Kopple. She was told she would be hurt if caught alone at night. She even carried two pistols while filming in Harlan.

The film first showed at the New York Film Festival in 1976. It received a standing ovation, meaning everyone clapped for a long time. Harlan County, USA won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature. Kopple accepted the award for the miners who trusted her and let her into their homes.

American Dream: Another workers' fight

After Harlan County, USA, Kopple's next big documentary was American Dream. This film captured the 1985–86 Hormel strike. This was a two-year strike by workers against the Hormel Foods company. Kopple heard about the strike on the radio and drove to Austin, Minnesota, right away.

American Dream was even harder to make than Harlan County, USA. It was difficult to get money for the film. It took five years to find funding. Kopple believed her previous Oscar win might have made it harder to get support.

For Harlan County, Kopple was clearly on the side of the miners. But for American Dream, she wanted to show all sides of the story. She wanted to be fair to everyone involved in the strike.

American Dream premiered in 1990 and won Kopple her second Academy Award the next year. After this, Kopple continued to make documentaries. She explored new topics like crime stories and the lives of famous people.

Shut Up and Sing: Music and politics

In 2006, Barbara Kopple and Cecilia Peck released Shut Up and Sing. This film followed the music group the Dixie Chicks. The group faced a lot of criticism for comments made against the Bush administration and the war in Iraq. Kopple was on tour with the band when their lead singer, Natalie Maines, spoke out against the war.

The film showed how the musicians dealt with the backlash, including death threats. Kopple and Peck showed the challenges the band faced at home. Their filmmaking style made it feel like a "fly on the wall," showing real, unscripted moments. The film won several awards, including a Special Jury Prize at the Chicago International Film Festival. Many news outlets now see it as an important film because of its political nature.

Other notable films

Kopple has made many other films. Her first non-documentary film for theaters was Havoc (2005). It starred Anne Hathaway and was released straight to DVD. Kopple has also worked on commercials that use a documentary style.

She was part of a group of filmmakers who secretly made Winter Soldier. This was an anti-war documentary about the Winter Soldier Investigation. She also directed a short documentary called Locked Out in America: Voices From Ravenswood.

In 2012, Kopple released two more films. One was about Mariel Hemingway, the granddaughter of famous writer Ernest Hemingway. This film, Running from Crazy, was shown at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. The other film was about the 150th Anniversary of The Nation magazine.

Filmmaking style and themes

Barbara Kopple's documentaries use the style of cinema vérité. This means her films often show real life as it happens, with minimal narration. She wants viewers to feel like they are right there with the people in the film. She often uses observational footage and personal interviews. She has said that filmmakers like the Maysle brothers and D. A. Pennebaker influenced her. She loved how close Pennebaker got to his subjects, like Bob Dylan in Don't Look Back.

Kopple's work often focuses on political topics. She has made many films about labor issues and workers' unions in the U.S. She has always supported the American labor movement. While many of her early documentaries were political, her more recent work has included music documentaries and films about celebrities.

When making her documentaries, Kopple works with small crews of two to five people. She almost always operates the sound equipment herself.

Working in the film industry

Kopple has worked with big studios like ABC, NBC, Lifetime Television, and Disney Channel. She says that being a woman filmmaker can sometimes be an advantage. She believes people are less intimidated by women, which can help her connect with her subjects. She also actively supports organizations that deal with social issues and help independent filmmakers.

Personal life

Barbara Kopple describes herself as a "filmmaker and mom." She is the niece of the American playwright Murray Burnett.

Filmography

• 1972: Winter Soldier
• 1976: Harlan County, USA
• 1981: Keeping On
• 1990: American Dream
• 1992: Beyond JFK: The Question of Conspiracy
• 1993: Fallen Champ: The Untold Story of Mike Tyson
• 1994: Century of Women: Work and Family
• 1997: Homicide: Life on the Street - The Documentary
• 1997: Wild Man Blues
• 1998: Homicide: Life on the Street - Pit Bull Sessions
• 1999: A Conversation with Gregory Peck
• 1999: Homicide: Life on the Street - Self Defense
• 2000: My Generation
• 2002: American Standoff
• 2002: The Hamptons
• 2004: Bearing Witness
• 2004: Dance Cuba: Dreams of Flight
• 2004: WMD: Weapons of Mass Deception
• 2005: Havoc
• 2006: Shut Up & Sing
• 2010: 30 for 30: The House of Steinbrenner
• 2011: Gunfight
• 2013: Running from Crazy
• 2015: Miss Sharon Jones!
• 2016: Gigi Gorgeous: This is Everything
• 2017: A Murder in Mansfield
• 2018: New Homeland
• 2019: Desert One
• 2022: Gumbo Coalition

Awards and honors

Other special awards

• 1994: American Film Institute, USA, Maya Deren Independent Film and Video Artists Award
• 1998: Human Rights Watch International Film Festival, Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2006: Woman Film Critics Circle Awards, Lifetime Achievement Award
• 2006: Special Jury Prize for DocuFest Competition, Shut Up & Sing
• 2011: Felix Award for Best Documentary, American Dream
• 2011: Grand Festival Award for Documentary, Bagels, Borscht, and Brotherhood – Allen Ginsberg
• 2018: Athena Film Festival, Laura Ziskin Lifetime Achievement Award

See also

In Spanish: Barbara Kopple para niños