Union Town is the conclusion of Barbara Kopple’s labor trilogy, chronicling American workplaces over half a century. Having won two Academy Awards for Harlan County U.S.A. (1976) and American Dream (1990), the director travels past coal mines and factories to arrive at the breathless frontlines of contemporary labor. Filmed over the course of three years, the film is a cinema verite documentary that meticulously tracks the labor movement powering New York City. The film densely weaves the voices of workers employed by corporate giants such as Amazon and UPS, as those who once swiftly transported goods and food unite without hesitation to speak up for their own lives. This stands as a powerful voice of solidarity from a veteran filmmaker who has doggedly accumulated the history of labor. Amidst explosively mounting energy, the film reveals another side of New York we never knew: a city of solidarity.
Barbara Kopple is an American filmmaker whose enduring contributions across documentary, narrative feature, and television have earned her honors such as an Emmy Lifetime Achievement Award and accolades from the National Board of Review. She is a two-time Academy Award winner for Best Documentary Feature with Harlan County, U.S.A. (1976) and American Dream (1990), both chronicling labor movements. Continuing to explore social movements and labor struggles through her documentary work, she went on to direct films including Dixie Chicks: Shut Up and Sing (2006), Running from Crazy (2013), Miss Sharon Jones! (2015), and New Homeland (2018).
From Busan International Film Festival 2026, No. 31
