American Dream

Considered documentarian Barbara Kopple’s masterpiece, American Dream unflinchingly details the explosive 1985 labor strike against Hormel Foods in Austin, Minnesota, a city torn apart by turmoil. Fed up with dangerous plant conditions and drastic wage cuts, the local union walked off the job against the advice of the United Food and Commercial Workers International. 

Fifteen years after her landmark Harlan County USA, Kopple again focused on working-class America, poignantly capturing one of the most significant setbacks to organized labor of its era. 1991 Academy Award®, Best Documentary Feature. Newly restored for its 35th-anniversary screening at the Sundance Film Festival. 

“Devastating, stirring, forthright. Kopple’s work is as important as it is good.” —Janet Maslin, The New York Times