Post-Screening Discussion with Peter Rachleff (Emeritus Professor of History, Macalester College, and Co-Founder, East Side Freedom Library), Azra Thakur (MAPE union member and film critic), and moderated by Brad Stiffler (professor of Media and Cultural Studies at Macalester College)

MSPIFF presents a 4K digital restoration of Barbara Kopple’s documentary, American Dream, which follows the plight of striking workers at a meatpacking plant in Austin, Minnesota over the course of six years. Workers at the Hormel plant decided to strike for better pay and working conditions (after pay cuts already put them on edge), defying not just the company but the national United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. The walkout lasted almost a year, driving some families to desperate measures, including crossing the picket lines and riots. Kopple and her team immersed themselves in the community, creating a ground-breaking documentary that won the 1991 Academy Award for Best Documentary.