Barbara Kopple is an American director and producer, and a leading figure in documentary cinema. Known for her *cinéma vérité* style, her works deeply explore labor struggles and social issues by immersing herself in the communities she portrays. She achieved international fame with *Harlan County, USA* (1976), a documentary about the Kentucky coal miners' strike that earned her her first Academy Award for Best Documentary. She repeated this success in 1991, winning a second Oscar in the same category for *American Dream* (1990), which documents a strike by meatpacking workers in Minnesota. Her extensive filmography also includes works such as *Wild Man Blues* (1997), about Woody Allen's jazz tour, *Shut Up & Sing* (2006), about the Dixie Chicks, and *Miss Sharon Jones!* (2015). Her work, also awarded at the Sundance Film Festival and by the Directors Guild of America, has solidified her status as a master of American social documentary.