Bisbee ’17

Prolific editor and filmmaker Robert Greene brings us to Bisbee, Arizona—a remote copper-mining town close to the Mexican border where, a century ago, there was a violent deportation of 1,200 striking miners who were ultimately left for dead. In this hybrid film, where the past is confronted by staged present-day reenactments of the events leading up to the deportation, Greene taps into the current political climate while questioning what is the “real” history.

“It’s a very rare documentary that can be both formally daring and so emotionally powerful as Bisbee ’17. The former often leads to a disconnect with the latter—style over substance that disengages the viewer from the emotion of the subject—but Robert Greene achieves something special with Bisbee ’17, a movie that feels instantly essential.”—Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com

“That palpable sense of power is also a testament to Greene’s evolving skills as a storyteller, which grow more impressive with each film. Snaking together a dozen emotional through-lines and marshaling the whole of Bisbee towards July 12th with the inexorable force of a prophecy, the director creates an unreal vibe that never cleanly aligns with traditional modes of narrative or documentary cinema.”—David Ehrlich, IndieWire