She is credited with pioneering a renaissance of cinema vérité, and bringing the historic French style to a modern American audience.

[3] Kopple gained acclaim for the film Bearing Witness (2005), a documentary about five women journalists stationed in combat zones during the Iraq War.

She is also known for directing the documentary films Wild Man Blues (1997), A Conversation With Gregory Peck (1999), My Generation (2000), Running from Crazy (2013), Miss Sharon Jones!

[4] Kopple received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Academy of Television Arts and Sciences on September 28, 2023.

Her mother and maternal grandparents grew up in Peekskill, New York, the latter of whom publicly criticized the attempted censorship of singer Paul Robeson in 1949.

[12] While working among lobotomy patients at Medfield State Hospital with Northeastern University, she decided she wanted to be a filmmaker instead.

[14] Kopple attended the School of Visual Arts, where she met documentary filmmakers Albert and David Maysles through a classmate.

"— Barbara Kopple[15]She assisted them on their documentary Salesman, and then did camera work for their film on the Rolling Stones, titled Gimme Shelter.

She also created a production company in 1972, Cabin Creek Films, through which she would continue to direct and produce features and television projects, in addition to documentaries.

Notable intern alums from her production company, Cabin Creek Films, include Jesse Moss, Kristi Jacobson, and Jan Ackerman.

Within an hour, we were filming violent arrests and women being dragged...." — Anne Lewis[18]"The scene I love the best of me being in Harlan County was when [mine foreman] Basil Collins stopped his truck and said, "Come over here, honey."

"[14] Kopple also accepted donated money from her parents, friends and others in order to continue financing the project; she eventually placed herself into great debt for the film, utilizing her personal credit card for many expenses.

While driving in Worthington, Minn., Kopple heard a new radio broadcast on developing strikes amongst workers in meatpacking plants of Austin.

"[22] American Dream proved to be even more difficult for Kopple to produce than Harlan County, USA, despite her previous documentary's success.

[23] It took five years for Kopple to obtain financing for the film, and mentions her personal belief that her previous Oscar win hindered funding support.

Kopple continued to exclusively make documentaries for nearly the next decade and a half, exploring new subject matters such as crime procedurals and the lives of celebrities.

[25] Kopple's style is evident in use of candid clips of the performers discussing the fallout combined with a focus on what their daily lives look like.

While the musicians maintain grace whilst getting death threats for their remarks publicly, Kopple and Peck show the burden it places upon them at home.

"[citation needed][26] In years since the premiere, many news outlets (such as The Guardian and The New York Times) have come back to the documentary, writing about why it is such a landmark film for its political nature.

[citation needed] Her first non-documentary feature film to play in theaters, Havoc, starred Anne Hathaway and Bijou Phillips as wealthy suburbanites who venture into East Los Angeles Latino gang territory, and was released straight to DVD in 2005.

The moving image collection of Barbara Kopple is held at the Academy Film Archive, which preserved Harlan County, USA.

The collaborative models of working originates from her internship with the Maysles Brothers in Gimme Shelter (1970) and later joining the film collective that would produce Winter Soldier (1972).

While editing Harlan County, USA, Kopple sought multiple editors for the nine-month post-production process.

"[24] Past financial struggles influenced Kopple's embrace of commercial projects, her recent partnership was with YouTube's production of This is Everything: Gigi Gorgeous.

She relies on a neutral outlook when approaching the subject matter of her films, some of whom were controversial figures such as Woody Allen and Mike Tyson.

[24] She upholds the strength of women filmmakers citing Rory Kennedy, Mirra Bank, Liz Garbus, and Kristi Jacobson as both colleagues and inspirations.