Robert Greene on His Film "Bisbee '17"

American Historical Association

In this episode, AHR editor Alex Lichtenstein speaks with filmmaker Robert Greene about his 2018 film “Bisbee ’17.” In it Greene examines the complex and troubled history of Bisbee, Arizona, a mining town located near the state’s southern border. The film’s central focus is the 1917 illegal removal of more than a thousand striking mine works, and many of their local supporters, by the mining company Phelps Dodge—a scarring event now known simply as the “Bisbee Deportation.” Greene went about the examination, in part, by involving present-day residents of the town in reenacting key aspects of the deportation event, an innovation that effectively transforms the film from a straightforward historical documentary into a far more complex examination of history, memory, and memorialization. Greene’s other critically-acclaimed films include the Gotham Awards-nominated “Actress” (2014), “Fake It So Real” (2011), and “Kati With An I” (2010). He currently serves as Filmmaker-in-Chief at the Murray Center for Documentary Journalism at the University of Missouri. “Bisbee ’17” is the subject of an AHR roundtable titled “Re-creating the ‘Bisbee Deportation’ on Film,” which appears in the June 2019 issue.