An Injury to One

Travis Wilkerson makes his directorial debut with the experimental documentary An Injury to One. This austere project investigates the exploitation of the Anaconda Mining Company workers in the city of Butte, MT, during the early 20th century. The battle between management and labor led to the still-unsolved murder of Frank Little, organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World. Employing both video and filmed archive footage, the images are accompanied by superimposed intertitles and lyrics to traditional mining songs. With no direct sound, the audio consists of a single narrative voice and the music of Will Oldham, Jim O'Rourke, Dirty Three, and Low. An Injury to One made its U.S. premiere at the 2003 Sundance Film Festival.