LOS ANGELES _ When General Motors shuttered its factory outside of Dayton, Ohio, in 2008, filmmakers Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar _ who documented the plant's closing in their Oscar-nominated short "The Last Truck" _ thought that was the end of yet another sad story of America's industrial decline.
But in 2014, the billionaire owner of the Chinese auto-glass manufacturing firm Fuyao decided to invest in the abandoned GM plant, hiring more than 1,000 American workers to work alongside and be trained by hundreds of Chinese workers. No one was quite sure how this experiment in cross-cultural capitalism would work out _ and, as it turned out, there would be some pretty major bumps along the way.
But whatever happened, Reichert and Bognar _ a self-described "long-term couple" who have lived in Dayton for decades and have focused throughout their careers on the lives of working-class men and women _ knew they wanted to be there to chronicle it.
Culled from 1,200 hours of footage, the resulting film, "American Factory," went on to win the U.S. documentary directing award at this year's Sundance Film Festival and drew the attention of a pair of newcomers to the film world: Barack and Michelle Obama.
Along with Netflix, with whom they announced a partnership in 2018 to produce films and series, and Participant Media, the Obamas decided to throw their weight behind the film. "American Factory," which opens in select theaters and will be available via streaming on Netflix on Wednesday, marks the first title released by the Obamas' newly minted production company, Higher Ground.
Lest anyone fear the film is a piece of liberal agitprop or an eat-your-spinach cinematic lesson in global economics, Reichert and Bognar want to reassure you that "American Factory" is neither of those things.
"We try never to make 'an issue film,'" says Bognar, speaking to The Times alongside Reichert during a recent visit to Los Angeles. "We try to tell stories about people."
