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The documentary, directed by filmmakers Julia
Reichert and Steven Bognar, was the first release from Higher
Ground Productions, a company the former U.S. president and
first lady formed in 2018 in a multiyear collaboration with the
Netflix streaming service.
"American Factory" was acquired by Netflix in association with
Higher Ground out of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, where it
was awarded the U.S. documentary directing prize.
The film, examining themes of economic dislocation and clashing
cultures, traces the experience of workers in Moraine, Ohio, who
lost their jobs at a shuttered General Motors factory, only to
be rehired six years later after the facility was converted into
a Chinese-owned automotive glass plant.
"Our film is from Ohio and China ... but it really could be from
anywhere that people put on a uniform, punch a clock, try to
make their families have a better life," Reichert said in
accepting the award.
"Working people have it harder and harder these days, and we
believe that things will get better when workers of the world
unite," she added, evoking the famed Marxist rallying cry from
"The Communist Manifesto."
Neither of the Obamas attended Sunday's ceremony, but Bognar
mentioned Higher Ground Productions in his thank-yous from the
stage.
"Congrats to Julia and Steven, the filmmakers behind American
Factory, for telling such a complex, moving story about the very
human consequences of wrenching economic change," Barack Obama
later wrote on Twitter. "Glad to see two talented and downright
good people take home the Oscar for Higher Ground’s first
release."
"American Factory" triumphed over a field of contenders that
included "The Cave" and "For Sama," two documentaries about the
civil war in Syria, as well as "The Edge of Democracy," which
chronicles the unraveling of two Brazilian presidencies; and "Honeyland,"
about ancient beekeeping traditions in the mountains of North
Macedonia.
The production deal between the Obamas and Netflix is a first
for any former occupant of the White House.
The closest comparison is former U.S. Vice President Al Gore,
whose global warming documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" won an
Oscar in 2007. Gore also launched a youth-oriented cable TV
network, Current TV, in 2005, but it was sold to Middle
East-based Al Jazeera in 2013 and later shut down.
(Reporting by Steve Gorman, Additional reporting by Dan
Whitcomb; Editing by Sandra Maler and Jonathan Oatis)
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