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| alt =
| alt =
| caption =
| caption =
| native_name = {{Infobox name module
| native_name = {{Infobox Chinese/Chinese|child=yes|hide=no|header=none
| simplified = 美国工厂
| s = 美国工厂
| traditional = 美國工廠
| t = 美國工廠
| pinyin = Měiguó Gōngchǎng
| p = Měiguó Gōngchǎng
}}
}}
| director = {{Plainlist|
| director = {{Plainlist|
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}}
}}


'''''American Factory''''' ({{Lang-zh|c=美国工厂}}) is a 2019 American [[documentary film]] directed by [[Steven Bognar]] and [[Julia Reichert]], about Chinese company [[Fuyao]]'s factory in [[Moraine, Ohio|Moraine]], a city near [[Dayton, Ohio|Dayton]], Ohio, that occupies [[Moraine Assembly]], a shuttered [[General Motors]] plant. The film had its festival premiere at the [[2019 Sundance Film Festival]]. It is distributed by [[Netflix]] and is the first film acquired by [[Barack Obama|Barack]] and [[Michelle Obama]]'s production company, [[Higher Ground Productions]].<ref name="DeadlineHollywood">{{cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2019/02/american-factory-netflix-sundance-film-festival-documentary-deal-steven-bognar-julia-reichert-1202547822/ |title=Netflix Acquiring Sundance Documentary 'American Factory'|last=Fleming|first=Mike Jr.|date=February 1, 2019|publisher=[[Deadline Hollywood]]}}</ref><ref name="HigherGroundProductions">{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/2019/08/21/753014781/american-factory-examines-when-a-chinese-company-takes-over-a-ohio-factory | title='American Factory': When A Chinese Company Takes Over An Ohio Factory | date=August 21, 2019|publisher=[[NPR]]}}</ref>{{r|CNN 2020/01/13}} It won an [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature]].<ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF4ytC3-M3g "American Factory" wins Best Documentary Feature-Oscars on YouTube]</ref>
'''''American Factory''''' ({{Lang-zh|c=美国工厂}}) is a 2019 American [[documentary film]] directed by [[Steven Bognar]] and [[Julia Reichert]], about Chinese company [[Fuyao Group|Fuyao]]'s factory in [[Moraine, Ohio|Moraine]], a city near [[Dayton, Ohio|Dayton]], Ohio, that occupies [[Moraine Assembly]], a shuttered [[General Motors]] plant. The film had its festival premiere at the [[2019 Sundance Film Festival]]. It is distributed by [[Netflix]] and is the first film acquired by [[Barack Obama|Barack]] and [[Michelle Obama]]'s production company, [[Higher Ground Productions]].<ref name="DeadlineHollywood">{{cite news|url=https://deadline.com/2019/02/american-factory-netflix-sundance-film-festival-documentary-deal-steven-bognar-julia-reichert-1202547822/|title=Netflix Acquiring Sundance Documentary 'American Factory'|last=Fleming|first=Mike Jr.|date=February 1, 2019|publisher=[[Deadline Hollywood]]|access-date=February 11, 2019|archive-date=December 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205072038/https://deadline.com/2019/02/american-factory-netflix-sundance-film-festival-documentary-deal-steven-bognar-julia-reichert-1202547822/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="HigherGroundProductions">{{cite news |url=https://www.npr.org/2019/08/21/753014781/american-factory-examines-when-a-chinese-company-takes-over-a-ohio-factory |title='American Factory': When A Chinese Company Takes Over An Ohio Factory |date=August 21, 2019 |publisher=[[NPR]] |access-date=August 22, 2019 |archive-date=December 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205072103/https://www.npr.org/2019/08/21/753014781/american-factory-examines-when-a-chinese-company-takes-over-a-ohio-factory |url-status=live }}</ref>{{r|CNN 2020/01/13}} It won an [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF4ytC3-M3g |title="American Factory" wins Best Documentary Feature - Oscars on YouTube |access-date=March 18, 2020 |archive-date=December 5, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205073530/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RF4ytC3-M3g |url-status=live }}</ref>


==Overview==
==Overview==
Line 53: Line 53:


== Production ==
== Production ==
Filmed from February 2015 until the end of 2017, Reichert and Bognar were granted filming access by [[Fuyao]] at both their [[Ohio]] and Chinese plant locations. They were inspired to make this film as the events they aimed to depict were taking place in the same [[Moraine Assembly]] plant once occupied by General Motors, which was the central topic of their 2009 Oscar-nominated documentary short ''[[The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant]].''<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/8/21/20812012/american-factory-interview-netflix-reichert-bognar|title=Work is going global. American Factory’s directors explain how they captured its challenges.|last=Wilkinson|first=Alissa|date=August 21, 2019|website=Vox|language=en|access-date=December 15, 2019}}</ref>
Filmed from February 2015 until the end of 2017, Reichert and Bognar were granted filming access by [[Fuyao Group|Fuyao]] at both their [[Ohio]] and Chinese plant locations. They were inspired to make this film as the events they aimed to depict were taking place in the same [[Moraine Assembly]] plant once occupied by General Motors, which was the central topic of their 2009 Oscar-nominated documentary short ''[[The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant]].''<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/8/21/20812012/american-factory-interview-netflix-reichert-bognar|title=Work is going global. American Factory's directors explain how they captured its challenges.|last=Wilkinson|first=Alissa|date=August 21, 2019|website=Vox|language=en|access-date=December 15, 2019|archive-date=December 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205072123/https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/8/21/20812012/american-factory-interview-netflix-reichert-bognar|url-status=live}}</ref>


The [[Mandarin Chinese]] language portions of the film were facilitated by the inclusion of two Chinese filmmakers, Yiqian Zhang and Mijie Li, one or both of whom would travel to Ohio monthly. The directors credit these two as essential in providing a connection to the Chinese subjects depicted in the film.<ref name="auto">{{Cite web|url=https://www.vox.com/culture/2019/8/21/20812012/american-factory-interview-netflix-reichert-bognar|title=Work is going global. American Factory’s directors explain how they captured its challenges.|last=Wilkinson|first=Alissa|date=August 21, 2019|website=Vox|language=en|access-date=December 17, 2019}}</ref>
The [[Mandarin Chinese]] language portions of the film were facilitated by the inclusion of two Chinese filmmakers, Yiqian Zhang and Mijie Li, one or both of whom would travel to Ohio monthly. The directors credit these two as essential in providing a connection to the Chinese subjects depicted in the film.<ref name="auto"/>


=== Style ===
=== Style ===
The filmmakers implemented a [[Fly on the wall|fly-on-the-wall]] documentary filmmaking approach, in which no dialogue external to the subjects of the film is included, and the sounds of the factory and the dialogue of the workers is prioritized. In order to make focal such an audio/visual approach, the filmmakers implemented the use of [[lavalier microphone]]s to effectively balance worker dialogue amid noise emanating from the factory's machinery. The [[voice-over]] narration provided by the factory workers was often recorded at their respective homes, independently from the factory setting. According to Bognar, implementing the film's narration in this way to create an effect of depicting a worker's [[Inner Monologue|inner monologue]].<ref name="auto"/>
The filmmakers implemented a [[Fly on the wall|fly-on-the-wall]] documentary filmmaking approach, in which no dialogue external to the subjects of the film is included, and the sounds of the factory and the dialogue of the workers is prioritized. In order to make focal such an audio/visual approach, the filmmakers implemented the use of [[lavalier microphone]]s to effectively balance worker dialogue amid noise emanating from the factory's machinery. The [[voice-over]] narration provided by the factory workers was often recorded at their respective homes, independently from the factory setting. According to Bognar, implementing the film's narration in this way created an effect of depicting a worker's [[Inner Monologue|inner monologue]].<ref name="auto"/>


== Reception ==
== Reception ==
=== Critical response ===
After the film's screening at Sundance, it garnered wide acclaim. On [[Rotten Tomatoes]], the film has an approval rating of {{RT data|score}} based on reviews from {{RT data|count}} critics, with an average of {{RT data|average}}. The site's consensus reads: "''American Factory'' takes a thoughtful – and troubling – look at the dynamic between workers and employers in the 21st-century globalized economy."<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/american_factory|title=American Factory|website=[[Rotten Tomatoes]]|publisher=[[Fandango Media|Fandango]]|access-date={{RT data|access date}}}}{{RT data|edit}}</ref> On [[Metacritic]] it has a weighted average score of 86 out of 100 based on 23 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/american-factory|title=American Factory|website=[[Metacritic]]|access-date=February 22, 2020}}</ref>
{{Rotten Tomatoes prose|95|8.3|94|''American Factory'' takes a thoughtful -- and troubling -- look at the dynamic between workers and employers in the 21st-century globalized economy.|ref=yes|access-date=June 21, 2023}} {{Metacritic film prose|86|23|ref=yes|access-date=June 21, 2023}}


David Edelstein of ''[[New York Magazine]]'' wrote: "It's a great, expansive, deeply humanist work, angry but empathetic to its core. It gestures toward the end of the working world we know – and to the rise of the machines."<ref>{{cite web |date= August 23, 2019 |author= David Edelstein |author-link= David Edelstein |title= The Obamas' Netflix Doc American Factory Gestures Toward the End of the Working World |url= https://www.vulture.com/2019/08/american-factory-review-obamas-netflix-doc-is-eye-opening.html |website= Vulture.com |publisher= [[New York Magazine]] }}</ref>
[[Manohla Dargis]] of ''[[The New York Times]]'' stated: "''American Factory'' is political without being self-servingly didactic or strident, connecting the sociopolitical dots intelligently, sometimes with the help of a stirring score from Chad Cannon that evokes [[Aaron Copland]]. The filmmakers don't villainize anyone, though a few participants come awfully close to twirling waxed mustaches, like an American manager who jokes to a Chinese colleague that it would be a good idea to duct-tape the mouths of talky American workers."<ref>{{cite news|last=Dargis|first=Manohla|date=August 20, 2019|title='American Factory' Review: The New Global Haves and Have-Nots|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/20/movies/american-factory-review.html|url-status=live|work=[[The New York Times]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230525005522/https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/20/movies/american-factory-review.html|archive-date=May 25, 2023|access-date=June 21, 2023}}</ref> David Edelstein of ''[[New York Magazine]]'' wrote: "It's a great, expansive, deeply humanist work, angry but empathetic to its core. It gestures toward the end of the working world we know – and to the rise of the machines."<ref>{{cite web |date= August 23, 2019 |author= David Edelstein |author-link= David Edelstein |title= The Obamas' Netflix Doc American Factory Gestures Toward the End of the Working World |url= https://www.vulture.com/2019/08/american-factory-review-obamas-netflix-doc-is-eye-opening.html |website= Vulture.com |publisher= [[New York Magazine]] |access-date= September 5, 2019 |archive-date= December 5, 2020 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20201205072258/https://www.vulture.com/2019/08/american-factory-review-obamas-netflix-doc-is-eye-opening.html |url-status= live }}</ref>
Eric Kohn at ''[[IndieWire]]'' described it as "A fascinating tragicomedy about the incompatibility of American and Chinese industries."<ref name="Kohn">{{cite news|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2019/01/american-factory-review-sundance-1202038438/ |title=American Factory' Review: A Cross-Cultural Working-Class Doc, Via 'The Office' – Sundance|last=Kohn|first=Eric|date=January 26, 2019|publisher=[[IndieWire]]}}</ref>
Eric Kohn at ''[[IndieWire]]'' described it as "A fascinating tragicomedy about the incompatibility of American and Chinese industries."<ref name="Kohn">{{cite news|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2019/01/american-factory-review-sundance-1202038438/|title=American Factory' Review: A Cross-Cultural Working-Class Doc, Via 'The Office' – Sundance|last=Kohn|first=Eric|date=January 26, 2019|publisher=[[IndieWire]]|access-date=February 11, 2019|archive-date=December 5, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201205072321/https://www.indiewire.com/2019/01/american-factory-review-sundance-1202038438/|url-status=live}}</ref>


⚫
===Accolades===
The film won [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature|Best Documentary Feature]] at the [[92nd Academy Awards|2020 Academy Awards]] as well as the [[Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature|Independent Spirit Award]] for the same category.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/american-factory-director-battling-cancer-accepts-win-documentary-feature-1277378|title='American Factory' Co-Director, Battling Cancer, Accepts Win for Best Documentary Feature|website=The Hollywood Reporter}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The 92nd Academy Awards {{!}} 2020 |url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2020 |website=Oscars.org |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |access-date=February 10, 2020 |language=en |date=February 9, 2020}}</ref>

⚫
==Accolades==
{{main|List of accolades received by American Factory}}
{{main|List of accolades received by American Factory}}
The film won [[Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film|Best Documentary Feature]] at the [[92nd Academy Awards]].<ref>{{cite news|last=Gonzalez|first=Sandra|date=February 9, 2020|title=Obama-backed documentary 'American Factory' wins Oscar|url=https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/02/09/entertainment/american-factory-oscars/index.html|url-status=live|work=[[CNN]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230210224637/https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2020/02/09/entertainment/american-factory-oscars/index.html|archive-date=February 10, 2023|access-date=June 22, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Perez|first=Lexy|date=February 9, 2020|title='American Factory' Co-Director, Battling Cancer, Accepts Win for Best Documentary Feature|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/american-factory-director-battling-cancer-accepts-win-documentary-feature-1277378/amp/|url-status=live|work=[[The Hollywood Reporter]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418183513/https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/american-factory-director-battling-cancer-accepts-win-documentary-feature-1277378/amp/|archive-date=April 18, 2023|access-date=June 22, 2023}}</ref> It received three nominations at the [[72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards]], winning [[Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program|Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program]] for Bognar and Reichert.<ref>{{cite news|last=Florence Jr.|first=Russell|date=September 15, 2020|title=Oscar-winning 'American Factory' directors win Emmy|url=https://www.daytondailynews.com/entertainment/oscar-winning-american-factory-directors-win-emmy/F2XVF5MTZZEXJEKX245OFOH7GY/|url-status=live|work=[[Dayton Daily News]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201005054202/https://www.daytondailynews.com/entertainment/oscar-winning-american-factory-directors-win-emmy/F2XVF5MTZZEXJEKX245OFOH7GY/|archive-date=October 5, 2020|access-date=June 22, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|last=Haylock|first=Zoe|date=September 15, 2020|title=All the Winners From Night One of the Creative Arts Emmys|url=https://www.vulture.com/2020/09/creative-arts-emmys-2020-winners.html|url-status=live|work=[[Vulture (website)|Vulture]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221225092533/https://www.vulture.com/2020/09/creative-arts-emmys-2020-winners.html|archive-date=December 25, 2022|access-date=June 22, 2023}}</ref>

== Home media ==
''American Factory'' is scheduled to be released on [[DVD]] and [[Blu-ray]] in 2020 as part of [[The Criterion Collection]].<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/netflixs-irishman-marriage-story-added-criterion-collection-1272722|title=Netflix's 'The Irishman,' 'Marriage Story' Added to Criterion Collection|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en|access-date=January 30, 2020}}</ref>


==See also==
==See also==
*[[Detropia]] - 2012 documentary focused on the decline of the economy of Detroit due to long-term changes in the automobile industry
*''[[Detropia]]'' - 2012 documentary focused on the decline of the economy of Detroit due to long-term changes in the automobile industry
*''[[Roger & Me]]'' - 1989 [[Michael Moore]] documentary about General Motors closing its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs
*''[[Roger & Me]]'' - 1989 [[Michael Moore]] documentary about General Motors closing its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs
*[[Working-class culture]]
*[[Working-class culture]]
Line 81: Line 78:
==References==
==References==
{{Reflist|refs=
{{Reflist|refs=
<ref name="CNN 2020/01/13">{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/13/entertainment/barack-and-michelle-obama-oscars/index.html|title=Barack and Michelle Obama's production company scores first Oscar nomination|first=Sandra |last=Gonzalez|work=CNN|access-date=January 14, 2020}}</ref>
<ref name="CNN 2020/01/13">{{Cite news|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/13/entertainment/barack-and-michelle-obama-oscars/index.html|title=Barack and Michelle Obama's production company scores first Oscar nomination|first=Sandra|last=Gonzalez|work=CNN|access-date=January 14, 2020|archive-date=January 20, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200120221603/https://www.cnn.com/2020/01/13/entertainment/barack-and-michelle-obama-oscars/index.html|url-status=live}}</ref>
}}
}}


==External links==
==External links==
* {{Official website|https://americanfactoryfilm.com/}}
* {{Netflix title}}
* {{Netflix title}}
* {{IMDb title|9351980|American Factory}}
* {{IMDb title|9351980|American Factory}}
Line 93: Line 89:
|list =
|list =
{{Academy Award Best Documentary Feature}}
{{Academy Award Best Documentary Feature}}
{{Critics' Choice Documentary Award for Best Political Documentary}}
{{Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary}}
{{Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary}}
{{Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature}}
{{Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary Feature}}
Line 105: Line 102:
[[Category:2019 films]]
[[Category:2019 films]]
[[Category:American documentary films]]
[[Category:American documentary films]]
[[Category:American films]]
[[Category:Primetime Emmy Award-winning broadcasts]]
[[Category:English-language films]]
[[Category:Chinese-language American films]]
[[Category:Documentary films about automobiles]]
[[Category:Documentary films about automobiles]]
[[Category:Documentary films about globalization]]
[[Category:Documentary films about globalization]]
[[Category:Documentary films about labor relations in the United States]]
[[Category:Documentary films about labor relations in the United States]]
[[Category:Films about the labor movement]]
[[Category:Films about the labor movement]]
⚫
[[Category:Mandarin-language films]]
[[Category:Netflix original documentary films]]
[[Category:Netflix original documentary films]]
[[Category:Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Best Documentary Feature Academy Award winners]]
[[Category:Sundance Film Festival award winners]]
[[Category:Sundance Film Festival award-winning films]]
[[Category:Montgomery County, Ohio]]
[[Category:Montgomery County, Ohio]]
[[Category:Economy of Dayton, Ohio]]
[[Category:Economy of Dayton, Ohio]]
[[Category:Documentary films about Ohio]]
[[Category:Documentary films about Ohio]]
[[Category:Participant (company) films]]
[[Category:Higher Ground Productions films]]
[[Category:Higher Ground Productions films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert]]
[[Category:Films directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert]]
[[Category:2010s English-language films]]
⚫
[[Category:2010s Mandarin-language films]]
[[Category:2010s American films]]
[[Category:Films about companies]]
[[Category:Fuyao Group]]

Latest revision as of 02:19, 24 May 2024

American Factory
Traditional Chinese美國工廠
Simplified Chinese美国工厂
Hanyu PinyinMěiguó Gōngchǎng
Directed by
Produced by
  • Jeff Reichert
  • Julie Parker Benello
Cinematography
  • Steven Bognar
  • Aubrey Keith
  • Jeff Reichert
  • Julia Reichert
  • Erick Stoll
Edited byLindsay Utz
Music byChad Cannon
Production
companies
Distributed byNetflix
Release dates
  • January 25, 2019 (2019-01-25) (Sundance)
  • August 21, 2019 (2019-08-21) (United States)
Running time
110 minutes
CountryUnited States
Languages
  • English
  • Mandarin

American Factory (Chinese: 美国工厂) is a 2019 American documentary film directed by Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, about Chinese company Fuyao's factory in Moraine, a city near Dayton, Ohio, that occupies Moraine Assembly, a shuttered General Motors plant. The film had its festival premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It is distributed by Netflix and is the first film acquired by Barack and Michelle Obama's production company, Higher Ground Productions.[1][2][3] It won an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.[4]

Overview

[edit]

In post-industrial Ohio, a Chinese billionaire opens a factory in an abandoned General Motors plant, hiring two thousand Americans. Early days of hope and optimism give way to setbacks as high-tech China clashes with working-class America.

Production

[edit]

Filmed from February 2015 until the end of 2017, Reichert and Bognar were granted filming access by Fuyao at both their Ohio and Chinese plant locations. They were inspired to make this film as the events they aimed to depict were taking place in the same Moraine Assembly plant once occupied by General Motors, which was the central topic of their 2009 Oscar-nominated documentary short The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant.[5]

The Mandarin Chinese language portions of the film were facilitated by the inclusion of two Chinese filmmakers, Yiqian Zhang and Mijie Li, one or both of whom would travel to Ohio monthly. The directors credit these two as essential in providing a connection to the Chinese subjects depicted in the film.[5]

Style

[edit]

The filmmakers implemented a fly-on-the-wall documentary filmmaking approach, in which no dialogue external to the subjects of the film is included, and the sounds of the factory and the dialogue of the workers is prioritized. In order to make focal such an audio/visual approach, the filmmakers implemented the use of lavalier microphones to effectively balance worker dialogue amid noise emanating from the factory's machinery. The voice-over narration provided by the factory workers was often recorded at their respective homes, independently from the factory setting. According to Bognar, implementing the film's narration in this way created an effect of depicting a worker's inner monologue.[5]

Reception

[edit]

Critical response

[edit]

On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 95% of 94 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 8.3/10. The website's consensus reads: "American Factory takes a thoughtful -- and troubling -- look at the dynamic between workers and employers in the 21st-century globalized economy."[6] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 86 out of 100, based on 23 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".[7]

Manohla Dargis of The New York Times stated: "American Factory is political without being self-servingly didactic or strident, connecting the sociopolitical dots intelligently, sometimes with the help of a stirring score from Chad Cannon that evokes Aaron Copland. The filmmakers don't villainize anyone, though a few participants come awfully close to twirling waxed mustaches, like an American manager who jokes to a Chinese colleague that it would be a good idea to duct-tape the mouths of talky American workers."[8] David Edelstein of New York Magazine wrote: "It's a great, expansive, deeply humanist work, angry but empathetic to its core. It gestures toward the end of the working world we know – and to the rise of the machines."[9] Eric Kohn at IndieWire described it as "A fascinating tragicomedy about the incompatibility of American and Chinese industries."[10]

Accolades

[edit]
Main article: List of accolades received by American Factory

The film won Best Documentary Feature at the 92nd Academy Awards.[11][12] It received three nominations at the 72nd Primetime Creative Arts Emmy Awards, winning Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program for Bognar and Reichert.[13][14]

See also

[edit]
  • Detropia - 2012 documentary focused on the decline of the economy of Detroit due to long-term changes in the automobile industry
  • Roger & Me - 1989 Michael Moore documentary about General Motors closing its factory in Flint, Michigan, eliminating 35,000 jobs
  • Working-class culture

References

[edit]
  1. ^ Fleming, Mike Jr. (February 1, 2019). "Netflix Acquiring Sundance Documentary 'American Factory'". Deadline Hollywood. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  2. ^ "'American Factory': When A Chinese Company Takes Over An Ohio Factory". NPR. August 21, 2019. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved August 22, 2019.
  3. ^ Gonzalez, Sandra. "Barack and Michelle Obama's production company scores first Oscar nomination". CNN. Archived from the original on January 20, 2020. Retrieved January 14, 2020.
  4. ^ ""American Factory" wins Best Documentary Feature - Oscars on YouTube". Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved March 18, 2020.
  5. ^ a b c Wilkinson, Alissa (August 21, 2019). "Work is going global. American Factory's directors explain how they captured its challenges". Vox. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved December 15, 2019.
  6. ^ "American Factory". Rotten Tomatoes. Fandango Media. Retrieved June 21, 2023. Edit this at Wikidata
  7. ^ "American Factory". Metacritic. Fandom, Inc. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  8. ^ Dargis, Manohla (August 20, 2019). "'American Factory' Review: The New Global Haves and Have-Nots". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 25, 2023. Retrieved June 21, 2023.
  9. ^ David Edelstein (August 23, 2019). "The Obamas' Netflix Doc American Factory Gestures Toward the End of the Working World". Vulture.com. New York Magazine. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved September 5, 2019.
  10. ^ Kohn, Eric (January 26, 2019). "American Factory' Review: A Cross-Cultural Working-Class Doc, Via 'The Office' – Sundance". IndieWire. Archived from the original on December 5, 2020. Retrieved February 11, 2019.
  11. ^ Gonzalez, Sandra (February 9, 2020). "Obama-backed documentary 'American Factory' wins Oscar". CNN. Archived from the original on February 10, 2023. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
  12. ^ Perez, Lexy (February 9, 2020). "'American Factory' Co-Director, Battling Cancer, Accepts Win for Best Documentary Feature". The Hollywood Reporter. Archived from the original on April 18, 2023. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
  13. ^ Florence Jr., Russell (September 15, 2020). "Oscar-winning 'American Factory' directors win Emmy". Dayton Daily News. Archived from the original on October 5, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
  14. ^ Haylock, Zoe (September 15, 2020). "All the Winners From Night One of the Creative Arts Emmys". Vulture. Archived from the original on December 25, 2022. Retrieved June 22, 2023.
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