Detroit Free Press recently issued the following announcement.
It's a story of clashing cultures, workers' rights, American-Chinese relations and the new realities of Rust Belt manufacturing.
And it's told with nuanced precision in "American Factory," an acclaimed documentary that's getting a free local screening on Sept. 4 at the War Memorial in Grosse Pointe Farms.
After a massive GM factory near Dayton, Ohio closed in 2008, Chinese auto-glass giant Fuyao purchased the plant, reopening it in 2016. Filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert were given essentially unlimited access as Fuyao hired, trained and managed its employees — many of them former GM workers.
"American Factory" has moments of humor, tension and poignancy as Fuyao attempts to push the workforce toward its exacting standards. A New York Times reviewer called the film "complex, stirring, timely and beautifully shaped," while Indiewire described it as "eye-popping" and listed it among contenders for a 2020 Oscar nomination. It also won the directing award for U.S. documentaries at this year's Sundance Film Festival.
The film is bound to have particular resonance for residents of metro Detroit, which has seen its share of plant closings and the arrival of Fuyao in Plymouth in 2016.
The screening is being presented by Netflix and Freep Film Festival, the documentary film fest produced by the Detroit Free Press.
It's an encore performance in Detroit for the documentary, which screened twice at the 2019 Freep Film Festival before arriving for streaming on Netflix in late August. It is the first film that Netflix has released in conjunction with Higher Ground Productions, the new company founded by Barack and Michelle Obama.
Freep Film Festival's next annual event is April 22-26, 2020, but it hosts monthly screenings throughout the year.
'American Factory' free screening
7 p.m. Wed., Sept. 4
Patriot Theater at the War Memorial, Grosse Pointe Farms
Free. Space is limited. Reservations for free tickets at www.gofobo.com/AmericanFactoryDetroit.
Original source can be found here.
Source: Detroit Free Press
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