Date set for Netflix to release Fuyao documentary ‘American Factory’

The locally made documentary about Fuyao Glass America will be released on Netflix Aug. 21.

Higher Ground Productions, President Barack Obama and Michelle Obama’s production company in partnership with Netflix, picked up the film in April, announcing then that it would be included in the company’s inaugural slate of upcoming film projects.

Initially, no date was given for the film’s release.

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The film — made by Yellow Springs filmmakers Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert and their colleagues — follows the creation of the Chinese-owned automotive glass-factory in the same building that had once housed a General Motors assembly operation in Moraine.

The plant today is the largest single-site auto glass production site on the planet, with about 2,300 workers.

President and Mrs. Obama launched Higher Ground last year to create content that “embodies the core values of celebrating the human spirit through struggles and triumph; facing adversity through resilience, determination, and hope; lifting up new voices and stories to bring about change; and transcending divides to bring us together,” the company said in a release.

“American Factory” was acquired by Netflix with Higher Ground Productions out of the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the “Directing Award: U.S. Documentary.”

“American Factory” was financed by Participant Media and is produced by Bognar, Reichert, Jeff Reichert and Julie Parker Benello. Co-producers are Mijie Li and Yiqian Zhang, with Jeff Skoll and Diane Weyermann the executive producers.

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