The Obamas' Netflix Takeover Has Officially Begun

[babylonsister]

The Obamas’ Netflix Takeover Has Officially Begun
The eye-opening documentary ‘American Factory,’ making its debut Aug. 21, is Barack and Michelle Obama’s first project as part of their massive Netflix deal.
Nick Schager
Published 08.21.19 5:33AM ET


Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar were understandably thrilled when American Factory—their new documentary about the opening of a Chinese auto glass factory in Ohio, and the culture-clash issues that ensued—took home the U.S. Documentary Directing prize at this year’s Sundance Film Festival. But they were just as excited when they began taking meetings with distributors for their latest, and the most interested party turned out to be none other than Barack and Michelle Obama.

“We were astonished,” admits Reichert shortly before American Factory’s Aug. 21 debut on Netflix and at NYC’s IFC Center (with theatrical premieres to follow in Washington DC, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Toronto and London). “We live in Ohio, which of course is always a swing state, and we had worked really, really hard on the first election of the president, and the second one as well, and we’re huge fans.”

American Factory will be the first release by the Obamas’ Higher Ground Productions as part of their partnership with Netflix, and Bognar acknowledges that their collaboration with the former First Couple (and company co-heads Priya Swaminathan and Tonia Davis) wasn’t the least bit expected. “It was a very big surprise. We did not foresee it at all,” he says. “We were kind of blown away.” Nonetheless, given the political timeliness of this non-fiction tale, it isn’t difficult to see why the Obamas were interested.

“What we heard at that meeting was that the First Lady really related to the film because she comes from a working-class background—her dad was a worker who put on his uniform and went to work every day,” Reichert says. “They both come from humble beginnings. The president related to that as well, but apparently related more to the policy implications.” Bognar also believes that “the questions the film raises about big-picture stuff” regarding globalization, and the fate of the American and Chinese worker in the 21st century, were natural draws for the former commander-in-chief.

Moreover, “if you think about it, both of them are storytellers. They’ve written excellent books, and they tend in their speeches to tell stories,” says Reichert, with Bognar adding, “One of the goals of Higher Ground is to bring people together through storytelling.”

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https://www.thedailybeast.com/with-american-factory-barack-and-michelle-obamas-netflix-takeover-has-officially-begun?ref=home

[sharedvalues]

1. This is a fine way for the Obamas to help change the country

Next do a documentary on Fox News
The Family
And/or the Koch Network

[tblue37]

2. K&R for visibility. nt

[MFGsunny]

3. K & R for visibility .... n/t

[FakeNoose]

4. I hope the Obamas' effort will be appreciated for what it is

... but I'm afraid the rightwing nutjobs will use this to instigate another attack on the "liberal media."

Let's applaud the Obamas and hope the word gets out to all the non-crazy Americans.

[Farmer-Rick]

5. My daughter had an interview with them for

an assistant job. She's not big into getting coffee so she turned it down.

This will be interesting to see how successful it will be.

[NoMoreRepugs]

6. It is my fervent hope that President Obama continues his discreet and subtle, yet effective,

"commenting" about the current POTUS and his policies or lack thereof. Nothing unnerves the Orange Menace more than BHO - it's obvious.