Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar on “American Factory”

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: Why did you choose to do this story of “American Factory”? It is a remarkable story and we’ll get into it. But why did you choose to do this?

JULIA REICHERT, DIRECTOR, “AMERICAN FACTORY”: Well, you know, we live in Dayton, Ohio where the American factory is located. And we could see — you know, we all know that the rivalry between China and the U.S. has been like a big story of the 21st century. And here it turns out that a Chinese entrepreneur billionaire bought an abandoned general motors plant right in our hometown. You know, a general motors plant that had provided jobs for thousands of Americans in our town, that helped create the blue-collar middle class of our town. Diverse, thriving, that plant closed. And it was — you know, it was a terrible blow on our community there in Dayton. So, if you fast forward, you know, about eight years, we get the news, the plant is going to be manufacturing again. And but a Chinese billionaire bought it. So, we could see that this was going to be, you know, a big global story that was going to take place right in our hometown, where we know people, where we know people in the plant. And we thought this could be an amazing story where you see on a human level what kind of globalization looks like.

AMANPOUR: But it’s also, Steven, to me, watching the whole thing, it looked like a really dramatic arc of a film and a story of two cultures. You saw the human angle, you saw the culture clash and then you saw the difference in work ethic and workers’ rights, as they clashed, as well, between China and the United States. There were also kind of funny elements to it. For instance, early on where you show you get access to the Chinese officials talking to their employees who they brought over about what they should expect from the American workers. Describe a little bit about that part of the film.

STEVEN BOGNAR, DIRECTOR, “AMERICAN FACTORY”: It’s always funny to hear a different culture explain what Americans are like. And so, when this — during this sort of cultural orientation session, the leader, Andrew Ma (ph) is explaining that you can always spot an American walking down the street in Europe because they’re the one wearing the baggy pants and the sloppy shoes. And that kind of thing — you know, we just appreciated that they were letting us in to hear how they talk about us.

REICHERT: And he also said, “Well, you know, you’re allowed to criticize the president. Nobody will do anything to you.”