Dayton-made ‘American Factory’ Wins Oscar for Fuyao Documentary

Staff Reporter
Dayton Business Journal

On Sunday evening, the Dayton-made documentary “American Factory” took home the Academy Award for best documentary feature.

Filmmakers Steve Bognar and Julia Reichert accepted the Oscar for their film about Chinese auto glass maker Fuyao Glass America’s revival of a former General Motors plant with the creation of over 2,000 jobs in Moraine.

While accepting the award, Bognar thanked the “tough, inventive, great people of Dayton, Ohio,” among others.

Reichert said this Dayton-made documentary could have been set anywhere that “people put on a uniform, punch a clock and try to make their families have a better life.”

Bognar and Reichert are already finishing another film set to premier later this year. Bognar described it as a real-life snapshot of secretary uprisings throughout the United States, a la the classic Dolly Parton film, “9 to 5.” He noted the struggles of secretaries in the workplace, from demeaning tasks to sexual harassment and low pay.