American Factory

Rust Belt, Ohio. In the husk of a huge, abandoned General Motors plant, a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory, hiring 2,000 blue-collar Americans and hundreds of native Chinese. Early days of hope and optimism are truly tested by the scale of the project and by the cultural differences between high-tech China and America’s postindustrial Midwest. The filmmakers take us deep inside this story—and the plant itself—examining the future of both American labor and Chinese economic dominance. (115 mins., DCP)

• See the complete Julia Reichert: 50 Years in Film lineup
• Washington Post review
• The Wrap review