The first docu from the Obamas is available on Netflix
They're not exactly sitting still, that Obama family. Some time ago it was already announced that Michelle and Barack Obama would be working for Netflix, and their primetime is now online. It's called American Factory. Not exactly light and breezy viewing material, but a really good documentary that you absolutely want to see.
That really good quality didn't go unnoticed, the doc immediately won awards at the Sundance Festival and is already in the running for an Oscar. I wouldn't be surprised if they take that Oscar home right away. Okay, to be fair: I haven't checked their competition, but I was quite impressed with American Factory. This doc tells the story of a car factory in Moraine, Ohio, which was closed about ten years ago. The car factory got a second life through the Chinese company Fuyao. Logically, this also meant that many Chinese moved to this small town, resulting in culture clashes.
With a lot of enthusiasm, the Chinese workers arrive, but that enthusiasm quickly turns into dissatisfaction when the start doesn't go smoothly. Moraine is a tiny town in the so-called Rust Belt: a region known for its industrial work, a lot of poverty, and high unemployment. As I said, it's not a little doc that you just watch in between.
The upcoming documentaries won't be that either. The Obamas have signed a multi-year contract with Netflix (for a hefty sum, I guess), so we can expect a lot from them. For example, this is still in the pipeline: Bloom, a documentary about the fashion world after the end of World War II, with a lot of attention to the problems faced by African Americans. A doc about Frederick Douglass, the first African American writer to escape slavery and teach himself to read and write. Overlooked, which commemorates the dead who did not receive attention from The New York Times (they previously wrote a column about this). And that's just the beginning, a series about food for children is also on the way and more and more and more. I told you: the Obamas are not sitting still.
