American Factory Oscar-winning filmmaker Steven Bognar has boarded the labor documentary Who Moves America as Executive Producer, ahead of the film’s sold-out New York premiere as the Opening Night of the DOC NYC Selects Spring Series.
Directed by Yael Bridge, the documentary is described as a verité portrait of one of the largest labor mobilizations in modern U.S. history. It follows 340,000 UPS Teamsters and their union representatives as they prepare for a potential nationwide strike that could disrupt global supply chains. With unprecedented access, the film tracks workers across the country, from a young driver in California and part-timers in Kentucky to a veteran of the 1997 strike in New York, as they organize, vote, and confront the stakes of solidarity.
The film made its world premiere at True/False with two completely sold-out screenings, including the festival’s biggest venue, the 1,200-seat Missouri Theater.
“I’m honored and excited to be coming on board as an executive producer on Who Moves America. This rousing and urgent film pulls us in immediately to the hard strategy questions faced by UPS workers as their contract expires. Not only is this a very suspenseful human drama, it has such practical use for anyone trying to build solidarity and organize in the current workplace. The standing ovation at the True/False Film Fest went on and on – I’ve been at that festival many times, and I’ve never seen such a sustained ovation from an audience at the Missouri Theater,” said the new executive producer Steven Bognar.
“Few filmmakers have done more to shape our understanding of labor in America than Steven Bognar. For decades, he has committed himself to telling these stories with unflinching honesty and deep humanity, building a body of work that has fundamentally changed how we see what it means to work in this country. His films have given workers a complexity on screen that is all too rare, and they’ve influenced an entire generation of documentary filmmakers – including me. To have him join the Who Moves America teams feels like a full-circle moment, and I couldn’t be more honored,” commented director and producer Yael Bridge.
Directed and produced by Bridge, the film is produced by Academy Award nominee Yoni Golijov (All the Beauty and the Bloodshed), Sundance Jury Award-winner Mars Verrone (Union), and Jeremy Flood (A Company Town, The Facility), now working as a digital producer for the New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
The film’s director of photography is Erick Stoll (American Factory). Bridge, Golijov, and Stoll previously collaborated on the award-winning documentary When We Fight, documenting the 2019 Los Angeles teachers’ strike.
The film is a co-production of Sidereal Time LLC and ITVS, with funding provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
Who Moves America is edited by Thomas Niles (editor of the Emmy-nominated The Body Politic), with consulting editor Viridiana Lieberman (editor of Academy Award-nominated The Perfect Neighbor), and features music by Osei Essed and Santiago Arias-Rozo. Emmy and Edward R. Murrow award-winning filmmaker Jun Stinson Yamagishi served as supervising producer for ITVS. Executive producers include award-winning filmmaker Carrie Lozano for ITVS and filmmaker and author Astra Taylor (What is Democracy?).
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