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DDN: Oscar-winning ‘American Factory’ directors win Emmy

Julia Reichert, Steve Bognar at WSU

Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News

Academy Award-winning filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert of Yellow Springs won the Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program for their acclaimed Netflix documentary “American Factory” Monday, Sept. 14, the first night of this week’s five-night Creative Arts Emmy Awards.

The retired Wright State University film professors won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature earlier this year for “American Factory,” which chronicled the Chinese-owned Fuyao Glass America in Moraine. The documentary also received Emmy nominations for Outstanding Cinematography for a Nonfiction Program (Erick Stoll, Aubrey Keith) and Outstanding Picture Editing for a Nonfiction Program (Lindsay Utz).

“We are deeply honored to win the Emmy for directing ‘American Factory,’” said Bognar, recently named Wright State University Alumnus of the Year. “Though a team of us made this film, we could only have made it with the great leap of faith taken by and the trust given to us by everyone who works or worked at Fuyao Glass America. We tried to make a film that was both fair and honest, and that told this big story through multiple points of view. We are proud to bring a national Emmy home to Dayton.”

The talented duo previously won an Emmy in 2007 for the documentary “A Lion in the House.” They also notably received an Academy Award nomination for Best Documentary Short Subjects in 2010 for “The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant.” Currently, they hope to schedule a local premiere of their latest documentary “9 to 5: The Story of a Movement.”