Hungarians in Hollywood: Steven Bognar and "American Factory"

Screenshot via Youtube

It’s not news that there are deep Hungarian roots running through Hollywood: from William Fox, the founder of 20th Century Fox, up to Jaimie Lee Curtis. But beyond the glitz of movie stars and feature films, Hungarians have also found success in the prestigious world of documentary filmmaking. You need only look as far as last year’s Oscars, where the son of Hungarian immigrants won Best Documentary Feature, along with his wife, Julia Reichert, for "American Factory.”

Like many Hungarians, Bognar’s immigrant parents found their way to the Midwest of the United States, first to Milwaukee and then Ohio, where Bognar’s late father, Bela J. Bognar, was a Professor at Wright State University. (He was known as ‘Professor Paprika’ to his students.)

Steven Bognar’s first feature length documentary, “Personal Belongings,” relates his father’s story: of his life in Hungary and the travails of World War II. “American Factory”, on the other hand, focuses on a General Motors factory in Moraine, Ohio, that was subsequently bought by the Chinese. According to The Atlantic: In 2014, Fuyao bought part of a closed General Motors assembly plant in Ohio and created thousands of jobs, revitalizing a local industrial sector that had fallen on desperately hard times when GM left town during the 2008 recession. American Factory charts the wave of exultation that greeted the arrival of Fuyao, followed by culture clashes, growing pains, and eventually forms of internal and external pushback that had been largely unknown to the company. “

The film struck a chord with viewers who are growing suspicious of the American Dream and ‘late-stage’ capitalism. The Atlantic went on to describe it as ‘captivating.’ Indeed, it before it won the Oscar, it won the respect of critics. The New York Times wrote: “American Factory” is political without being self-servingly didactic or strident, connecting the sociopolitical dots intelligently…”

American Factory premiered 2019 Sundance Festival and has been enjoying huge popularity on Netflix. Surprisingly, it was produced by former US president and First Lady, Barack and Michelle Obama, through their production company, Higher Ground Productions. With another Hungarian twist, the Oscar for Best Feature Length Documentary was presented by Hungarian actor Géza Röhrig, of Son of Saul fame.

Steven Bognar’s latest documentary is 9to5: The Story of a Movement (also made with Reichert), which revolves around an organisation dedicated to ensuring the rights of working women and and their families.

Below find the trailer for American Factory, which is still playing on Netflix.

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