Academy Award-winning Filmmaker Steven Bognar Boards Yael Bridge’s ‘Who Moves America’ Doc as Executive Producer [EXCLUSIVE]
Academy Award-winning filmmaker Steven Bognar (American Factory) has boarded Who Moves America as Executive Producer, joining the buzzy labor documentary from Emmy-nominated director Yael Bridge following its acclaimed world premiere at the True/False Film Fest last month, ahead of the film’s sold-out New York premiere as the Opening Night selection of the DOC NYC Selects Spring Series on April 8, where a second screening was added due to overwhelming demand. The Teamsters President Sean O’Brien, featured in the film, will attend both screenings. SFFILM and Austin Film Society’s Doc Days premieres have also been announced for the coming months.
A gripping verité portrait of one of the largest labor mobilizations in modern U.S. history, Who Moves America 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 premiered to a rapturous reception at True/False with two completely sold-out screenings, including the festival’s biggest venue, the 1,200-seat Missouri Theater, for a Saturday morning screening at 9 am, with people turned away from waitlist lines. The audience delivered multiple extended standing ovations and chanting in response to the Q&As with the film’s subjects and filmmakers.
“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.
“American Factory was one of the defining inspiration points for Who Moves America, so it is a true honor and affirmation to have Steven join us as an executive producer. Steven has built an astounding body of work grounded in humanistic narratives, which delve into the complexities of labor, class, and globalization. We are excited for this project to continue in his legacy of worker-centered labor storytelling and to work together to ensure this film reaches the next generation of labor activists,” said producers Yoni Golijov, Mars Verrone, and Jeremy Flood.
“We’re thrilled that Steven Bognar has joined the Who Moves America team. Over the years, ITVS has been proud to support Steven’s work, including the Primetime Emmy Award–winning A Lion in the House and 9 to 5: The Story of a Movement, both of which were presented by Independent Lens. This film by Yael Bridge and her extraordinary filmmaking team exemplifies the kind of courageous storytelling that ITVS champions, centering the voices of those fighting for solidarity and telling stories that capture the humanity, complexity, and courage of workers,” said ITVS Senior Vice President of Programming & Production Royd Chung.
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.
Bognar’s involvement further underscores the film’s roots in labor-focused nonfiction storytelling, aligning with a filmmaking team deeply embedded in union and worker-led narratives.
Early critical response has been strong: AwardsWatch’s Ryan McQuade called the film “a rousing, inspiring achievement,” while the Alliance of Women Film Journalists praised its premiere, noting: “An extended, standing ovation greeted the on-stage appearance of director Bridge and several charismatic teamsters. Bravo.”
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?).
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
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