A while back, Michele and Barack Obama announced a partnership with Netflix to make shows, movies and documentaries. We’re starting to hear about some of those projects now.
Higher Ground Productions, the production company owned by the former president and first lady, announced a slate of upcoming content on Tuesday that “encompasses a wide range of fiction and non-fiction signature productions for all audiences,” according to a press release.
“We created Higher Ground to harness the power of storytelling. That’s why we couldn’t be more excited about these projects,” said President Obama of the company, which was launched last spring.
“Touching on issues of race and class, democracy and civil rights, and much more, we believe each of these productions won’t just entertain, but will educate, connect, and inspire us all,” he said.
Here’s a brief description of some of the upcoming stories which will be released over the next few years.
- American Factory: A feature film that takes place in post-industrial Ohio, where a Chinese billionaire opens a new factory in an abandoned General motors plant. The film was acquired by the Obamas’ production company after its premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. It was directed by directed by Academy Award-nominated and Emmy Award-winners Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert.
- Bloom: This project has been described as an “upstairs/downstairs drama” which takes place in the fashion world of a post-WWII New York City. The series will showcase obstacles women and people of color dealt with “in an era marked by hurdles but also tremendous progress.”
- Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom: This project will be a feature-length adaptation of the book by David W. Blight of the same name. Blight won the Pulitzer Prize in History for the book this year.
- Overlooked: This is an adaptation of the New York Times’ obituary column which tells the “stories of remarkable people whose deaths were not reported by the newspaper.”
- Listen To Your Vegetables & Eat Your Parents: This show will be a half-hour series targeted at preschoolers from creators Jeremy Konner and Erika and Thormahlen.
- Fifth Risk: A nonfiction series aiming to portray the “unheralded work” done by everyday heroes who are doing the work to guide the government and safeguard the nation.
- Crip Camp: This is a feature-length documentary focusing on a 1970’s summer camp for disabled teenagers, just down the road from Woodstock, which helped put the disability rights movement.