- Welcome to POV.
I'm Pete Schwaba, host of PBS Wisconsin's Director's Cut.
Tonight, a dusty Ethiopian farm town
stares into the eyes of global expansion
when a Chinese company comes to town
looking for cheap land and cheap labor
in the film Made in Ethiopia.
Tonight's film shows a clash of cultures.
A Chinese company brings the promise of jobs
to a poor country,
where more than half the population is under 18
and in need of work.
Sure, the jobs pay, but many are not worth the cost.
In some cases, Ethiopians were forced to sell their land
after being promised new land, which never happened.
Factory workers like those we will meet tonight
make as little as $50 a month,
which is not even enough to scrape by,
even in a place where the cost of living is so low.
Despite the low pay and long hours,
Chinese supervisors and bosses push their employees hard
by trying to limit the amount of time for bathroom breaks,
raising production expectations, and forcing overtime,
which ultimately causes workers to strike.
The film follows three women
with different personalities and motivations.
Motto is an ambitious and charming Chinese businesswoman
who sees endless possibilities for Ethiopia
and pushes workers hard, given the stakes she herself faces.
Beti is a hardworking young woman
who works in a factory behind a sewing machine
and is trying to establish her independence.
Workinesh is a farmer caught in the middle
of the Chinese expansion and the farming life she knows.
Workinesh also is aware that industrialization is the future.
It is her daughter who points out
how backbreaking life on the farm is,
and asks if factory work could be that much worse.
Through these three main characters,
we get an up-close look at part of the world
facing globalization.
Made in Ethiopia is directed by Xinyan Yu and Max Duncan.
Both directors have an
award-winning journalistic background
and have spent time covering events in China.
Both are credited as producers on the film,
and Duncan is also credited as the cinematographer.
For both directors,
this is their documentary feature film directing debut.
For Washington D.C.-based Xinyan Yu,
the story in tonight's film hits home.
Yu is from Wuhan, China,
where she grew up in a community of steel factory workers
and got to see firsthand the effects of socioeconomic changes
and globalization in China.
As a result, she is passionate about telling stories
involving the evolution of geopolitical landscapes
and how they affect marginalized communities forced to adapt.
Now, let's all sit back and watch a film
that took these first-time directors four years to shoot
and was recognized with a special jury mention
at the Tribeca Film Festival.
Pretty impressive.
Made in Ethiopia can now be viewed in America.
It starts now on PBS Wisconsin, your home for independent film.