Back in the day, being a content moderator must’ve been a pretty chill gig. You had a few a-holes in the chatrooms to deal with, but it can’t be anything like today. The violence, racism, deep fakes, and more that litter the internet are overwhelming. In the new thriller American Sweatshop, Lili Reinhart plays a social media moderator who sees something so disturbing that she sets out to discover the truth.
The film is directed by cinematographer Uta Briesewitz in her debut feature. Briesewitz is known for her work with director Brad Anderson (Next Stop Wonderland, Session 9, Vanishing On 7th Street) and for shooting dozens of episodes of one of the best TV shows ever made, HBO’s The Wire. Serving as exec-producers on the film are Barry Levinson and Tom Fontana, creators of Homicide: Life On the Street, Oz, and more. So the connection to HBO runs pretty deep.
Reinhart is best known for her role on the hit series Riverdale, as well as the film, Hustlers. Joining her in the cast are Daniela Melchior, Joel Fry, Jeremy Ang Jones, Josh Whitehouse, Tim Plester, and Christiane Paul.
SYNOPSIS: A social media moderator (Lili Reinhart) is tasked with purging the most offensive content from the Internet. When she finds a video she believes to contain a crime, she’s lured away from the safety of her keyboard and into a dangerous world as she obsessively seeks to hold someone accountable.
American Sweatshop hits theaters on September 19th from Brainstorm Media.
