The flagmakers

Eder Flag in Oak Creek, Wisc. makes American flags – a huge number of them. More than five million a year, in fact. It sells 3’ by 5’ outdoor flags for $39.99 or 50’ by 80’ giant Old Glories for a little under $10,000, and flags of every size in between and the flagpoles to fly them on. What’s especially remarkable about Eder is not so much its annual sales, but who makes the flags. Most of the company’s workforce hails from around the world – Iraq, Tanzania, Mexico, Algeria, Serbia, Bosnia and other parts of the globe – people born under another flag. The Oscar-contending short documentary The Flagmakers reveals the stories of many of those who sew, assemble, package and ship for Eder. The film directed by Sharon Liese and Cynthia Wade premieres on the National Geographic Channel tonight, and launches on Disney+ on December 21. “It’s majority immigrants and refugees sewing the American flag,” Wade says, noting Eder has become the country’s largest … [Read more...] about In Oscar Contender ‘The Flagmakers,’ Immigrants And The Native Born Stitch Together Old Glory

EXCLUSIVE: Mark Gordon Pictures has tapped award winning playwright John J. Caswell Jr. to adapt a stage musical of the acclaimed short documentary, The Flagmakers , from Academy Award-winner Cynthia Wade and AFI Doc Award-winner Sharon Liese. The NY Public Theater’s Associate Artistic Director, Saheem Ali, is attached to direct. From National Geographic Documentary Films, the doc is a meditation on the American dream; following workers at the employee-owned Eder Flag in Oak Creek, Wisconsin, the country’s largest maker of American flags and flagpoles, which sews and ships five million American flags per year. The flagmakers — locals, immigrants and refugees — stitch stars and stripes as they wrestle with identity and belonging. The film provides an intimate glimpse into the people whose hands make America’s most recognizable icon. The acclaimed film was nominated for Best Short Documentary at the 2022 Critics Choice Documentary Awards and was awarded Best … [Read more...] about Mark Gordon Pictures Adapting Awarding-Winning Docu-Short ‘The Flagmakers’ Into Stage Musical