‚American Sweatshop‘ is a chilling psychological drama directed by Uta Briesewitz and starring Lili Reinhart, exposing the unseen world of content moderation. The film forces audiences to imagine the horrors these workers endure, making it an unsettling yet thought-provoking experience. Featuring Joel Fry, Jeremy Ang Jones, and Lili Reinhart, it explores the effects of digital trauma, media consumption, and the hidden cost of keeping the internet „clean.“

Unbeknownst to most of us, there is a rabbit hole of videos getting flagged every minute… where do they go? Who watches them? Lili Reinhart does in the upcoming film AMERICAN SWEATSHOP. This dark commentary on online content moderation will get you thinking about what you do or don’t watch. Lili Reinhart and director Uta Briesewitz stopped by the Den of Geek Studio at SXSW Film Festival to talk all about their upcoming picture.

A veteran cinematographer and television director, Uta Briesewitz makes her feature directing debut with “American Sweatshop,” which is having its world premiere as part of the 2025 SXSW Film and TV Festival. Lili Reinhart stars as a young woman who gets a job as content moderator at a social media site. As she struggles to detach from the violent and disturbing imagery she is inundated with everyday, she becomes obsessed with finding out the truth behind one particularly graphic video.

On the surface, the job of a content moderator sounds noble: to ensure that a social media platform is deemed safe for public usage. However, moderating content is far from glamorous, and American Sweatshop isn’t afraid to address the profession’s dangerous side. Serving as the debut feature of Severance director Uta Briesewitz, the mystery thriller is a gritty take on the toll of social media, as told from the eyes of Daisy (Lili Reinhart). By day, Daisy and her co-workers watch the worst the Internet offers and ultimately decide which content gets removed. Just as Daisy thinks she’s seen it all, one violent video catches her attention, prompting her to leave the isolated comfort of her computer screen and go on the hunt for a potential criminal. Collider’s very own Perri Nemiroff had the opportunity to speak with Briesewitz and Reinhart at SXSW 2025 at the Collider Media Studio at the Cinema Center. Throughout the conversation, the two discuss what sparked Briesewitz’s interest in creating the film, how her work as a director on Severance influenced her approach to American Sweatshop, what Reinhart enjoys about working on an independent film, and how Riverdale affored her the opportunity to excel wearing multiple hats on her latest productions.

https://collider.com/american-sweatshop-lili-reinhart/