'Flagmakers,' Giannis-produced movie about Oak Creek's Eder Flag, wins Documentary Emmy

Chris Foran, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
·2 min read
This is National Geographic Documentary Films' poster for "The Flagmakers," a short documentary about Oak Creek-based Eder Flag and its diverse workforce. Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo signed on as an executive producer of the movie, which won an Emmy for outstanding short documentary.
This is National Geographic Documentary Films' poster for "The Flagmakers," a short documentary about Oak Creek-based Eder Flag and its diverse workforce. Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo signed on as an executive producer of the movie, which won an Emmy for outstanding short documentary.

"The Flagmakers" — the 2022 documentary about Oak Creek's Eder Flag and its largely immigrant work force that landed Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo as an executive producer — may have missed out on an Oscar, but it did win an Emmy.

"The Flagmakers" won the Emmy for outstanding short documentary at the 44th annual News and Documentary Emmy Awards from the National Academy of Television Arts & Sciences on Sept. 28. The National Geographic short film by award-winning filmmakers Cynthia Wade and Sharon Liese follows the diverse workforce at Oak Creek-based Eder Flag, the largest maker of American flags and flagpoles in the United States, during the run-up to the 2020 presidential election. A number of the employee-owned company's workers are immigrants and refugees.

A couple months before the documentary aired on the National Geographic cable channel and began streaming on Disney+, the filmmakers announced that Antetokounmpo had signed onto the project as an executive producer. Antetokounmpo had another connection to Disney+; "Rise," the story of the NBA star's beginnings in basketball amid his family's struggles in Greece, debuted on the streaming channel in June 2022.

"The Flagmakers" also was on the shortlist for nominations for this year's Academy Award for best documentary short film, but it didn't make the final cut. But the movie collected some other hardware on the film festival circuit, winning the People’s Choice Award for documentary short film at the 2022 Denver Film Festival and best documentary short at the 2022 SCAD Savannah Film Festival.

And "The Flagmakers" might live on in another medium. Late last year, Mark Gordon Pictures, which has the theatrical rights to the story, signed playwright John J. Caswell Jr. to adapt the short documentary as a stage musical.

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This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: 'Flagmakers,' Giannis-produced movie about Eder Flag, wins an Emmy