of General Motors. Smith announced massive layoffs at a GM plant, essentially closing it, in favor of opening new plants in Mexico that resulted in 30,000 hardworking Flint residents to lose their jobs and devastate the area's economy. Because of this, Michael got the idea to make a documentary about his hometown of Flint and how the local economy had collapsed from the exporting of jobs. Moore used his settlement from Mother Jones as a Kickstarter for the film. However, that wasn’t enough and eventually had to sell his home and even hold bingo games to raise the money to finish it. Finally, in 1989, the completed film Roger & Me -- in which, among other things, Moore and his crew repeatedly fail to get General Motors chairman Roger Smith to agree to an interview -- became a major critical success, was honored at a number of film festivals, and went on to become one of the most financially successful documentary features ever
of General Motors. Smith announced massive layoffs at a GM plant, essentially closing it, in favor of opening new plants in Mexico that resulted in 30,000 hardworking Flint residents to lose their jobs and devastate the area's economy. Because of this, Michael got the idea to make a documentary about his hometown of Flint and how the local economy had collapsed from the exporting of jobs. Moore used his settlement from Mother Jones as a Kickstarter for the film. However, that wasn’t enough and eventually had to sell his home and even hold bingo games to raise the money to finish it. Finally, in 1989, the completed film Roger & Me -- in which, among other things, Moore and his crew repeatedly fail to get General Motors chairman Roger Smith to agree to an interview -- became a major critical success, was honored at a number of film festivals, and went on to become one of the most financially successful documentary features ever