AUSTIN, Texas — 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 every day, she becomes obsessed with finding out the truth behind one particularly graphic video.

Briesewitz and Reinhart stopped by the L.A. Times studio in Austin, Texas, to talk about the movie. Reinhardt spoke about how she has begun to reconsider her own online habits.

“I think I have wanted to be online less, more so than ever in my life, in the last year,” Reinhart said. “Not even because of this film. I think just because of what the internet is right now as it stands. It’s not good, and you see a lot of hate and fear and I don’t want to be a part of it.

Reinhart added, “And so I’ve tried to almost be my own little content moderator, in a sense, on my own social platforms, knowing that what I engage with, I’ll get more of. So just being conscious online with what I interact with, knowing that if I keep it positive, keep it funny, keep it light, that’s what I’ll get back.”