Julia Reichert

Julia Bell Reichert (June 16, 1946 – December 1, 2022) was an American Academy Award-winning documentary filmmaker, activist, and feminist. She was a co-founder of New Day Films. Reichert's filmmaking career spanned over 50 years as a director and producer of documentaries.

Reichert was a four-time Academy Award-nominated director, for Union Maids (1977), Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists (1984), The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (2010) and American Factory (2020, for which she won an Oscar).

She was a two-time winner of the Primetime Emmy, a two-time nominee of the Peabody Award, and director of two films on the National Film Registry.

Reichert was the recipient of the award for Distinguished Service to Labor and Working-Class History from the Labor and Working-Class History Association (LAWCHA). She was professor emeritus in the Department of Theatre, Dance and Motion Pictures at Wright State University.

Reichert was honored with lifetime achievement awards from the International Documentary Association, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and the Hot Docs Film Festival. She is a recipient of the Chicken & Egg Pictures 'Breakthrough Prize.' A traveling retrospective of her work was curated by the Wexner Center for the Arts, and was launched at the Museum of Modern Art in May 2019, before traveling to other US cities.

Early life Julia Bell Reichert was born on June 16, 1946, in Princeton, New Jersey, and was brought up in nearby Bordentown Township, New Jersey. Her father Louis was a butcher and her mother Dorothy was a nurse. Reichert was one of four children. The family spent summers on Long Beach Island, NJ, where her father ran a fishing charter business. Reichert had a youthful fascination with photography.

Reichert was a 1964 graduate of Bordentown Regional High School.

She enrolled at Antioch College in 1964, and dropped out in 1967 when she hitchhiked to California during the Summer of Love. She returned to Antioch in 1968 and graduated in 1970 with a degree in documentary arts.

1970–1972: Growing Up Female and the creation of New Day Films Produced in 1970 and released in 1971, Growing Up Female chronicles the socialization of women at six different ages, blending interview and cinema verité material.

Reichert was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2006, and with urothelial cancer in 2018. She died from urothelial cancer at her home in Yellow Springs, Ohio, on December 1, 2022, at the age of 76.

Filmography Growing Up Female (1971) Methadone: An American Way of Dealing (1975, with James Klein) Union Maids (1976, with Klein) Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists (1983, with Klein) Emma and Elvis (1992) The Dream Catcher (1999, producer) A Lion in the House (2006, with Steven Bognar) The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (2009, with Bognar) Sparkle (2012, with Bognar) Making Morning Star (2015, with Bognar) American Factory (2019, with Bognar) 9to5: The Story of a Movement (2020, with Bognar) 8:46 (2020, with Bognar) Dave Chappelle: Live in Real Life (2021, with Bognar)

Select awards and honors 1984: American Film Festival's Blue Ribbon Award for Documentary (for Seeing Red) 2007: Primetime Emmy for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking (for A Lion in the House) 2011: National Film Registry preservation selection for Growing Up Female (1971) 2017: Chicken & Egg Pictures Breakthrough Prize 2018: International Documentary Association - Career Achievement Award 2019: Sundance Film Festival Directory Award for Documentary (for American Factory) 2019: Critics' Choice Documentary Award for Best Director (for American Factory) 2019: Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Documentary (for American Factory) 2019: Hot Docs Canadian International Documentary Festival - Outstanding Achievement Award 2019: DOC NYC - The Robert and Anne Drew Award for Documentary Excellence 2019: International Documentary Association - IDA Award for Best Director (for American Factory) 2020: Cinema Eye Honors Award for Outstanding Achievement in Nonfiction Feature Filmmaking (for American Factory) 2020: Directors Guild of America, USA award for Outstanding Directorial Achievement in Documentary (for American Factory) 2020: Film Independent Spirit Award for Best Documentary (for American Factory) 2020: Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature (for American Factory) 2020: Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Directing for a Documentary/Nonfiction Program (for American Factory) 2021: Labor and Working-Class History from the Labor and Working-Class History Association award for Distinguished Service to Labor and Working-Class History 2022: National Film Registry preservation selection for Union Maids