Julia Reichert, an American filmmaker, died at the age of 76 after a long battle with urothelial carcinoma. Reichert died on December 1, 2022 at his home in Yellow Springs, Ohio, according to The Hollywood Reporter. With her now is her family and longtime lover Steven Bognar. Reichert’s documentary career spans more than 50 years and includes the Oscar she won in 2020 for the documentary American Factory. The plot revolves around a Chinese billionaire who runs a decommissioned GM facility outside of Ohio, which manufactures car windshields. Interestingly, American Factory depicts Chinese and American employees collaborating while deploying sophisticated technologies.
Julia Reichert often works with her husband in films on social themes.
Julia Reichert was born on June 16, 1946 in Princeton, New Jersey, to Louis and Dorothy Reichert. She graduated from Bordentown Area High School in 1964 and went on to make documentaries. She and Jim Klein founded New Day Films in 1971 after realizing there was little possibility of distributing films about and made by women. The company is still operating today.
Julia, dubbed the “godmother of the independent film business,” began her career with the 1971 film Growing Up Female, which was designated as “culturally, historically, or aesthetically important” by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Reichert frequently works with her husband, Steven Bognar, on documentaries about gender inequality, class prejudice, the effect of the economy and racism on the middle class. Union Maids (1976), Seeing Red: A Story of American Communists (1983) and The Last Truck: Closing the GM Factory were among her Oscar-nominated films (2009).
Julia was asked if she had always intended to improve the world or become a filmmaker in a June 2019 interview with CBC, to which she replied:
“Oh, will definitely change the world… That’s exactly what we were thinking. I say ‘our’ because we felt like we were part of a great movement at the time – late 1960s to mid-1970s and beyond.
She also claims that she never considered herself a filmmaker until others did. Julia was diagnosed with non-lymphoma Hodgkin’s disease in January 2006 and went into remission the following year. However, in 2018, a new case of stage 4 urothelial carcinoma was discovered.
“A filmmaker, class fighter, radical feminist and mentor,” one netizen commented after learning of Julia Reichert’s death.
After Julia passed away, Twitteratis paid tribute to the famous filmmaker’s work. Several users recalled her activism and vision in documentaries, with one calling her a “patriot” for creating films that capture “an authentic perspective on 21st-century American work.”
Our hearts are broken, but we find solace in remembering the love and genius she brought to us and the world. She is a friend, a family, and a true role model for established artists everywhere. Please put Julia Reichert (1946-2022) in your thoughts today and every day. pic.twitter.com/r8aZLk0Dwv
– Reverse shot (@reverse_shot) December 2, 2022
RIP Julia Reichert. She makes the American Factory AND the Lion in the house AND she screams “Workers of the world unite!” on stage at the Oscars ceremony. And she and Steve were nice to me 25 years ago in Dayton, Ohio when they had no reason to be. One of the giants of documentary filmmaking. pic.twitter.com/SsHhu3J4oj
– Dusty (@huskydusty) December 2, 2022
Categories: Biography
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn
