Remembering Julia Reichert

Tribute

How blessed we are when a Woman of Wisdom touches our life. Film maker and documentarian, Julia Reichert touched mine in a significant and life-changing way.

On Thursday, December 1, 2022, Julia lost her four-and-a-half year battle with a rare form of terminal cancer. What an extraordinary life she packed into her 76 years. Her obituary in the Dayton Daily News gives the full story.

For 50 years, Julia followed her life’s passion as she and her collaborators “illuminated humanity, particularly America’s working-class, across compelling themes of feminism, family, politics, and economics.” What follows are some of her awards.

Academy Award Nominations were received for three of Julia’s films:

• 1977: Union Maids (with Jim Klein & Miles Mogulescu)
• 1984: Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists (with Jim Klein)
• 2010: The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant (with Steve Bognar)

Emmy shared with Steve Bognar

• 2006: A Lion in the House (impact of childhood cancer)

2020 Emmy & Academy Award shared with Bognar for

• American Factory (focused on the Chinese-owned Fuyao Glass America windshield plant that opened in the former General Motors factory in Moraine, OH)

Growing Up Female

Julia entered my life in 1975 through her 1971 film, Growing Up Female. Harriet Miller, the first female professor at United Theological Seminary, included it in the first class for which I registered: “Woman, Man, and the Sexual Revolution.”

This documentary focuses on the socialization of American women in the 1950s and 60s and the effects of stereotypes placed by media, advertising, and personal relationships. It follows the lives of five young women and girls.

I was so unconscious in those days, I couldn’t understand why Harriet incorporated Growing Up Female in our curriculum. What was the point? It looked like ordinary life to me.

It wasn’t until a male classmate broke the hushed silence following the film that my eyes were opened.

You get so many messages that you’re not okay the way you are.

~Ken White

The Truth in Black and White

Julia served as a film professor at Wright State University for 28 years. One of her students said about her:

Julia said we weren’t going to be able to tell good stories until we realized we could tell the truth. Documentaries are about telling the truth and there’s something about seeking out the truth and telling other people’s stories. She’s always been interested in seeking out interesting stories about the human condition.

~Jonathan McNeal

Fear and trepidation had filled me when I registered for “Woman, Man, and the Sexual Revolution.” I found the title itself intimidating. However, something in me felt compelled to face the truth about myself. It took all my courage. I saw myself as lacking in some essential female attribute. I anticipated this class spelling it out in black and white.

What a surprise! This grainy black and white film spelled out the truth for women of my era … the cultural pressures leading to feelings of inadequacy as a woman. The Library of Congress recognized this when it selected Growing Up Female for the National Film Registry of historically significant films.

My worldview would never be the same.

Julia in Person

What a thrill for me to meet Julia several years ago at a Dayton Metro Library event honoring her and this documentary. The room was packed. I garnered all my courage to break out of my normally quiet demeanor and tell Julia the story of how she changed my life.

Her face lit up with delight. My sense is that, while she enjoyed receiving nominations, emmys, and academy awards for her achievements, her greatest reward was hearing about how her work made a difference in other people’s lives.

Thank you, Julia, for making a profound difference in my life. I will be forever grateful for you and for your truth telling.

I will be adding Julia to my Council of Ancestors. She is a Warrior Woman of Wisdom who now resides in another realm. I will continue to draw upon her guidance.