Julia Reichert: Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker and godmother of documentaries dies at 76

Reichert has worked on several Oscar-nominated documentaries and is known for taking the issues of common people

PUBLISHED DEC 2, 2022

Julia Reichert attends the 13th Annual Women In Film Female Oscar Nominees Party (Photo by Rich Fury/Getty Images)

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: In one of the most heartbreaking news coming out of the entertainment industry, the renowned documentary filmmaker known as the godmother of documentaries, Julia Reichert, has died at the age of 75. The news of her death was confirmed by her long-time collaborator Steven Bognar.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, the Oscar-winning documentary filmmaker died after a long battle with bladder cancer. People got to know about her diagnosis when it was revealed that she was undergoing chemotherapy ahead of her Oscar win and despite all this, she attended the star-studded event and accepted the award for ‘American Factory’ in front of an esteemed audience.

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Filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert, winners of the Documentary Feature award for “American Factory,” attend the 92nd Annual Academy Awards Governors Ball at Hollywood and Highland on February 09, 2020 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

Born on June 6, 1946, Reichert began her professional journey by joining the WYSO radio in 1968 and started creating shows for the radio station. She created and hosted ‘The Single Girl’ on WYSO, which was possibly the first openly feminist radio program in the nation. Meanwhile, in 1971, she came out with her first documentary titled ‘Growing Up Female’. 1977 saw her earning her first Academy Award nomination for ‘Union Maids,’ which was based on three in the labor history book ‘Rank and File’. Since then, she has been a part of several projects and Oscar-nominated projects such as ‘Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists’, ‘The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant’ (2010), and ‘American Factory’ (2020).

‘American Factory’ is based on a Chinese billionaire who opens a factory in an abandoned General Motors plant and hires two thousand Americans for several jobs. However, things take a u-turn when China and the US clash with each other in trade wars. The documentary received universal acclaim and streamed exclusively on Netflix. On the other hand, it was also the first documentary feature to be acquired by Barack and Michelle Obama’s production company, Higher Ground Productions. The documentary won several accolades, including Best Documentary Feature at the 92nd Academy Awards.

A still from Julia Reicher's documentary 'American Factory' (Netflix)

Apart from the Academy Award, she was a two-time winner of the Primetime Emmy, and a two-time nominee for the Peabody Award. Reichert, whose first film came out almost five decades ago, brought progressive politics and working-class issues to the forefront.

She is survived by Bognar, daughter Lela Klein Holt, three brothers, two grandchildren, and a nephew.