[Congressional Record Volume 168, Number 194 (Wednesday, December 14, 2022)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1290]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                  HONORING THE LIFE OF JULIA REICHERT

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL R. TURNER

                                of ohio

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, December 14, 2022

  Mr. TURNER. Madam Speaker, I rise to honor the life of Julia 
Reichert, an Academy Award winning documentarian from my district in 
Southwest Ohio. Julia passed away earlier this month at her home in 
Yellow Springs after a battle with cancer. I appreciate this 
opportunity to pay tribute to her life and legacy.
  Julia came to the Miami Valley to attend college and eventually 
settled there where she would spend the next 50 years producing films 
and documentaries that challenged viewers preconceptions on gender, 
class, race, and economics. Julia debuted her first documentary, 
Growing Up Female, in 1971 and it is widely recognized as one of the 
first films from the Women's liberation movement. The Library of 
Congress honored Julia's work on Growing Up Female by selecting the 
film for preservation in the United States National Film Registry.
  Julia would continue her passion and work in film making, receiving 
Oscar nominations in 1976, 1984, and 2010 before finally breaking 
through to win the 2020 Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for 
her film, American Factory. Julia's film captures the arrival of Fuyao, 
a Chinese glass manufacturer, that comes to the United States and 
reopens a shuttered GM plant in Moraine, Ohio, employing 2,000 workers 
in the Miami Valley. She captured the tumultuous journey between high-
tech Chinese employers and working-class Americans with a creative 
style that showcases the stark contrasts in the two cultures, invoking 
empathy for both parties.
  Her films and documentaries are not the only legacy that Julia will 
leave behind. As a professor of Film Production at Wright State 
University for the past 28 years, she influenced hundreds of lives in 
the classroom. Julia's impact on the Miami Valley and her country will 
not soon be forgotten and her legacy as a storyteller, advocate, and 
teacher will live on for generations to come, both in her work and in 
the lives she touched.

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