Julia Reichert Movies

When the General Motors assembly plant in Moraine, Ohio shut its doors on December 23, 2008, 2,500 workers and 200 managers were left without jobs. General Motors was the lifeblood of this small community, and in this documentary the employees reflect on the ways the company brought them closer to their neighbors as operations at the plant slowly grind to a halt. Body shop employee Kathy is a mother of three with six grandchildren, and viewed her co-workers more as a second family than simple colleagues. Meanwhile, as tearful electrician Kim, reflective toolmaker Popeye, and crestfallen forklift operator Kate turn in their GM cards, the final truck to be produced at the plant rolls off of the assembly lines, serving as an ominous herald of things to come in the struggling U.S. auto industry. ~ Jason Buchanan, All Movie Guide

Five young people battle incurable disease as their families deal with their physical and emotional struggles in this powerful documentary from filmmakers Steven Bognar and Julia Reichert. A Lion in the House was largely filmed on Ward 5A of Cincinnati Children's Hospital, a wing devoted to children with cancer and related illnesses. The film focuses on five youngsters undergoing treatment there -- Justin Ashcraft, an 18-year-old who has been living with leukemia since age eight; Al Fields, an 11-year-old non-Hodgkin's lymphoma patient; seven-year-old Alex Lougheed, also with leukemia; a third leukemia patient, nine-year-old Jen Moore; and Tim Woods, a 15-year-old boy with Hodgkin's lymphoma. As the children deal with the rigors and treatment and the toll their illnesses take on their bodies, they also wrestle with their need to be kids and navigate the tricky roads of growing up, while their families and physicians sometimes have to confront the fact that the children may not survive their treatment. Produced for broadcast on public television, A Lion in the House was screened as part of the 2006 Sundance Film Festival. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie Guide

Low-budget filmmaker Ed Radtke's second feature is a male-oriented road movie about two unlikely characters thrown together by a strange fate. Freddy (Maurice Compte), who has a pregnant girlfriend back home and no prospects for the future, tries to board a moving train but only ends up losing his bag and cap. He meets a delinquent- looking adolescent named Albert (Paddy Connor) at a service station. Despite protests from Freddy, Albert sticks to him like glue and proves to be a useful companion. The reasons each character has for taking the long journey are revealed gradually. Freddy is looking for his uncle to get some news of his long-lost father, while Albert, who has escaped from reform school, is trying to find his mother with nothing more than a postcard she has written as a clue to her whereabouts. As the characters slowly get to know one another, they also discover rural America through chance encounters with a gallery of diverse characters from soldiers to Indians. Director Ed Radtke, who was once convicted of felony himself, displays his first-hand knowledge of adolescent delinquency. He also draws a remarkable portrait of troubled youth, looking for roots and a sense of identity, but always on guard, knowing only too well that there are no miracles in a cruel and harsh world. Although the film is character-driven, the landscape (shot beautifully by Terry Stacey) plays a very important part in setting the mood. Despite its low budget, The Dream Catcher was shot in eight states across the U.S. in more than hundred locations involving several night shoots. There are more than forty speaking roles. Producer Julia Reichert brought students on the set and also involved young offenders from detention centers in the writing and acting process. The Dream Catcher was shown in competition at the 1999 Locarno International Film Festival, where it received the second prize of the Young Jury (UBS). ~ Gönül Dönmez-Colin, All Movie Guide

Ever since the 1960s, Alice has been trying to make a documentary film about...the '60s. Since its now nearly thirty years later, her project has become a running joke among her friends and family. Her heart still beats to the tune the student radicals played all those years ago, and she is more than usually upset by such events as the Tienanmen Square massacre, and the unpleasant fate of Abbie Hoffman. She finds a kindred spirit in an angry twenty-four-year old who's working on independent shows at a local access cable outlet, and through his influence she gradually emerges into the 1990s, with its concerns about AIDS and corporate power. Not only that, but she makes real progress on finishing her previously unworkable documentary. ~ Clarke Fountain, All Movie Guide

About 400 known and unknown American communists were interviewed during this five-year documentary project, and the results culled down to an intriguing 100 minutes of screen time. As secretaries, factory workers, farmers, and intellectuals discuss the past, their insights provide both humor and pathos, but most of all, the interviewees emerge as human beings whose main interest has remained in lowering the gap between the haves and have nots. The documentary notes that as a result of leftist agitation, the United States adopted programs like Social Security and unemployment insurance faster than otherwise -- programs that were once labeled communist by American conservatives. Committed to defending human and civil rights, the 1,000,000-member American Communist Party lost more than half of its members when Stalin's inhuman purges were made public. Perhaps the most interesting aspect of these interviews, which also included people like Pete Seeger, is the change in attitudes during the 1960s and '70s and the fact that some members of the Communist Party refused to be interviewed because they were afraid of repercussions if their affiliation were made public. These repercussions had taken many forms in the past, including the loss of jobs as in the McCarthy era. ~ Eleanor Mannikka, All Movie Guide

This film that first aired on PBS during the early '70s continues to help American women openly discuss the true meaning of feminism and what it's like growing up female in a culture still overwhelmed with conflicting sexual stereotypes. Six girls and women between the ages of four and 35 talk about the cultural institutions, advertising, and role models that are influencing their efforts to achieve various goals. ~ Elizabeth Smith, All Movie Guide