Before I started Julia's Stepping Stones, the short documentary now streaming on Netflix, I went to Wikipedia and read about American filmmaker Julia Reichert. The co-founder of New Day Films, Reichert had spent 50 years as a documentary director and producer. She was also an activist and feminist, and was nominated for an Academy Award four times for films such as Union Maids, Seeing Red: Stories of American Communists, The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, and American Factory.
Reichert won an Oscar for the latter film. She was a two-time Primetime Emmy winner, honored with lifetime achievement awards from the International Documentary Association, the Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, and the Hot Docs Film Festival, and... well, you can read all about her accomplishments on her Wikipedia page, where you can also get a rundown of her films, her personal life, and her death caused by urothelial cancer. With Julia's Stepping Stones, I was expecting, more or less, a brief Wikipedia-page-style tour of Reichert's life. Thankfully, the documentary doesn’t follow the style of a “conventional Netflix documentary.” You know, talking heads and reenactments shaking our hands and telling a story.
Directors: Steven Bognar, Julia ReichertStar: Julia Reichert
This shouldn’t have come as much of a surprise, given that the film is directed by Reichert and her husband, Steven Bognar, making it the latest collaboration between them. I watched a few minutes of Seeing Red on YouTube (I was a little busy) and was struck by the magnetic power of the images. I’m happy to report that I experienced something similar with Julia’s Stepping Stones. The way Reichert and Bognar display the filmmaker’s childhood photos and clips through creatively stimulating frame rate manipulations provides vigor not only to the images on screen, but also to our own senses. Reichert’s voice, on the other hand, infuses a sense of intimacy into the film. Julia narrates her story while talking on the phone and it seems as if she’s engaging in a casual conversation with a friend — in this case, the viewer.
Reichert shares her memories of growing up in a modest house with one bathroom and three bedrooms, where all of her siblings shared a room. Reichert’s mother was a nurse and her father a butcher. It is unclear how her family reacted when she became a filmmaker. What did her siblings think of her profession? Did they ever see her films? What did they think? Julia’s Stepping Stones leaves these questions unanswered.
However, it highlights a moment of vulnerability for Reichert: she felt embarrassed by her father’s job when she was with her wealthy college friends. She did not immediately find herself in the world of film. At first, during the Civil Rights Movement, she aspired to be a journalist. Later, she ventured into radio. Also, let us not forget her fascination with photography, which had been present since childhood. Eventually, Reichert realized that all of these interests could converge beautifully in the field of film. At that time (Reichert tells us), women’s social roles were limited to being teachers, secretaries, or nurses—women were often seen as women in the same class. After that, they were bound by the chains of marriage.
Reichert also recalls how, as a waitress, her opinions were rejected by young people simply because of her profession. But Reichert, through films, found a voice and also freedom. She was seduced by the alternative viewpoints she found in films by directors such as Alain Resnais, whose Night and Fog made her aware of the Holocaust. Julia's Stepping Stones begins with Reichert's younger days and ends with her discovery and exploration of the film medium. She has no interest in talking about her death and cancer because good filmmakers never really die. They become immortal through their work. Julia's Stepping Stones is a funny film (Reichert's meeting with a producer is depicted using a scene from The Godfather) and a heartwarming one. It's like a warm, tender hug. I enjoyed this documentary more than most of the critically acclaimed films of the year.
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