Excerpt from the Dayton Daily News
Antioch College’s 2020 commencement speaker will be one of Dayton’s most celebrated filmmakers.
Oscar-winning Antioch alumna, Julia Reichert, will be the college’s commencement speaker at its virtual ceremony to be streamed on Saturday at 1 p.m. The livestream will be available to view by the public on Antioch’s commencement website at 1 p.m. via antiochcollege.edu/commencement.
A graduate of the Antioch College class of 1970, Reichert has been an active member and builder of the American documentary filmmaking community and has been called the godmother of the American independent film movement. She graduated from the college with a bachelor’s degree in film.
Reichert is also battling a rare and deadly cancer.
Bognar and Reichert, a couple together for more than 30 years, received an Academy Award nomination in the “Best Documentary (short subject)” category for their 2009 HBO film “The Last Truck” about the closing of that very same GM plant in Moraine.
Upon receiving the 2020 Academy Award, Reichert said, “Even before that envelope got opened, just being in the presence, in the company of our sister and brother documentarians who risked their lives making stories, bringing stories to us about hospitals being bombed in Syria, about Brazil, about Macedonia, we were so proud. We are inspired by you guys. Our film is from Ohio and China. Go Buckeyes! Sorry. But it really could be from anywhere that people put on a uniform and punch a clock, trying to make their families have a better life. Working people have it harder and harder these days. We believe that things will get better when workers of the world unite.”
