Film phase:Completed
SYNOPSIS
When Dolly Parton sang “9 to 5,” she was doing more than just shining a light on the fate of American working women. Parton was singing the true story of a movement that started with 9to5, a group of Boston secretaries in the early 1970s. Their goals were simple—better pay, more advancement opportunities and an end to sexual harassment—but their unconventional approach attracted the press and shamed their bosses into change. Featuring interviews with 9to5’s founders, as well as actor and activist Jane Fonda, 9to5: The Story of a Movement is the previously untold story of the fight that inspired a hit and changed the American workplace.
9to5: The Story of a Movement was supported through Julia Reichert’s 2016 Chicken & Egg Award.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
Julia Reichert (she/her) was an Oscar® and Emmy®-winning independent documentary filmmaker, and a four-time Academy Award® nominee. She lived in a small town in Ohio and has chosen to focus on class, gender, and race in the lives of Americans. Julia’s first film, Growing Up Female, was the first feature documentary of the modern Women’s Movement. It was selected in 2011 for the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Her films Union Maids and Seeing Red were nominated for an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature, as was The Last Truck: Closing of a GM Plant, a short which premiered at the Telluride Film Festival and on HBO. Her film A Lion in the House (an ITVS co-production), about kids fighting cancer, premiered at Sundance Film Festival, screened nationally on PBS, and won a Primetime Emmy® for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking. Julia’s film American Factory 美国工厂,(a co-production with Participant), about the rebirth of a dead Midwestern factory, won the US Documentary Directing Award at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, the Best Documentary Spirit Award, the Best Documentary Gotham Award, the Outstanding Nonfiction Feature and Outstanding Direction awards at the Cinema Eye Honors, and the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. It was the first film released by Higher Ground Productions, the production company created by Michelle & Barack Obama, and is currently available for streaming on Netflix. Julia’s film 9to5: The Story of a Movement, an official selection of SXSW, Full Frame Documentary Film Festival, AFI DOCS Film Festival, and DOC NYC, tells the story of secretaries rising up and organizing to fight for their rights. The film premiered on the PBS series Independent Lens, was nominated for a Peabody Award, and now streams on Netflix. Julia co-founded New Day Films, an independent film distribution co-op. She is the author of Doing It Yourself, the first book on self-distribution in independent film, and was an Advisory Board member of IFP. Julia co-wrote and directed the feature film, Emma and Elvis. Over the decades, she has mentored hundreds of emerging filmmakers. Julia taught for 28 years at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio. In 2019, a retrospective of her work, Julia Reichert: 50 Years in Film, organized by the Wexner Center for the Arts, premiered at the Museum of Modern Art in NYC and traveled to a dozen cities across the United States.
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR-PRODUCER
Steven Bognar (he/him) is an Academy Award® and Primetime Emmy® winning documentary filmmaker based in southwest Ohio. Bognar’s first 1996 film, Personal Belongings, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was broadcast on the PBS series POV. His short films Picture Day (2000) and Gravel (2003) also premiered at Sundance and screened widely. Bognar’s film A Lion in the House (2006) premiered at Sundance, screened on the PBS series Independent Lens, was nominated for a Best Documentary Spirit Award, and won the Primetime Emmy® for Exceptional Merit in Nonfiction Filmmaking. His film The Last Truck (2009) was nominated for an Academy Award® and screened on HBO. His film Sparkle (2012) won the Audience Award® for Best Short at SilverDocs and screened on PBS. Bognar’s film American Factory (2019) won the Directing Award at the Sundance Film Festival, the Independent Spirit Award, the Gotham Award, the Cinema Eye Honor, and the Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature. Bognar & Reichert’s latest film, 9to5 – The Story Of A Movement, (2020) was an official selection of the SXSW, AFI DOCS, IDFA, Full Frame, and DOC NYC film festivals in 2021. Bognar has taught documentary extensively, including guest lectures at Harvard, Yale, and Stanford Universities.