Throughout her half-a-century-long career, Julia Reichert made some of cinema’s most radical, revealing documentaries about the changing social and economic dynamics impacting women and working people across the United States. Julia’s Stepping Stones, the short she co-directed with her husband Steven Bognar, who also edited the film, marks the documentary duo’s final and most intimate collaboration.

Reichert’s legacy of authentic and inclusive filmmaking is incomparable. Before she passed away from cancer in 2022, the director-producer began documenting her own story — from her New Jersey upbringing to early days in radio, from co-founding distributor New Day Films to making her first feature, Growing Up Female. She went on to earn four Academy Award nominations over the course of her career; in 2020, she and Bognar won for American Factory, the inaugural release from Barack and Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground Productions.

As she recalls milestones and memories, what remains consistent throughout the short, which weaves together Reichert’s narration with photographs and home movies from her life and filmography, is her contagious enthusiasm, fervent refusal to look away from difficult topics, and undying curiosity about other people’s stories. In Julia’s Stepping Stones, Bognar and Reichert turn the camera on one of their most powerful subjects to date.