Dayton’s Oscar-winning documentary duo to present exclusive virtual event

The latest film from Dayton-based Academy Award-winning directors Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar will be discussed in a special presentation by the duo on March 9.

ThinkTV, CET and other community partners have come together to present Reichert and Bognar at a free, virtual event to tackle the “behind-the-scenes tidbits and more” on their latest film, “9to5: The Story of a Movement.” The event will include a Q&A with the directors, a few of the trailblazing women featured in the documentary and the film’s Cincinnati-based editor.

Though the event is free, organizers ask those interested to RSVP by March 8 at cetconnect.org/free-virtual-9to5-event/. The event begins at 7 p.m. and there is no limit to the number of attendees.

“Those who participate in the screening will have another chance to watch the documentary in a very different light,” said Jim Wiener, chief programming officer at CET and ThinkTV. “Much of the discussion will focus on two areas: women in film/the work going into a documentary, and the state of labor organizing today.”

The film, a full-length documentary, is about the fight for women’s equality in the U.S. workplace.

“It’s surprisingly funny,” said Lela Klein, FilmDayton trustee member and daughter of Julia Reichert. “It’s been getting great reviews. ... The audience that has gotten to see it has loved it.”

In the early 1970s, a group of secretaries in Boston decided that they had suffered in silence long enough, wrote FilmDayton of the film, ahead of the local Dayton premiere in fall 2020.

“They started fighting back, creating a movement to force changes in their workplaces. This movement became national and is a largely forgotten story of U.S. 20th-century history. It encapsulates a unique intersection of the women’s movement with the labor movement. The awareness these secretaries brought to bear on women’s work reverberates even today.”

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