Synopsis
U.S. 2017; 97 min.
Exactly who is the “Notorious RBG, " a.k.a. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg? A rebel, an activist, a “Super Diva,” as it says on her workout sweatshirt? This energetic portrait of the 84-year-old, trailblazing jurist explores her reputation as a “feminist badass,” but ultimately reveals a soft-spoken, steadfast mediator for equal rights. Tracing her rise through the male-dominated legal system, filmmakers Betsy West and Julie Cohen detail Ginsburg’s many achievements and life-long commitment to fighting gender discrimination. RBG also portrays the story of a beautiful and inspiring relationship between Ginsburg and her college sweetheart-turned-husband Marty Ginsburg, a prominent tax lawyer who tirelessly campaigned on behalf of his wife’s career ambitions, at a time when few men had the foresight to do so. Brimming with “absorbing anecdotes” (The Hollywood Reporter), this “entertaining” (New York Times), “moving” (Los Angeles Times) and “fist-pumping, crowd-pleasing documentary [reminds] people of Ginsburg’s vitality and importance, now more than ever” (Indiewire). Courtesy of Magnolia Pictures.
Saturday, April 7th @ 9pm
Followed by Q+A with Betsy West and Julie Cohen, and new songs about RBG by Patrice Michaels with Kuang-Hao Huang, piano
director bio
Betsy West is an award-winning filmmaker, journalist and educator. She was executive producer of the Makers documentary and digital project (AOL & PBS, 2012), the feature documentary The Lavender Scare (2017) and the short doc 4%: Film’s Gender Problem (Epix, 2016). She is a principal at Storyville Films where she co-produced Constantine’s Sword (First Run Features, 2007).
A producer and executive for over two decades at ABC News, West received 21 Emmy® Awards and two duPont-Columbia Awards for her work on “Nightline” and “PrimeTimeLive” and the documentary program ”Turning Point,” where she served as executive producer. As senior vice president at CBS News from 1998-2005, she oversaw “60 Minutes” and “48 Hours,” and was executive in charge of the CBS documentary 9/11, winner of the Primetime Emmy® Award in 2002.
A graduate of Brown University, West holds a Master’s in Communications from Syracuse University. In 2007, she joined the faculty at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism, where she is the Fred W. Friendly Professor of Professional Practice in Media and Society.
Julie Cohen has directed and produced eight feature documentaries, including The Sturgeon Queens (7th Art Releasing), which screened at the 2015 Berlin International Film Festival and 60 others, winning 10 Audience Choice Awards; American Veteran (Freestyle Digital Media) which screened at 20 festivals, and won the 2017 Panavision Showcase Award for New York filmmakers; and I Live to Sing (WNET) which won the 2014 New York Emmy® Award for Best Arts Program, one of three New York Emmys® she has won since 2012.
Before starting her own production company Better Than Fiction, Cohen was a staff producer at NBC News for nine years, where she won the Individual Achievement Award for Best News Producer from American Women in Radio and Television (Gracie Award). In the 1990s she created and produced Court TV’s weekly program Supreme Court Watch. A graduate of Colgate University, she holds Master’s degrees from Yale Law School, where she was a Knight Journalism Fellow, and Columbia University, where she is currently an adjunct professor in the documentary program.
