Factual America examines America through the lens of documentary filmmaking. Guests include Academy Award, Emmy and Grammy-winning documentary filmmakers and producers, their subjects, as well as experts on the American experience. Find out more about the current and upcoming documentaries on Netflix, HBO, Hulu, Amazon Prime, Apple TV+, Sky Documentaries and other platforms directly from the creators. Whether we discuss true crime, music, burning social and political topics, history, or arts, Factual America is your #1 documentary film podcast. Factual America is produced by Alamo Pictures, a London- and Austin-based production company that makes documentaries about the US from a European perspective for international audiences.
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episode 31: RBG: The Iconic American Supreme Court Justice
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on September 18, 2020. She had a long and illustrious career as an advocate for gender equality, a jurist and most famously as an Associate Justice on the United States Supreme Court.
Joining us to pay tribute to this true American icon is Julie Cohen, together with Betsy West, the co-director and co-producer of RBG.
RBG is a documentary that beautifully captures the life and legacy of Ruth Bader Ginsburg. The film itself premiered in 2018 at the Sundance Film Festival, was nominated for an Academy Award, and is one of the top grossing documentaries of all time.
We caught up with Julie from her home in Brooklyn as we revisit her work on RBG and her memories of this powerful woman.
“Justice Ginsburg was a very intimidating woman. Tiny, though she might had been, and with her quiet little voice, she just had this whole force and this penetrating stare – everything about her was quite intimidating.” – Julie Cohen
Time Stamps:3:13 – Introducing our guest Julie Cohen and the reason we are revisiting RBG.
5:48 – Where people can see RBG in 2020.
7:24 – Julie’s memories of Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
10:58 – Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s humble background.
12:33 – What it was like for women in the 1950s and 1960s.
16:56 – Why RBG had to transfer to Columbia to complete her law studies.
19:49 – How RBG’s workday looked like and how much she slept.
22:17 – RBG as a leading figure behind the women’s rights movement and gender equality.
25:11 – RBG’s strategic thinking in choosing and building cases and case law.
29:40 – Where Julie got audio recordings and transcripts of case materials for the documentary.
32:30 – How RGB became Supreme Court Justice.
37:00 – The role of activists for civil rights, disability rights, women’s rights, etc.
38:38 – The story of Justice O’Connor, the first women on the Supreme Court.
42:40 – Why Justice Ginsberg didn’t retire during Barack Obama’s presidency.
48:15 – How RBG became such a media and cultural celebrity.
55:00 – What legacy Julie would like to leave with the RBG documentary.
57:14 – Discussing Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett as Supreme Court Justice.
1:00:55 – Where the idea for the RBG documentary came from.
1:05:40 – What success RBG the film achieved and how it changed Julie’s career.
1:08:33 – What Julie’s next projects are.
RBG (2018)
Oyez – Multimedia Supreme Court Archive
Crip Camp: Cradle of the Disability Rights Movement
Alamo Pictures
This is Distorted
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