One of the highlights of this year’s Sundance Film Festival was directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen’s documentary RBG, the much-anticipated documentary about legendary Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.
RBG is a co-production between Magnolia Pictures, Participant Media and CNN Films. Featuring interviews with women like Nina Totenberg and Gloria Steinem—and Ginsburg herself—the film examine’s the cult status the “Notorious RBG” has achieved and the legacy she has been fostering since her time at the ACLU working on issues of women’s equality.
Filmmakers were given unprecedented access to Justice Ginsburg: They explore her childhood in New York, her romance with husband Martin Ginsburg and her career as an advocate for women’s rights in the courtroom and, later, on the nation’s highest court. (They even shot footage of her famous personal training sessions in the Supreme Court’s gym!)
Ginsburg’s feminist values have defined her tenure in the Court. Her blistering dissents on issues like abortion access, voting rights and affirmative action have transformed her into an icon, and her influence on the Court has shaped the nation and spurred on movements for women’s equality. In the film, Steinem describes Ginsburg as “the closest thing to a superhero we’ve got.”
RBG certainly makes it seem that way. In a trailer released today, to mark International Women’s Day, Ginsburg’s place in the annals of women’s history is left unquestioned. “I ask no favor for my sex,” Ginsburg declares in the opening. “All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.”
And now, if you’ll excuse us, we’ll just be over here counting down the days until RBG is released on May 4.
