Private Project

RUTH - Justice Ginsburg in her Own Words

How does a person with three strikes against her rise to the highest court in the land, the U.S. Supreme Court? How did this happen despite closed doors and legal and social barriers facing Ruth Ginsburg in the 1950’s? Who made this possible? What personal, social and political forces intersected to make this happen?

The film tells the improbable story of how Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who couldn’t get a job despite tying first in her graduating law class and making Law Review at Harvard and Columbia Law Schools, became an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court. It also reveals both the public and private sides of a resilient, resourceful woman who has survived the hostility of the profoundly male universe of government and law to become a revered Justice and icon for gender equality and women’s rights.

How did Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s work as a litigator for the ACLU’s Women’s Rights Project; as a professor; and as an appellate judge make a 
difference? Most importantly how did her path marking work in the l970’s arguing landmark gender discrimination cases before the Supreme Court become a turning point for her and in the everyday lives of men and women? And how does Justice Ginsburg’s pioneering work on behalf of gender equality continue to resonate through her opinions and work during her 25 years on the Supreme Court?

With these questions at the heart of RUTH, the film dramatizes a confluence of factors – personal, psychological, social and political that impacted the course of her work and life. The film is designed as an immersive experience through the direct words of Ruth Bader Ginsburg as a professor, advocate, Judge and Justice; the use of evocative animation and intimate illustrations to visualize complex constitutional cases; by insights of colleagues who have directly worked with or have been impacted by her forty years as a legal icon; and by using a rich original score by a Grammy winning composer.

  • Freida Lee Mock
    Director
    Maya Lin and Anita: Speaking Truth To Power.
  • Mike Aguilar
    Writer
  • Freida Lee Mock
    Writer
  • Meghan Hooper
    Producer
  • Freida Lee Mock
    Producer
  • Dean Erwin Chereminsky
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • M.E. Freeman
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Kathleen Peratis
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Justice Goodwin Liu
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Irin Carmon
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Shana Knizhnik
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Jennifer Carroll Foy
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Lilly Ledbetter
    Key Cast
    "Self"
  • Project Type:
    Documentary, Feature
  • Genres:
    Drama, Romance, History, Women's Rights, Judicial System
  • Runtime:
    1 hour 29 minutes 53 seconds
  • Country of Origin:
    United States
  • Country of Filming:
    United States
  • Language:
    English
  • Shooting Format:
    Digital
  • Aspect Ratio:
    1.78
  • Film Color:
    Color
  • First-time Filmmaker:
    No
  • Student Project:
    No
Director Biography - Freida Lee Mock

Academy and Emmy Award winner Freida Lee Mock is a LA-based director, writer and producer of feature length and short form theatrical documentary films. Her 5 Academy Award nominations include the winner Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision, a feature film about creativity and the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C and Oscar nominees Rose Kennedy, a Life to Remember; SING! about one of the world’s foremost children’s choirs; Never Give UP, about the holocaust survivor and conductor Dr. Herbert Zipper; and To Live or Let Die, a story about medical ethics. She is finishing the feature the CHOIR and CONDUCTOR.

Add Director Biography
Director Statement


When I was asked by a team of imaginative Executive Producers to direct and produce a film about Justice Ginsburg, I had a general idea about the distinguished Justice but little about the fascinating personal story of perseverance and loss, obstacles and achievements of Ruth Bader Ginsburg that have impacted the lives of ordinary Americans, men and women. After a period of wide reading, research and screening hundreds of hours of visual material by our team, I was struck by Justice Ginsburg’s special interest in meeting with student groups - 5th graders, as an example, who asked impressive, well – prepared questions: “Of the six women’s rights cases that you argued before the Supreme Court, which do you think has made the biggest change?” or “Is it hard to become a Supreme Court justice because you were a woman?” As a filmmaker I was looking for a way to tell Justice Ginsburg’s story that would be riveting, moving and surprising. In one of Justice Ginsburg’s answers to a 5th grader, I found what could be the dramatic core of the film RUTH - in her direct, engaging way Justice Ginsburg said to the school children: “I had three strikes against me - I was Jewish, a woman, and a mother of a four year old.” This became the animating theme of the film and a way to unfold her story: How does a woman with three strikes against her rise to the highest court in the land, the U.S. Supreme Court? The confluence of personal, social and political factors - the backdrop of the civil rights movement, the women’s movement, national politics - the epic and the intimate would intersect and impact the course of the work and life of Justice Ginsburg. We were finishing the film last fall at the time of Judge Kavanaugh’s confirmation to the U.S. Supreme Court and found his story an interesting counterpoint to that dramatized in RUTH and its basic exploration, “How does one rise to the highest court in the land, U.S. Supreme Court as an associate Justice?”