Festivals - Sundance Film Festival 2021 : My name is Pauli Murray will have its world premiere

By Mulder, 01 january 2021

It’s not often we’re introduced to a true luminary, and Pauli Murray was just that—as well as a lawyer, Black activist, feminist, poet, and priest. Murray questioned systems of oppression and conformity throughout the mid-twentieth century, with a radical vision consistently ahead of the times. Murray’s trailblazing legal foresight influenced landmark civil rights decisions and gender equality legislation that transformed our world.

Directors Betsy West and Julie Cohen (RBG, 2018 Sundance Film Festival) return to Sundance with an illuminating portrait of an inspiring leader. Murray’s writings, photographs, and audio recordings, along with newly discovered footage and interviews, interlace to tell the story of a pioneer with a tenacious spirit. West and Cohen balance numerous professional accomplishments with a window into Murray’s full and complex private life. Murray’s personal letters reveal years of grappling with and resisting gender categories, affectionate exchanges with loved ones, and confident and resolute demands for justice. Pauli Murray has a legacy far-reaching and deep. This is a name you won't soon forget.

Synopsis :
A look at the life and ideas of Pauli Murray, a non-binary Black lawyer, activist and poet who influenced both Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall.

My name is Pauli Murray (USA)
Directed by Betsy West, Julie Cohen
Produced by Talleah Bridges McMahon
Executive Producers : Jeff Skoll, Diane Weyermann, Elise Pearlstein, Peggy Drexler
Co-Executive Producers : Dana DiCarlo, Eve Plank
Music by Jongnic Bontemps
Cinematography : Claudia Raschke
Edited by Cinque Northern
Distributed by Participant, Drexler Films, Storyville Films (https://participant.com)
Release date : February 1, 2021 (Sundance)
Running time : 91 minutes

Premiere : feb. 1 - 12:00am // Second screening : feb. 2 - 4:00pm (local time)

(Source : press release)