My name is Pauli Murray

This year's Sundance Festival will have given us the opportunity to discover a wide range of independent cinema but also several excellent documentaries such as My name is Pauli Murray by Betsy West and Julie Cohen. This excellent documentary looks at the life and ideas of Pauli Murray, an African-American lawyer, activist and poet who influenced Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Thurgood Marshall. This great humanist lawyer not only had to endure the worst aspects of the United States (segregation, unequal rights) and constantly strive to be the best and remain blameless to fight not only for her situation but also to defend the violated rights of minorities in the United States.

Pauli Murray not only challenged systems of oppression and conformity throughout the mid-twentieth century, with a radical vision always ahead of his time, but also succeeded in changing the laws and was for many a respected and followed person. His legal foresight influenced landmark decisions in civil rights and gender equality legislation that transformed our world.

Betsy West and Julie Cohen are not making their first documentary film, and we can only advise you to see if you haven't already seen the excellent RBG (2018) devoted to Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In their new film, they continue to document the many inequalities in the United States through several audio recordings and various documents (photographs, writings, interviews...). It is also exciting to find interviews such as those with Brittany Cooper and Tina Lu (director of Yale residential college), which in a way testify to the continuity of Pauli Murray's work.

Making a successful documentary means doing a lot of groundwork, looking for important details and, above all, keeping only what is important. One can imagine that through Pauli Murray's many personal letters showing her hard work of resistance and struggle to advance rights in the United States, a real respect for the two filmmakers is constantly palpable. Fascinating from beginning to end, My name is Pauli Murray is an exceptional documentary that bears witness to a true post-mortem on American society. Pauli Murray was a great lady and this documentary is a tribute to her and must be discovered.

My name is Pauli Murray
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

Seen on February 2, 2021 (Sundance Festival)

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