Bavarian American Academy - Special Film Showing – On the Basis of Sex

Film:     On the Basis of Sex (OmU – German title: Die Berufung),

Presented by:  Bavarian American Academy/Bavarian Center for Transatlantic Relations (Amerika Haus)

When:  Sunday, 13 January 2019 (1100-1330)

Where:  Munich Film Fachhochschule, Bernd-Eichinger-Platz 1, 80333 Munich

Cost:     Free

Registration is required:  https://en.xing-events.com/BerufungFilm.html

Official Start in German Cinemas:  7 March 2019

This highly acclaimed film addresses the early career years of US Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Using a story approach, it complements the excellent, recently-released documentary RBG which was shown at the Munich Film Fachhochschule by the BAA on 9th December 2018.

One of three female U.S. Supreme Court Justices, Ruth Bader Ginsburg (85) has long been an icon for the women’s movement.   The setting is the U.S.in the 50’s, a time when women in the U.S. could not work as police officers or study at Princeton. But Ruth Bader Ginsburg wanted to change this world and persisted - she became one of the few women students at Harvard’s Law School.  Despite graduating at the top of her class, she had to settle for a position as a law professor although she preferred to tackle cases in the legal courts, a privilege then reserved of her male counterparts.

With the support of her husband, tax lawyer Marty Ginsburg, she handled the case of Charles Moritz. In caring for his ill mother, Mr. Moritz was denied the normal tax deductions for doing so – on the basis of his sex.  She was convinced that a long idle legal precedent applied to the situation.  With her iron will and sharp legal mind, she finally went to court and led a passionate fight against the sexual discrimination of women (and men).

 Greeting:       Dr. Margaretha Schweiger-Wilhelm, Bayerische Amerika-Akademie (BAA)

Discussion:    Prof. Dr. Michaela Kezele, Frauenbeauftragte der Hochschule für Fernsehen und Film München (HFF)

Introduction:  Tim Moeck (HFF)