You also have Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor discussing 12 Angry Men, how did you approach her?
Actually, Justice Sotomayor attended our very first event as a member of our audience. The evening was a conversation with playwright Tony Kushner and novelist E.L. Doctorow about the the way the Rosenberg trial and execution still influences the artistic imagination. At the time Justice Sotomayor was a federal appeals court judge in Manhattan. When I learned that she was already one of us, I reached out to her–specifically for the Film Festival, and she most graciously accepted the invitation. I think this speaks so well of her–a Supreme Court Justice who has always been open to broader cultural influences in the way she sees the world. Do you pick the films that are screened, or do the speakers pick them? For the entire life of the Film Festival, all five years, I have selected each film, except in one case: I deferred to Justice Sotomayor to select the film that she most wanted to discuss, and she picked 12 Angry Men. What kind of relationship does Fordham Law have with the city?
