Vulnerability Inspires Two Law Students to Produce Film

March 11, 2009

This February, Emily Walker (’09) and Jonathan Litwiller (’09) visited Emory Law School in order to interview experts in vulnerability and the law for a full-length documentary film they are making titled, “The Vulnerability Project.” They interviewed Emory Professor, Martha Fineman, an internationally recognized law and society scholar, and a leading authority on family law and feminist jurisprudence. They also interviewed Colorado Law Professor, Laura Spitz, who has been a visiting professor at Emory for the 2008-09 academic year. As part of their visit to Emory, they attended a workshop on Incarcerated Mothers and met with various grassroots organizers.

The documentary builds on a short film they made for Professor Spitz's Gender, Law & Public Policy class last year. The idea behind the film is to get people talking about vulnerability. “The most interesting aspect of the project is the wide array of feelings and thoughts about vulnerability—the more people we talk to, the more we realize that no one experiences vulnerability in the same way,” says Walker. Walker and Litwiller were inspired to make a film as a different way of communication. “Law school forces you to communicate through written and oral advocacy on a regular basis. The film project gives us the opportunity to communicate through a different medium,” added Walker. The film will be finished this May and premiere next fall at Colorado Law.