Julie Cohen | |
|---|---|
 Cohen in 2018 | |
| Alma mater | Colgate University (BA), Yale Law School, Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism |
| Occupations | film director, documentarian |
| Spouse | Paul Barrett |
Julie Cohen is an American filmmaker known for her Oscar-nominated film RBG.
Cohen graduated from Colgate University in 1986. [1] She got her Masters degree at Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. [2]
Cohen worked as a news producer at NBC News Studios where she worked on Dateline for nine years. [3] She was a producer at Court TV, and worked at Columbia as an adjunct faculty member and adviser to their documentary program. [4] She co-directed RBG (2018), My Name Is Pauli Murray (2021), Julia (2021), and Gabby Giffords Won't Back Down (2022) with Betsy West. [5] [6] [2] RGB premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was nominated for an Oscar in 2018. [7] Julia drew its throughline primarily from Bob Spitz’s biography of Child, "Dearie: The Remarkable Life of Julia Child." [6] Variety said the film had a "a general air of cuteness."
She also directed the film Every Body about three people born intersex. [8] [4] [9] The film discusses the US's transphobic history and discusses the treatment of transgender people by medical professionals and society at large. [10] Variety said that Every Body "fosters an environment where the trio can share and compare their experiences, addressing topics rarely spoken of in public." [6] Cohen had met one of the film's subjects, David Reimer, while she was working on Dateline in 1999. When she was invited to look through the Dateline archives for "jumping-off points for feature-length...documentaries" she decided to tell his story and the stories of other intersex activists. [11]
Cohen is a three-time winner of the duPont-Columbia Awards. [2] In 2019 she was awarded the Cinema for Peace Award for Women's Empowerment for the film RBG. [12] She won the San Francisco Jewish Film Festival’s Freedom of Expression Award in 2024. [13]
Cohen previously served as a juror at Columbia University's duPont-Columbia Awards. She resigned in March 2025 after the university, facing a potential loss of about $400 million in funding, agreed to the Trump administration's demands regarding policies on protesters and race-related conflicts. [2] After her resignation, three of the remaining eight jurors also resigned. [2] Cohen is the organizer of a regular anti-Trump protest in Montclair, New Jersey. [14]