Gravitas Ventures has obtained the rights to The Judge – Character. Cases. Courage., a documentary directed by Robert Griffith and narrated by Justin Theroux. The pic, which hails from the American Documentary Film Fund, will be released on TVOD/digital platforms on January 26. The doc follows Judge Robert R. Merhige, Jr. in his distinguished, momentous and tumultuous 31-year tenure on the Federal bench where he fought against the status quo to promote racial and gender equality, protect the environment, uphold the rule of law and the US Constitution. It features interviews from the likes of U.S. Senator Tim Kaine (D-VA), U.S. Senator Mark Warner ((D-VA), Anne Holton, Judge Merhige’s former law clerk, among many others.
Named by President Lyndon B. Johnson to Federal District Court in Richmond in 1967, Judge Merhige ordered the desegregation of dozens of Virginia school districts in 1972. In 1970, Judge Merhige ordered the University of Virginia to admit women and strengthened the right of pregnant women to keep their jobs. Judge Merhige wrote the decision that threw out the appeals of Watergate figures, after they were convicted of breaking into the office of Daniel Ellsberg’s psychiatrist. He presided over the trials of Ku Klux Klan and American Nazi Party leaders accused of killing members of the Communist Workers Party in Greensboro, N.C., in 1979.
Al Calderaro and Robert Griffith produced the doc with Calderaro, Bill Royall, and Pam Royall serving as executive producers.
Kirk T. Schroder, Esquire of Schroder Brooks Law Firm, PLC brokered the rights deal on behalf of the filmmakers with Brett Rogalsky for Gravitas.