Rotman Documentary Insights presents "Death and Taxes"

Death & Taxes is a feature documentary about wealth, inequality and the American Dream, viewed through the lens of the estate tax and the very personal story of a father and son at odds over what kind of inheritance we want to leave our kids and our country.

Filmmaker Justin Schein’s father, Harvey Schein, liked to say he lived the so-called “American Dream:" rising from poverty in Depression-era Brooklyn to great financial success as one of America’s top CEOs of the 1970s. But Harvey Schein also spent the last 20 years of his life fixated on trying to keep his hard-earned wealth from the taxman—an obsession that almost broke the Schein family apart.

More broadly, inherited wealth and the tax system that shields it have badly distorted American democracy, perpetuating racial and economic inequity in the country. Filmed over more than 20 years and weaving intimate family footage with interviews with prominent experts from all sides of the debate, Death & Taxes tells this crucial story through the tale of one American family.

Justin Schein, Director

Robin Morgan, Assistant Professor, University of Toronto Faculty of Law

Justin Schein has been making character-driven documentaries for more than 30 years. His film, Left On Purpose (2016), which won the award for best documentary at the Florida Film Festival Festival and Audience Award at DOCNYC and the Woodstock Film Festival, recounts his friendship with an aging anti-war activist who has decided his last political act will be to take his own life. His 2009 film No Impact Man (co-directed with Laura Gabbert) premiered at Sundance and screened around the world. As a cinematographer, he has shot on over 60 films including as lead cinematographer on Crip Camp (directed by Nicole Newnham and Jim Lebrecht) which won the Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival and went on to be nominated for the Best Documentary Oscar. Justin received his Masters Degree in documentary film from Stanford University and went on to found Shadowbox Films in 1998.

Robin Morgan performs research that focuses on tax law, public economics and finance. He was a John M. Olin Fellow of Law and Economics during his graduate studies at Harvard Law School. Prior to joining U of T's Faculty of Law in January 2025 he practised tax law at a major international law firm in New York.

This event is available to attend IN-PERSON only.

Rotman Events is committed to accessibility for all people. If you have any access needs or if there are any ways we can support your full participation in this session, please email Mandi Gosling [ZXZlbnRzIHwgcm90bWFuICEgdXRvcm9udG8gISBjYQ==] no later than 2 weeks in advance of the event and we will be glad to work with you to make the appropriate arrangements.

• The event will be hosted at Innis Town Hall (2 Sussex Ave. Toronto, ON M5S 1J5). Your registration fee includes a seat in the theatre for the film screening and moderated Q&A and attendance at the reception.

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