Death, Taxes & the American Dream: A Film Screening and Conversation with the Filmmaker and Author

What do we owe each other? Join us for an evening with filmmaker Justin Schein and SNF Agora Institute Professor of Sociology Ruth Braunstein in conversation about wealth, inequality, and the American dream.

Death & Taxes, directed by Johns Hopkins University alum Justin Schein, is a feature documentary examining the estate tax through the deeply personal story of a father and son divided over the kind of inheritance we leave our children and our country. After the film, Professor Braunstein, author of the 2025 book My Tax Dollars, will join the filmmaker for a discussion of the film and how it intersects with her research into our deepest disagreements about citizenship, community, and the American Dream — and why taxes, of all things, sit at the center of them.

• 6:30 PM — Doors Open
• 7:00 PM — Film Screening, followed by discussion

🍿 Free popcorn for the first 50 attendees!

The first 25 students to RSVP will be invited to join filmmaker Justin Schein and Professor Braunstein for a dinner before the screening — a rare chance to sit down with the filmmaker and the author before the main event. Valid student ID required—please indicate your student status when RSVPing. We will follow up with selected students closer to the event.

For more information about the film click here.

For more information about the book click here.

To register click here.