Date : Thursday, Aug 24
“A First-Rate Portrait” – The Guardian
Advance Screening – Limited Run
The youngest physicist on the Manhattan Project, Ted Hall didn’t share his colleagues’ elation after the successful detonation of the world’s first atomic bomb. Increasingly concerned that such a powerful weapon could lead to nuclear catastrophe, he decided to start passing key information about the bomb’s construction to the Soviet Union. At the University of Chicago he met and married Joan. Living under a cloud of suspicion and years of FBI surveillance and intimidation, the pair raised a family while Ted refocused his scientific brilliance on groundbreaking biophysics research.
A Compassionate Spy, two-time Oscar® nominee Steve James’ nuanced documentary, reveals the twists and turns of this real-life spy story, its profound impact on nuclear history, and the couple’s remarkable love and life together during more than 50 years of marriage.
Post-screening Q&A on August 24 with Dave Lindorff and Ben Paulker, National Security Editor, Washington Post.
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